“Is there any reason or Church doctrine that would suggest that I should not have my ears pierced?”

Answer/Sister Marianne C. Sharp

When I was in a jeweler’s shop the other day, I asked the jeweler, “Are girls having their ears pierced now?” He answered, “They are really going for it now,” and he pushed forward a velvet-lined tray full of earrings for pierced ears.

Piercing the ear lobes in order to insert earrings is a vogue that comes and goes. It was the only means in biblical times, it would seem, for women to wear earrings. Gold earrings were recognized not only as ornaments but also as items of value.

Perhaps one of the earlier mentions of earrings being used is in the Bible where the servant of Jacob, seeking a kinswoman as a wife for Isaac, presented Rebekah with bracelets and gold earrings. The King James Bible account reads, “And I put the earring upon her face, and the bracelets upon her hands.” (Gen. 24:47.)

When this was studied in a Sunday School class, a Lebanese sister said, “I suppose that would be a nose ring”—which did not appeal to my taste. It is interesting to find that the account in the Inspired Version of the Bible reads, “And I gave the earrings unto her, to put into her ears, and the bracelets upon her hands.” (JST, Gen. 24:51.) This would indicate that the earrings of Rebekah were to go into her ears.

In some instances the Old Testament tells of the Israelites collecting their gold earrings (1) to melt them down for the golden calf (Ex. 32:2–4) and (2) to contribute to the adornment of the tabernacle (Ex. 35:22).

Today there are other means of fastening earrings to the ear, so there is not the necessity of piercing the ear lobes. The only credible reason I have heard given for piercing ears is where the earrings are of great value, such as diamond earrings, and the wearer wishes to avoid losing them.

I do recall as a young girl how ugly pierced ear lobes looked to me. A relative who had been born in the 1870s had had her ears pierced as a teenage girl. It was very popular at that time in Salt Lake City. However, this woman did not always wear earrings, and the perforations were most ugly to me.

The craze to pierce or not to pierce seems to occur and recur. I know of no pronouncement or stand that Church authorities have made in this regard. I recall with what disfavor I looked upon one of my granddaughters piercing her ears. I believe she did pierce them but then let them grow together again.

There are some people to whom the practice is repugnant and others who feel comfortable with it; so I would think the decision would be an individual one that each girl and her parents should reach together.

• First Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency