Hair and Politics

[marcmagus]

[I think this is about to become a series. Yay?]

I was thinking about this a bit more while I showered and washed my hair and shaved [I feel much better emotionally as a result, but my arm is hurting a lot more and it may be the only physical push I can accomplish today], and I realized that my hair is a political statement and action, and it's one that I'm not particularly excited to give up.

The cultural narrative that there's something wrong with long hair on men, and the new one emerging as demonstrated by my mother (see this comment) that shoulder-length hair is now manly, but longer hair is unacceptable because it's too girly is homophobia, is transphobia, and is mysogyny. Unapologetically wearing my hair "like a girl" (because apparently that's what most people think) and living my life is something I can do to combat problematic cultural narratives, and that is not something I want to give up.

Comments

[tirerim]

Interestingly, I don't think of your hairstyle as being particularly feminine. Perhaps this is because I know a lot of men who wear long hair in a braid, or perhaps I simply don't associate hairstyles that strongly with gender in general. I do think I get more comments about my hair when I wear it loose than when I pull it back, or at least I used to.

There are, of course, short hairstyles that people think of as traditionally feminine (though perhaps not as strongly as long hair), but I don't know how well any of them would work with your hair.

In any case, if you do decide to cut your hair short, I think there are plenty of other things you can do to combat problematic cultural narratives: wear skirts (or even just sarongs; despite being male attire in other countries, people think they're women's wear here), paint your toenails, etc. Yes, those are slightly different issues, but in the aggregate shifting people's expectations of what is "gender-appropriate" helps across the board.

[marcmagus]

I don't either, but the frequency with which I get "Ma'amed", even sporting a beard, or overhear the little girl in the grocery store asking her mother "Is that a boy or a girl?" suggests that the broader culture does, at least to some extent.

I miss having my toenails painted. Now that I'm living in year-round sandals world, maybe I'll go back to that.

I'm embarrassed to admit that I find it really difficult to choose to go out in public wearing a skirt. I'm not sure why. I should examine it sometime. Maybe it's just that it's more on the frontier of acceptability than the hair thing is, where more men have blazed a trail before me.