I remember when I got my first piercing. The uproar at home could be heard around the block. It was incomprehensible how a piercing under the lip — as was the fashion in the early 2000s — could bring my parents to the brink of a heart attack.

However, I don’t remember my life without earrings.

This is, no doubt, the story of many Latinas out there.

For many internet users, it is also another paradox of the way we were raised. Just take a look at this heated thread on Reddit.

An outdated tradition?

Piercing the ears of newborn babies is an inherently Latino tradition. Although it is heresy in the rest of the world, for Latinas, it has always been essential to affirm the gender assigned at birth in the most minor details.

Although the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends opening orifices when girls are big, Latinas always seem to know better. This includes meddling in matters that don’t concern them.

Internet users recall their experiences, and they are, frankly, alarming.

The piercing scandal

Affirming the gender of a newborn girl with earrings is absolutely normal in a Latina household. But getting a piercing anywhere else? Well, let’s just say that for many, it has meant having to leave home.

For others, it has meant having to endure the wrath and ridicule of their family members.

And if you’re a boy? It’s hell.

In the end, some believe it’s part of religious idiosyncrasies and a reluctance to dismantle prejudices.

The good news is that it seems Latino parents are increasingly resorting to the occasional tantrum and eventually letting it go.

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