About the author: --- Read more from this authorHey FWord Readers!
Borrowing from the title of the popular book Stuff White People Like, I bring you a weekly post completely dedicated to things that we, as feminists, might find interesting, inspiring, humorous, or thought-provoking.
This week: Women that ROCK their hair.
Hair, in general, is a big part of what both men and women use to express themselves and their identity. You can dye it, gel it, cut it, braid it, add more hair to it, and the list goes on. I think, especially for women, hair contributes to making us feel beautiful, and of course, there is that “long and silky locks” ideal that Disney Princesses and celebrities like Miley Cyrus and Beyonce kind of make us feel like we have to live up to.
The reason I bring this up is because, the other day, one of my best friends posed a question to the Facebook world via her status: Should I cut my hair?
I could understand her dilemma. She’s got gorgeous shiny, voluminous, curly black hair but at the same time, she has always liked to experiment with her personal style. Some people commented with words of encouragement and of course, others objected, but there were two comments in particular (from the same person) that I couldn’t ignore (I have removed this person’s name for privacy reasons):
Aside from the poor grammar and spelling errors, what this person says is completely absurd. While I am sure this person didn’t realize the extent of the ignorance of the comment, the fact is that there are places in the world where there are restrictions on what a woman can and cannot do with her hair. As for hair being what makes women feminine, one can only hope that for this person’s own sake, he/she might discover that there is so much more to what makes a woman.
On that note, I would like to applaud women, and for that matter, all people in general who defy traditional, or archaic, notions of beauty. Hair comes in all textures, lengths, and colors, and we are lucky to have the freedom to style it, manipulate it, and use it to express who we already are!
And hats off to women like Rihanna, the gender-bending supermodel Agyness Deyn, and my best friend who define sex appeal and beauty in a new way: with short hair!
I spent a year studying abroad and living au-pair with a family with two children, aged 3 and 5. I had short hair then and was starting to grow it, wearing some days a headband (that had a flower). The youngest child in this family used to tell me daily “today you’re a boy” or “today you’re a girl” depending on the absence or presence of said headband. His older brother mostly agreed. One day I wore a skirt and no headband, and they doubted a little, but finally decided I was a boy wearing a skirt
I recently read that identifying masculinity or feminity with the social symbols of it is what little children do in that phase where it seems so important for them determine whose team are you on.
The facebook comments on this post reminded me of all this. Maybe he/she’s a child at heart