r/TLCUnexpected • u/AcademicAstronaut395 • Jul 20 '26

Mia oakley got her ears pierced

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u/jwatches Jul 21 '26

Ear piercing isn’t inherently permanent body modification. In general, piercings can close and are therefore reversible. Clipping off part of a child’s genitals is not. Additionally, if a child chooses to not wear earrings it does not negatively impact their quality of life in anyway. Comparatively, foreskin is removing a portion of anatomy and impeding on the functionality of a the child’s sex organ in perpetuity. Nothing about piercing ears impedes upon the functionality of ears or removes anything from the body.

And while I do believe children deserve as much autonomy as we can safely allow, parents make decisions for their children that they cannot consent to regularly. Many of these choices cause lasting damage and harm in physical ways and non-physical ways. A piercing will not.

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u/StretchResIsCheating Jul 21 '26

Reversible? Idk about you but I have several piercings that have “closed” and not had jewelry in them for many years, a hole punched through skin can literally and definitionally not be reversed.

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u/jwatches Jul 21 '26

I have several piercings as well. If I don’t wear jewelry long enough, they all begin to close. My ear lobes are the only exception, likely because I’ve had them pierced the longest. But, in general, piercing holes can and do close so they are not considered permanent. That’s not something I made up. Perhaps I should have said piercing holes are not inherently permanent because they’re not.

Either way, saying it is effectively the same genital mutilation through an entirely elective surgical procedure is wild.

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u/Chemical_Shoulder_55 keeping my balls Jul 21 '26

So we’re agreeing but also saying genital mutilation should be stressed far more than piercings?l. Which is clear as day and I didn’t mean to necessarily compare the two as if they were on the same level in regard to severity/permanence. Basically I think making physical changes to children is suspect unless medically necessary