Earring History(2)

At that time, the practice re-emerged, but since a large commercial market for them did not exist, most ear piercings were done at home[citation needed]. Teenage girls were known to hold ear piercing parties, polo t shirts women where they performed the procedure on one another. Such an event is depicted in the 1978 motion picture Grease, where Sandy (Olivia Newton-John), the leading lady, is pierced by her friends.

Pairs of earrings for sale at a roadside stand in Costa Rica.Ear piercing became commonly available in physician offices[citation needed]. Some of the earliest commercial, non-medical locations for getting an ear piercing appeared in the 1970s at Manhattan jewelry stores, although the overall commercial market was still in its infancy. By the 1980s, ear piercing was polo t shirts on sale common among many women, thus creating a broader market for the procedure. Department stores throughout the country would hold ear piercing events, sponsored by earring manufacturers. At these events, a nurse or other trained person would perform the procedure, either pushing a sharpened and sterilized starter earring through the earlobe by hand, or using an ear-piercing instrument modified from the design used by physicians[citation needed].

In the late 1960s, ear piercing began to make inroads among men through polo t shirts for women the hippie and gay communities. In the late 1970s, amateur piercings, sometimes with safety pins and/or multiple piercings, became popular in the punk rock community. By the 1980s, the trend for male popular music performers to have pierced ears helped establish a fashion trend for men. This was later adopted by many professional athletes. British men started piercing both ears in the 1980s; George Michael of Wham! was a prominent example. The heavily jeweled Mr. T was an early example of an American celebrity wearing earrings in both ears, although this trend did not become popular with polo shirts on sale mainstream American men until the 1990s.

In various Western cultures, piercing the left vs. the right ear alone has sometimes been popularly perceived to be associated with a particular sexual orientation. In the late 60's it was said that "left is 'right' and right is 'wrong'"; the left ear being safe for piercing by straight men and a pierced right ear meaning one was gay.