During Chinese New Years and even now, there are lots of military police in the train stations wandering in and out which I see as a good thing for the most part. I thought they would be gone by now but they were still there the other day. The taxi driver told me that it is because the holiday rush is not over yet – students are still getting back to school in some cases.
What I did find surprising about my time in the train station was the fact that a guy was wearing a black earring in his left ear in Wuhan. As far as I can tell people here are more conservative than the other more cosmopolitan cities in China. I was trying to decide if I could go up and ask him about it but then he turned tail and ran after his friend bought the train ticket and he was up ahead.
So in terms of earrings when I was younger, there were the rebels and the gay piercings for ears. My best gay friend from stateside wears a black stud in his left ear so I was wondering if this was a trend everywhere or if it was just in China.
Went online to look for pop culture references as most of my friends make fun of my lack of pop culture awareness unless it is in the arts. (I am still trying to catch up on the last two seasons of Breaking Bad, last three seasons of Weeds, never watched Game of Thrones, and did not realize that Stephen Colbert took over on Late Night until a few weeks ago). Anyhow, I found posts from eight years ago which stated that the left ear meant you were gay, that the right ear was gay subservient, the left ear was gay dominant, and that fashion dictates that a man can wear an earring in any ear.
Basically, I am now glad that I did not walk up to the guy and tell him that he was very brave and independent in expressing his sexuality. Now of course, this happened Thursday morning so now I notice all these articles about gay rights and issues so they are posted below.
Italy gay rights: Senate backs watered-down civil union bill – http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35664441
Why a gay Indian professor’s death inspired a film – http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-35638215
Current Mood: Appalled at the current state of the world in that people are barging into homes filming people and then thinking that this is okay. Glad but also sad that wealthy or well known people are getting justice for these crimes – see the news stories where Erin Andrews (sports newscaster) is finally getting her day in court to sue this crazy random stranger who modified portions of her hotel door peephole so that he could take pictures of her coming out of the shower with his cell phone and posted it on the internet for everyone to see. Crazy guy that she did not know followed her to 3 different hotels in the US before he got his tape. Good thing she is well known and felt like she had options or she might have killed herself like the Indian Professor did.