This past week my sister sent me a text that read “there is a sale on gauges in one of my favorite shops on Etsy!” I was excited for her and more excited when they came in the mail and she had gotten a pair for me as well! But quickly the thought came into her mind.. Hmm, gauges are definitely cultural appropriation.
I have had gauges since the 5th grade and it all started at my sister was going through her goth stage and so we would both dress in the style of black and white patterned skinny jeans, chain accessories, lots of black clothes, black make up, etc. Christiana was in 9th grade and as thus, it was more appropriate for her to be gauging her ears, but me being the younger sis and wanting to copy whatever style she got into, plus recognizing the power of making a statement to people around me, I was quickly into gauging.
At first, since I did not have cash to buy gauges with I began stretching with safety pins that were larger then typical earrings. For the rest of my stretching I borrowed other people’s tapers and stopped going up in size when my friends mom passed some cool looking gauges to me in 10th grade.
Anyway, my sister thought that for sure stretching was part of the Filipino tradition and sure enough ear stretching has a deep history in Asian and Pacific Islander traditions. In the Philippines, men and women would have ear piercings, men usually two on each ear, and woman having 4 or more per ear. Ears would be pierces then have a thread through them until the ear healed then they would put thin bamboo in their ears then put increasingly wider bamboo or wood pieces. After a certain size, they would use rolled up leaves to stretch even further. Once at a desired size they would where gold plugs or loops.
So, just thinking about gauges this week (well when I have an spare moment during the busy schedule of school and friends and work and life). Checking my privilege and moving through life. Call me out or holler if you want to talk about gauges!
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I also got to go to the Olympia Zine Festival this weekend and there were some legit APIA zine makers! I got a zine that is a call to action for Japanese Americans to stand up against Executive Order 13769 which bans people from seven majority Muslim countries from immigrating to the United States. Another one was talking about being Japanese American in majority white Portland and the micro aggressions that result as well as a thought of if the author will be able to pass on enough of their culture and traditions onto their daughter. Check out the zine maker A’misa Chiu!
——————————————————————————————————————————————————–Some sources that are not correctly formatted!
http://pinoy-culture.tumblr.com/post/96627853461/the-philippine-golden-age-relics-of-our
https://www.bodyartforms.com/blog/the-history-of-stretching-part-5/