Hair is at once of “me” and an alien “it.”
September 25, 2015 12:11 PM   Subscribe

Notes Towards a Theory of Hair: Novelist Siri Hustvedt Reflects on the Cultural Meaning of Coiffure [New Republic]
“Even this simple act of plaiting my child’s hair gives rise to questions about meaning. Why do more girl children wear their hair long in our culture than boy children? Why is hairstyle a sign of sexual difference? I have to admit that unless a boy child of mine had begged me for braids, I probably would have followed convention and kept his hair short, even though I think such rules are arbitrary and constricting. And finally, why would I have been mortified to send Sophie off to school with her tresses in high-flying, ratted knots?”
posted by Fizz (10 comments total) 8 users marked this as a favorite
 
"Everybody has a penis. Only girls wear barrettes."
posted by Slothrup at 12:49 PM on September 25, 2015


I take it she means white boys
posted by SassHat at 1:18 PM on September 25, 2015 [2 favorites]


Your hair doesn't fully belong to you. It partially belongs to society, and society reserves the right to dictate its style and social uses at any given historical time. Defying your era's cultural expectations for hair signals that you are not a social cooperator, and can get you shunned or isolated. It's best to go with the historical flow when it comes to hair. It's not worth fighting about, or losing an opportunity over.
posted by Modest House at 3:22 PM on September 25, 2015


Is it just me or are the questions in the blurb trivial?

As Modest House says, hairstyle is a cultural construct, which has pretty much broken down in the west; men and women can pretty much have the same hair, be it short, long, in a bun, dreadlocked. Braided is the one style which is a bit unusual for men, but it wouldn't cause scandal. Hair is no longer a sign of sexual difference.

And as for why you don't like to see your kid run off with 'high-flying, ratted knots'? That's grooming. It implies health (both physical as well as mental). So of course you don't like seeing your kid as percieved as unhealthy by others.
posted by MacD at 6:06 PM on September 25, 2015


I just finished reading A Brother's Price by Wen Spencer--in that world most baby boys die/get miscarried so there's something like 90% women/10% men so there's a lot of gender role reversal. Women have short hair because they're in the army, soldiers, working, etc., the few men have long, probably decorated braided hair because well, most of them aren't even allowed off home property in case someone abducts them. They're decorative, and they don't have to have short practical hair. The hair is to attract the ladies.

Likewise: men have short hair because they do things, women have long hair to be pretty.
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:35 PM on September 25, 2015 [1 favorite]


I grew my hair out once, to just the small of my back so as to donate it to a charity that makes wigs for children with cancer - I started from short hair, so I just grew it all out, no bangs or layering or anything.

Long hair is a terrible torment and I am so glad now that I no longer have to manage the care and upkeep of the hot, sweaty, never actually dry, pain-in-the-ass, 100 brushes before bed, sateen pillowcase, hair EVERYWHERE in the house, "is that a dead rat or clump of hair in the shower" monster that was long hair.
posted by the uncomplicated soups of my childhood at 7:11 PM on September 25, 2015 [2 favorites]


My family lived in Greece for a bit in the mid-70s, and my mother discovered that it was then the norm for girls to have short hair--wearing the hair long at a young age was thought to damage it. At that point, both my sister and I had waist-length hair, and total strangers (especially the Orthodox nuns, for some reason) would come up to my mother and comment on it. Eventually, I decided that I was tired of braids, and wound up with a pixie cut. Of course, after we got back to the USA, other children my age were suddenly baffled about whether I was a girl or a boy--after all, my hair was so short!
posted by thomas j wise at 8:50 PM on September 25, 2015 [1 favorite]


As a 50+ YO man with long hair...duh...
posted by Windopaene at 9:23 PM on September 25, 2015


Is this where we talk about the fragile masculinity report that "man-buns" will cause the wearer to go bald? As if all women who've ever worn our hair up have superhuman scalps?
posted by Sara C. at 11:57 PM on September 25, 2015 [1 favorite]


I am sorry, but that is not a hair question!
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 2:07 PM on September 26, 2015


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