Mother compares child ear piercings to FGM on This Morning

‘We’re slamming needles into their ears’

A mother has sparked a furore online after she compared child ear piercings to female genital mutilation on ITV's This Morning.

Debating the issue of whether children should be getting ear piercings at a young age, journalist and presenter Alley Einstein vehemently argued that the practice is abhorrent and that parents should wait until their children are at least 10 years old before considering piercings.

Arguing against Einstein, who has a seven-year-old daughter herself, was Raj Gill, whose daughter had her ears pierced at the age of five.

“I think we should set the time and age when a child should have it done and it should be at least 10 years of age,” said Einstein.

“We’re forcing our children to be sexualised too early.

“We’re slamming needles into their ears. We don’t need to do that. Our children are beautiful enough.”

She continued by arguing that no child would be ostracised from a particular religion or culture because of non-pierced ears.

When Gill responded by calling the issue “the parent’s prerogative”, explaining that government agencies don’t view it as threatening or dangerous, Einstein asked: “Do you support female genital mutilation?” to which Gill swiftly replied: “Absolutely not”.

“Then how you can allow your child to have its ears pierced when there’s no medical reason to have that done?” Einstein continued.

With regards to comparing the piercings to child abuse, Gill labelled this “ridiculous” asking Einstein if she’d ever Googled "child abuse".

After Gill explained that piercing her daughter’s ears was a bonding experience and that she felt zero pain, Einstein compared child piercings to dog piercings.

“If I had a dog, and I brought him into this studio with both ears pierced I would be ostracised, and rightly so. So why do that to a child?” she said, adding that parents should wait until their children are old enough to understand body image before piercing their ears.

The two mothers’ fiery debate extended to Twitter, polarising users who each took very different views.

“Trying to compare FGM to ear piercing you stupid woman! #ThisMorning,” wrote one person.

“This woman has basically just said if you agree with piercing your child’s ears at four years old then you agree with genital mutilation? No words. #ThisMorning,” added another.

However, others agreed with Einstein that an age limit might not be such a bad idea:

“Just seen the ear piercing debate. I do agree that there should be an age limit,” one person wrote.

“Maybe 13,15 or 16? I had mine done at five. My mom’s reason was ‘all the other Indian mothers are doing it.’ I wish I had a choice because it is changing your body permanently and it hurt.”

“Agreed with lady on @thismorning that ear piercing on children and young babies is just wrong,” added another.

“Hate seeing kids with their ears pierced. #SorryNotSorry”.

The debate comes after Wales became the first UK country to ban under 18s from getting intimate piercings i.e. on their tongues, nipples or genitals.

There are no legal age restrictions for ear piercings in England and Wales, however, in Scotland under 16s are required to have parental permission before having their ears or other body parts pierced.