Piercings have had a long and complex history, going from clip-on earrings for 1920s actresses to lip rings for Y2K scene kids. The taboo surrounding them, while decreasing over the course of the 20th century, has never quite gone away, but today there are a wide variety of piercings available and reasons people get them.
People get piercings for varied reasons, from religious to aesthetic. For many pierced people, at Ida B Wells High School, however, the reason is somewhere along the lines of “I like the way it looks.”
Maddie Brooks, a senior at IBW said “All the people I admired, in like a fashion sense, always have lots of piercings, so it just kind of felt right.” Brooks has a pierced septum, eyebrow and double-pierced ears.
Parker Maly, another senior, said about her own septum piercing, “I thought [septum piercings were] like, really cool. All the people who say it makes you look like a bull are wrong, it makes you look like a badass.”
Maly and Brooks agree that piercings are a way of “customizing your character,” ”Like an additional accessory,” said Brooks.
Piercings aren’t just for aesthetic purposes, however; they also show up in religious contexts. Ear and nose piercings appear in the Christian Bible as symbols of beauty. Piercings also have significance in Hinduism; Karnavedha is a Hindu ceremony that involves the piercing of a child’s ears. Meanings differ in varying parts of India.
Furthermore, piercings date back to prehistoric times, with some of the oldest mummified humans from around the world having pierced noses and ears. Many cultures also have traditions that involve piercings which date back to ancient times.
In modern times, piercings gained popularity originally with clip-on earrings in the 1920s. At that time, having physical piercings was still taboo. Throughout the century, nostril and septum piercings rose in popularity. The most popular piercing of the modern day, the earlobe piercing, reached the mainstream in the 1960s with the rise of mall kiosks and piercing guns.
In the 1980s and ‘90s, piercings took on a more rebellious flair as the punk movement inspired many to get second or third lobe piercings, as well as tongue piercings. In the early 2000s, crop tops, low-rise jeans, Britney Spears and an Aerosmith video conspired to bring about the rise of the navel piercing. Eyebrow piercings, an increasingly popular look at IBW also became popular.
It seems that piercings have continued to shine for thousands of years. But, piercings are different from societal norms, causing people to speculate on the personality of the wearer, due to the popularity of piercings in the punk scene.
While piercings have cultural and religious affiliations, there is still judgment and stigma around them. Many people struggle to find jobs or social acceptance when it comes to having piercings.
But as the years have passed, pop culture continues to evolve and piercings seem to be more accepted, from Britney Spears and her iconic belly button ring to Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas.
Facial piercings can be still seen as rebellious or weird, no matter how many celebrities try to wear them or normalize them. Maly said she’s experienced that judgment firsthand, with people saying “she has a nose ring, making her look like a stupid girl, and it makes her look like she flirts with other people” but that’s not the case at all.
Parker “likes the way it looks on [her] face.” So even though popular figures like celebrities wear them, there will always seem to be a “rebellious and grungy” affiliation with it, starting a cultural movement to see piercings as cool or a form of expression, instead of rebelling.
Though an abundance of facial piercings is frequently judged by society, having several ear piercings has become super popular recently. When opening Pinterest and TikTok you can find so many people sharing their stacks (earring stacks are when someone has several different ear piercings creating a stacking effect.)
It seems like the “Clean Girl Aesthetic” really popularized earring stacks, as well as gold and diamond earrings being a staple. Through the popularity of earring stacks, there is definitely a huge rise in popularity with nose rings as many students at IBW can be seen wearing earring stacks and nose rings.
Piercings are a fashion statement, a form of expression and have so many different meanings for different people. Though they could be considered just another trend or a teen trying to rebel, the reason people get piercings is a lot deeper than what meets the eye, so instead of judgment or weird passive-aggressive comments next time you see a piercing, compliment someone, or don’t say anything at all. It’s 2025, and by now it’s time we progress as a society that doesn’t judge and just accepts.
