By Rifan Muazin 
Gregg Araki’s latest cinematic provocation, I Want Your Sex, arrives as a thirst-quenching reprieve in an era defined by a prolonged drought of genuine Hollywood sex comedies. In a landscape often criticized for being "sexless" or overly sanitized to accommodate global markets and sensitive sensibilities, Araki—the godfather of New Queer Cinema and the visionary behind the "Teenage Apocalypse Trilogy"—returns to the fray with a film that is as chaotic as it is stylistically sharp. The narrative centers on Elliot, portrayed by the rising chameleon Cooper Hoffman, a young man who finds himself descending into the labyrinthine world of performance art and high-stakes desire. Hoffman’s Elliot goes to extreme lengths to satisfy his boss, the formidable and exhibitionist Erika, played with a razor-sharp edge by Olivia Wilde. As Erika’s sexually submissive "boy toy," Hoffman undergoes a transformation that is a far cry from the character he portrayed in the recent smash horror hit The Long Walk. In that Stephen King adaptation, the 23-year-old actor was tasked with traversing a bleak, alternate American landscape, a grueling test of endurance where the stakes were survival and a life-changing fortune. However, the transition from the apocalyptic dread of the "Long Walk" to the raucous, neon-hued halls of Araki’s sex comedy is best captured not by a dramatic monologue, but by one subtle, sly, and deeply intentional styling decision: a single pierced ear adorned with a small golden hoop.
The decision to include the earring was far from accidental. During the preparation for the film, director Gregg Araki revealed that the accessory was a direct suggestion from his own personal history. Araki told GQ that he envisioned Elliot wearing the hoop as a nod to his own formative years in the 1980s, an era when a single earring served as a potent symbol of rebellion, artistic leanings, and a departure from the rigid structures of traditional masculinity. This autobiographical thread runs deeper than just jewelry; Elliot’s character also sports hand tattoos that read "yes" and "no" on his respective hands. These are a deliberate mirror of Araki’s own real-life ink, which features the words "here" and "now." For Araki, Elliot is more than just a protagonist; he is a cinematic vessel for the director’s younger self—an artsy, confused, and searching individual trying to navigate the complexities of identity, career, and desire in a world that rarely offers a clear map.
In the film, Olivia Wilde’s Erika discovers Elliot at a vulnerable crossroads. He is a wayward recent graduate, untethered and desperate for a sense of purpose or a community to call his own. His choice to pierce his ear is a visual manifestation of his attempt to integrate into the avant-garde art world that Erika inhabits. It is a perhaps misguided, yet earnest, attempt to adopt the uniform of what one might call an "art bro"—a subculture defined by intellectual posturing, curated dishevelment, and a rejection of suburban norms. This aesthetic choice carries a specific weight in the modern dating and social landscape. Men who can successfully pull off a small golden hoop possess what modern internet parlance refers to as "rizz"—a combination of charisma, confidence, and a palpable comfort in their own skin. It suggests a willingness to operate outside the boundaries of "cookie-cutter" straight male style, signaling a fluidity and an openness to the unconventional. While Elliot may start the film without a shred of self-assurance, the earring represents a radical openness to experimentation. As he begins to push his own sexual and psychological boundaries under Erika’s tutelage, the earring becomes a symbol of the person he is "growing into"—a physical mark of his evolution from a passive observer to an active participant in his own life.
This focus on the hoop earring in I Want Your Sex aligns with a broader cultural resurgence of the accessory. For several seasons, fashion analysts have reported that men, both in the limelight and on the streets, have been increasingly inclined to embrace the tight little hoop. While the style is certainly not new to the masculine wardrobe, it has seen a high-profile revival among Hollywood’s A-list elite. Consider Michael B. Jordan, whose gold hoop glimmered under the stage lights as he celebrated his Best Actor win, or Jacob Elordi, whose stylishly understated accessory became a focal point of his campaign for Bleu de Chanel. Even the world of historical drama has embraced the trend; Paul Mescal’s personal piercing was retained for his portrayal of William Shakespeare in the upcoming film Hamnet. This choice was directly inspired by the famous Chandos portrait of the Bard, which depicts the playwright with a gold hoop in his left ear. Although historians have long debated whether the real Shakespeare actually wore an earring or if it was a stylistic flourish added by the painter, the inclusion of the jewelry in a 400-year-old portrait proves that the concept of men accessorizing their lobes has been a marker of artistic and social distinction for centuries.
The resurgence of the earring in the 2020s serves as a rejection of the hyper-masculine, utilitarian fashion that dominated the early 2010s. It marks a return to a more decorative, expressive form of manhood. In the context of Araki’s film, the gold hoop serves as a bridge between the punk-adjacent aesthetics of the 80s and the gender-fluid sensibilities of the current generation. It is a small detail that carries the weight of history, signaling that the wearer is part of a lineage of outsiders, artists, and provocateurs.
The commitment to this aesthetic detail in I Want Your Sex went beyond mere costume design. For Gregg Araki, authenticity was paramount. He noted that clip-on earrings were never a viable option for the production, describing them as a "pain" that frequently fall off during the physical demands of shooting a scene. Consequently, Cooper Hoffman opted for a "method" approach to his styling: he actually had his ear pierced specifically for the role. This level of dedication speaks to Hoffman’s immersion in the character of Elliot. However, the actor’s personal style remains distinct from his onscreen persona. Araki noted that once the production wrapped, the earring came right out. "It’s more his character’s style than Cooper’s," Araki explained, highlighting the distance between the actor’s grounded reality and the "searching kid" he plays on screen.
The film itself functions as a critique and a celebration of this "searching." By placing a young man in a position of sexual submission, Araki flips the traditional power dynamics of the sex comedy, offering a perspective that is rarely explored in mainstream cinema. The "art bro" aesthetic, anchored by that single gold hoop, serves as the costume for this exploration. It provides Elliot with a mask to wear while he figures out who he actually is. In the world of Erika and her performance art, identity is something to be constructed, deconstructed, and performed. The earring is the first brick in that construction.
As I Want Your Sex makes its way to audiences, it serves as a reminder of the power of small visual cues in storytelling. In a Gregg Araki film, every neon light, every tattoo, and every piece of jewelry is a deliberate choice designed to evoke a specific mood or era. By tapping into the current trend of men’s jewelry, Araki connects the 80s underground scene to the modern "rizz" culture, showing that while the decades change, the desire for self-expression and the search for identity remain constant. Hoffman’s transition from the survivalist horror of The Long Walk to the submissive experimentation of I Want Your Sex marks him as one of the most versatile actors of his generation, willing to literally pierce his skin to find the truth of a character. Whether the gold hoop remains a mainstay of men’s fashion or eventually fades back into the archives of style, its presence in this film cements its status as a timeless symbol of the "artsy, confused, and searching" soul.
