Things Changed When Shirt Color Began to Matter

[Guest]

On the other hand, there was a time when girls were given grief for having ears pierced at all. They were taught that young women should only wear clip on earrings.

Really? I don't remember that era (I was born in 1959). When was this?

How it morphed over the years.

My oldest sister, not allowed to have her ears pierced. Don't even ask!

A few years later, my next oldest sister, not allowed to have her ears pierced....until, ok, when she was in high school. It was ok.

Me, I had my ears pierced on my 13th birthday.

My mom, who was the never ever ever pierce your ears leading lady, had her ears pierced when she was in her 60's.

I don't know that it was so much Mormon culture, as American culture. Only "floozies" or "trashie" women had their ears pierced, until the 60s. Utah is always about 5-10 years behind getting over social prohibitions that the left and right coasts get over first. (Also, the ear piercing gun wasn't invented until the 60s.)

[_PrickKicker]

Funny how they want to hold on to some Mosaic laws and not others.
Some crap about slaves having their ears pierced, or being nailed to the door farme?
Maybe its because they're DUMB? And they believe it's actually God making up these DUMB laws.

[_Drifting]

Thomas S. Monson seems to suggest it doesn't matter really:

Finally, brethren, I speak of the results of choice. All of our choices have consequences, some of which have little or nothing to do with our eternal salvation and others of which have everything to do with it.

Whether you wear a green T-shirt or a blue one makes no difference in the long run. However, whether you decide to push a key on your computer which will take you to pornography can make all the difference in your life.

http://www.LDS.org/general-conference/2 ... hite+shirt

[_Drifting]

Dallin Oaks regurgitates this in 2008:

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland gave a valuable teaching on this subject in general conference 13 years ago. Since most of our current deacons were not even born when these words were last spoken here, I repeat them for their benefit and that of their parents and teachers: “May I suggest that wherever possible a white shirt be worn by the deacons, teachers, and priests who handle the sacrament. For sacred ordinances in the Church we often use ceremonial clothing, and a white shirt could be seen as a gentle reminder of the white clothing you wore in the baptismal font and an anticipation of the white shirt you will soon wear into the temple and onto your missions” (“This Do in Remembrance of Me,” Ensign, Nov. 1995, 68).

So, a white shirt is only a suggestion if possible for the people administering the Sacrament and a requirement for full time Missionaries.

[_Blixa]

How it morphed over the years.

My oldest sister, not allowed to have her ears pierced. Don't even ask!

A few years later, my next oldest sister, not allowed to have her ears pierced....until, ok, when she was in high school. It was ok.

Me, I had my ears pierced on my 13th birthday.

My mom, who was the never ever ever pierce your ears leading lady, had her ears pierced when she was in her 60's.

I don't know that it was so much Mormon culture, as American culture. Only "floozies" or "trashie" women had their ears pierced, until the 60s. Utah is always about 5-10 years behind getting over social prohibitions that the left and right coasts get over first. (Also, the ear piercing gun wasn't invented until the 60s.)

I think that was part of it (general American culture), but I also think it had something to do with pierced ears being associated with Mexican Catholics who would often have baby's ears pierced. At the time, it read to me as a marker that "we" aren't "them."

I remember a MIA lesson where a panel of "good looking" Returned Missionaries were invited to come in and tell us what RM's desired and avoided in future mates. No pierced ears was one of the first things out of their mouths. Guys don't like it. They also don't like mini-skirts or too much makeup.

[_Fence Sitter]

I don't know that it was so much Mormon culture, as American culture. Only "floozies" or "trashie" women had their ears pierced, until the 60s. Utah is always about 5-10 years behind getting over social prohibitions that the left and right coasts get over first. (Also, the ear piercing gun wasn't invented until the 60s.)

When I lived in Utah I would wear a shirt that said "Welcome to Utah, please set your clock back 20 years!".

[_Drifting]

I don't know that it was so much Mormon culture, as American culture. Only "floozies" or "trashie" women had their ears pierced, until the 60s. Utah is always about 5-10 years behind getting over social prohibitions that the left and right coasts get over first. (Also, the ear piercing gun wasn't invented until the 60s.)

When I lived in Utah I would wear a shirt that said "Welcome to Utah, please set your clock back 20 years!".

By 20 did you mean 50?

[_Blixa]

When I lived in Utah I would wear a shirt that said "Welcome to Utah, please set your clock back 20 years!".

By 20 did you mean 50?

tsk, tsk, Drifting. The internet has changed things. I think it really is only like 5 years now.

[_Drifting]

tsk, tsk, Drifting. The internet has changed things. I think it really is only like 5 years now.

I heard that you have those new fangled automobiles and electricity now...

[_sock puppet]

Utah is always about 5-10 years behind getting over social prohibitions that the left and right coasts get over first.

Wow, if only 5-10 years behind. I suppose that blacks would have had the priesthood decades earlier than 1978. Individuals would be respected for choosing their own paths. And in some parts of Utah, there would even be women bishops and SPs by now.