Hoop Earrings and Hate

[haele]

18. mmm - no. You can find plain hoop earrings in renaissance paintings. Even big dangly ones.

Hoop earrings were typically used as far back as the Roman and Celtic tribal times to indicate the dower worth of a marriageable/married woman as well as being a handy way to "carry spare cash" that would be a bit more difficult to pick-pocket or drop when out travelling - or to use when out gambling. Most of the larger hoops had drilled gems or pearls added to them, or little gold ornamentation.
Wanted to carry more gold with you or show off more of your wealth when walking out with your buddies out for a night of carouse? You'd wear your bigger hoop(s) along with your chunky rings, heavy necklaces, and armbands/wrist bands, whether you were a guy or gal.

I appreciate the assumption that since hoop earrings apparently went out of fashion in Europe during the late 19th/ early 20th century and only returned during the 60's as part of young civil rights protest groups, big hoops, or multiple large hoops in the ear might be specific to Africa. But ask a history major or an arts major, and you'll be gently corrected.

It's not an appropriation of culture unless your grasp of what culture is only goes back 70 years.

Haele