QueerJoe Jewelry 06-22-22 01

Men In Jewelry

For years, I have envied women for a number of things. This one is silly, but in my corporate life, men in jewelry wasn’t very socially acceptable.

Wearing Pearls – Men In Jewelry

First of all, let me acknowledge that I have some outdated ideas about gender norms. Aging seems to tend toward crystallizing things in a person. Bones and tendons and muscles seem to get more set. As do ideas. I continue to try and stay flexible in my thinking, but I still have some antiquated ideas.

This is one of them.

For years, I’ve always thought it unfair that women could wear a simple strand of pearls. Pearls are so elegant and beautiful, I always wished I could wear them.

I tried to compensate by wearing a pearl tie pin when guys wore ties and tie pins. But I still yearned to feel the heft of those soft, smooth gems on my neck.

And now it’s starting to be fashionable.

Tim Miller is an MSNBC pundit and I love that he wears pearls.

He has just allowed me to uncrystallize some of my outdated ideas. I need to look for a nice, short strand of these beauties.

Current Crochet

I added about 3 more rows of “raindrops” to the current April Showers Shawl.

Two things I love about this shawl.

  1. It’s going in the correct direction…as I’ve noted I much prefer to get the hardest part over first and this one is already starting to feel faster each row.
  2. The lacy, drape of this garment is getting nicer and nicer…holy shit I’m gonna have difficulty selling this garment when it’s finished.

11 comments on “Men In Jewelry

  1. I feel the same way about knitted lace. I just don’t seem to be able to carry it off. Maybe it’s just an attitude that I have to adjust. But I would love to be able to wear lace (with beads!) LOL.

  2. I have always loved pearls and also struggled with the concepts and gender norms that dictated men don’t wear many forms of jewelry. As I have gotten older and become more comfortable in my own skin I have branched out more. I got my ears pierced and wear a variety of earrings. This blog post reminded me of my love of pearls and my desire to have a necklace some day.

    As a transgender male who is also genderqueer and fluid, I try to acknowledge my love of gender bending and balance it with safety. If I am not comfortable wearing something into a men’s bathroom, I make sure it is something easily removable or can be covered so I don’t run into a problem. This might seem odd to some, but being fearful to use the bathroom or other Binary enforced spaces is a struggle at times.

    Having said that, I might shop online for an inexpensive pearl necklace.

    Thank you for this post.

  3. We had an acquaintance who would sometimes wear costume jewelry. He was middle age, very tall, bearded with a great head of hair. He had an uncommon first name as well and looked like a sea captain. Somewhat larger than life. (He was a wonderful travel agent.)
    At a holiday party I attended, he was dressed extremely well with coordinating pants and shoes, shirt, tie and a beautiful brocade vest with a huge, rhinestone brooch on the latter.
    When he was leaving, he wore a long, handsome wool coat another brilliant brooch on that.
    This jewelry seemed not at all surprising or out of place and fit him and the festive season so well. I think his expansive personality, confidence and just being comfortable with himself, all worked to normalize his wearing pieces of women’s jewelry. He looked fantastic!!
    My brother took a necklace our mother loved of polished stone beads. Andrew restrung them to make a sort of choker he wears often. It works and is a special connection to Mom.
    Best wishes for finding that perfect strand of pearls!

  4. It makes sense that a knitter would want to wear Purls, er, Pearls.

    My grandmother’s name was Pearl. It’s probably why I love them so much.

  5. I have a strand of gray fresh water pearls that I love as much as the strand my mother left me.
    Enjoy your discoveries!
    Amy

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