Vote totals:
Yes:
57%
No:
29%
Neutral:
14%
DEBATE: SHOULD BABY EAR PIERCING BE BANNED?
SHOULD BABY EAR PIERCING BE BANNED?
It inflicts unnecessary pain on the child.
No responsible parent should ever want their child to be in pain. It is hard enough watching your baby cry squirm when it has vaccinations! I think that making your child suffer in the name of fashion is cruel and vulgar.
Moreover the opposing point contradicts itself. On the one hand it states that pain is minimal and it does not cause any unnecessary or cruel suffering. On the other hand it admits that older children will experience pain with piercing and may be traumatized by such pain.
The pain suffered by a properly done ear piercing to the ear lobe is often less than that caused by a vaccination (or cutting their nails!). The pain it inflicts is minimal and doesn’t cause any unnecessary or cruel suffering. Any discomfort will be quickly forgotten by a baby once the piercings heal. Older children will be much more likely to remember any pain associated with piercing and may be more traumatized later in life.
SHOULD BABY EAR PIERCING BE BANNED?
Risk of infection or injury.
Any piercing carries the risk of infection, and this is particularly dangerous for babies. Surely a pair of earrings is not worth the risk of a child being hospitalised?
In this case it would be the responsibility of the parent to ensure that the piercing is kept clean and not tampered with. If the child is hospitalised because of an infection, then maybe it highlights a problem with the parent, rather than a minus point for banning baby ear piercing.
SHOULD BABY EAR PIERCING BE BANNED?
Children are beautiful as they are.
It is wrong to pierce a child’s ears to make him or her look more "attractive". Our children should be free of vanity, it is hard enough worrying about how you look once you are a grown up.
Parents buy clothes for their children, they wash their hair and are free to add other accoutrements if they so wish. Attractiveness is always on the agenda, often subconsciously, and we don’t force parents to make their children all look equally ugly. Ear piercings alone won’t make a child vain, and are a symptom, not a cause, of problems in society today.
SHOULD BABY EAR PIERCING BE BANNED?
Culture and tradition are not an excuse
Latin America is famous and infamous for a lot of things, as is Spain. If they wish to channel their culture along the lines of baby ear-piercing then so be it, but this does not mean it is necessarily suitable for any other culture. The lack of a ‘groundswell’ of opinion suggests widespread indifference – not correctness.
People have been throwing litter and smoking cannabis for hundreds of years too – this, similarly, does not make them worthwhile or sensible activities.
Spain and Latin American countries have been piercing baby girls’ ears for decades: it is a very ingrained part of their culture. And as far as I am aware there isn’t a groundswell of opinion that it is barbaric or dangerous. Why on earth should it be banned? There is too much cotton wool already in the world.
SHOULD BABY EAR PIERCING BE BANNED?
We cannot give businesses responsibility over childrens’ health
The responsibility of piercing a child should not be given to individual piercing salons. They are likely to make the decision whether or not to carry out the piercing based on financial considerations rather than assessing the case medically based on the age of the child.
It should be left to the company who are resposible and who hold the licence on if their business should pierce babies ears. They pierce ears every day and are experienced enough to know what they are doing whether the client is a baby or an adult. Any adverse results will reflect on their reputation so they will be motivated to take the best care of the baby from a medical point of view.
SHOULD BABY EAR PIERCING BE BANNED?
Ear piercing can help to identify the baby as a girl.
It seems ridiculous to impose arbitrary gender roles on an infant. Why is it so important to know the sex of a baby? If it is necessary for some reason, I’m sure asking the parent would suffice.
Very many parents pierce their sons’ ears. I don’t know what proportion but by what I’ve seen it is roughly equal among the genders.
It is often difficult to tell whether a baby is a boy or a girl. If its ears are pierced then people can immediately identify the baby as female.
SHOULD BABY EAR PIERCING BE BANNED?
Parents have the right to make that choice for their child.
It seems wrong for a parent to impose their own sense of fashion on a child who is too young to decide for themselves. The idea of parents piercing their baby’s ears underlies the more worrying concept of parents imposing ideals on their children and treating them as accessories.
Moreover, properly healed, the piercing itself is permanent unlike changes parents may make to a child’s fashion, hair etc
Babies are not old enough to make decisions for themselves. If they don’t like the earrings when they are older, then you can just take them out.
It’s not just rooted in fashion either. Some cultures pierce for religious reasons. To take issue with this then you must also take issue with, for example, circumcision.
SHOULD BABY EAR PIERCING BE BANNED?
It’s not for us to ban such things
The fact that we are talking about a vulnerable group such as babies who cannot speak up for themselves makes this an appropriate area for legislation.
If adults object to the state of the law in the UK they can take action to try to change it e.g. protest, contacting their MP, forming a pressure group. Babies have no choice in this matter and so need the law to protect them.
Furthermore, not being able to convince everyone by reason and argument is not a reason not to legislate. We would not consider dropping the law banning underage drinking to instead rely on convincing young people not to drink.
Whilst I personally disagree with the idea that babies should have their ears pierced I am also fed up with a nanny state that sees fit to legislate all areas of our life.
If we want parents to not do this we should convince them through reason and argument. If we can’t convince them, and clearly we will never be able to convince everyone, so be it. Part of living in a society is accepting people will choose to do things we may think wrong. Provided the things they do don’t harm others then they state has no place controlling their actions.
SHOULD BABY EAR PIERCING BE BANNED?
Ear piercing is not permanent
Not all piercings close. Many people find their piercings simply never completely close over.
Aside from the fact that it is a safe and minor procedure, the effects of the piercing are reversible. If the child grows up and decides that they do not like having pierced ears they can simply wait for the pierce hole to close naturally, which happens when it is left alone for several weeks. Furthermore, tangibly and on the ground, there has been not much reported complaints from children who have suffered from their parents decision to pierce there ears. Thus there is not enough substantial reason for the government to intervene in the parent’s decision to pierce their children’s ears.