Female Brains Need Less Hair
October 5, 2005 7:39 AM   Subscribe

Female Brains Need Less Hair Girls going to public schools in Togo have been ordered to shave their heads by the country's Education Minister. It's supposed to make them concentrate on school work instead of looking cute.
posted by chai-rista (45 comments total)
 
Well, that's weird...
posted by delmoi at 7:45 AM on October 5, 2005


Enter the panopticon.
posted by The Jesse Helms at 7:49 AM on October 5, 2005


... but I doubt they're going to dissolve the boy's sports programs.
posted by CynicalKnight at 7:49 AM on October 5, 2005


B-B-But women with shaved heads are hawt
posted by fullerine at 7:51 AM on October 5, 2005


I can remember at school I couldn't grow my hair - ok, I'm a bloke but still. Wasn't right then, still isn't right now - specially seeing I couldn't grow my hair if I wanted to now (without looking really really sad that is)
posted by twistedonion at 7:52 AM on October 5, 2005


crazy baldheads! and I thought we were supposed to chase those right out of town
posted by los pijamas del gato at 7:54 AM on October 5, 2005


Both your links point to the same page.
Oh, and what fullerine said.
posted by boo_radley at 7:55 AM on October 5, 2005


and the newsfilter rolls on.....
posted by Edible Energy at 7:59 AM on October 5, 2005


So the girls get short haircuts, and their school performance instantly improves, right? Can't wait to see the next "distraction" on which the Ministry of Education pins blame.

It looks like school boards are all alike, no matter where you are.
posted by Faint of Butt at 8:05 AM on October 5, 2005


Schools blame the distraction of fashion for girls' low academic record.

What utter, utter bullshit. If African societies treated women like humans, instead of cattle, and actually let girls finish their education, their academic records would be just fine.

This hair thing is an excuse not to have to face up to the problem, nothing more.
posted by tomcosgrave at 8:06 AM on October 5, 2005


Are they suggesting kids are more into fashion than Algebra? Thank God we don't have that problem over here!
posted by j.p. Hung at 8:16 AM on October 5, 2005


Sounds like some administrator just figured out a way to actualize his personal fetish for shaved children.

And, because it fits so well, to quote the Fresh Prince "You go to school for learning, not for a fashion show!"
posted by fenriq at 8:16 AM on October 5, 2005


"One parent told me he thought it unfair to pick on girls in this way and that the root cause of underachievement was not being tackled."

Indeed.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 8:22 AM on October 5, 2005


also, those pesky genitals have to go...this is school for cryin' out loud!
posted by freudianslipper at 8:23 AM on October 5, 2005


Only fair if the boys have to shave their heads too.
posted by mrbill at 8:24 AM on October 5, 2005


Not that I support this draconian provision at all but: I remember in high school there was this boy who sat behind me in american history, and he would very discreetly play with my long hair (it fell onto his desk if I wore it down) throughout the entire lecture. We never got caught the entire semester. It was rather distracting, but pretty fucking cool.
posted by naxosaxur at 8:25 AM on October 5, 2005


I don't know that it's so bad really, assuming that girls with shaved hair is more common in Togo than here. I wore a uniform to school for similar reasons (no fashion distraction), and I really appreciated it.
posted by dame at 8:28 AM on October 5, 2005


Also, the girl in the photo looks much better with a shaved head. I'd say they were doing her a favor.
posted by dame at 8:29 AM on October 5, 2005


well, hair is just another (conventionally attractive) form of excrement, so there probably is some health benefit to discarding your excrement. i'm sure they wouldn't let some guy with poop hanging between his legs come to school.

both links go to the same page.

um, i'll try to think of something here ... how does this compare to the French school ban on headscarves? that only applied to females as well, i think.

what about body modification in US public schools? are pierced cheeks and eyebrows acceptable everywhere?
posted by mrgrimm at 8:32 AM on October 5, 2005


Oh I see, this is because it's much easier to look cute with short hair.
An overbearing and intrusive step forward, but forward it is.

Right?
posted by NinjaPirate at 8:37 AM on October 5, 2005


what dame and fullerine said
posted by PenguinBukkake at 8:38 AM on October 5, 2005


*glues naxos's hair to the desk*
posted by matteo at 8:39 AM on October 5, 2005


"crazy baldheads! and I thought we were supposed to chase those right out of town
posted by los pijamas del gato "

Lome, not Kingston mon!


Great, now everyone in the office thinks I'm the type of guy who laughs randomly. That's damn funny, you are indeed the cat's pajamas.

Perhaps they'll naturally gravitate to listening to punk rock now. (& get boyfriends named 'Otto'?)
posted by Smedleyman at 8:41 AM on October 5, 2005


are pierced cheeks and eyebrows acceptable everywhere?

cock rings definitely are
posted by PenguinBukkake at 8:43 AM on October 5, 2005


"One parent told me he thought it unfair to pick on girls in this way and that the root cause of underachievement was not being tackled."

Absolutely. It's much easier to achieve when you're being tackled.

Oh, and I went to a private uniform-only school and I'm still recovering from the blue-cords-izod-shirt scheme. Stunted my fashion sense seemingly permanently. (Which I'm not saying is entirely a bad thing.)
posted by papercake at 8:50 AM on October 5, 2005


how does this compare to the French school ban on headscarves? that only applied to females as well, i think.
Wearing headscarves also serves the purpose of keeping girls focused on the business at hand instead of looking cute, without requiring them to mutilate themselves.
posted by leapingsheep at 8:52 AM on October 5, 2005


Did you see the serious part of my response NinjaPirate? I think it's okay, because I don't think having a dress or grooming code is a bad thing. I went to a school with both and I think it did a good job of signalling that school is a serious place, where you ought to dress and comport yourself correctly. That this girl looks better is just a bonus.
posted by dame at 8:53 AM on October 5, 2005


i'm sure they wouldn't let some guy with poop hanging between his legs come to school.

At my secondary school (ages 11-16) we had to go to the deputy head to get toilet roll if we needed it, so quite possibly there were some people sent home in that condition. At infant school (4-7) children were prevented from going in lessons no matter how much they needed it, with predictable results.

If we had our heads shaved we could be suspended from attending the school until it grew back.
posted by biffa at 8:54 AM on October 5, 2005


Why do I think this is more about the boys getting distracted?

I note that buddhist nuns get their heads shaved, their breasts bound, and their names changed as well as their bodies starved to a boyish thinness all in order to de-feminize. So perhaps breast binding is next on the list? "Gee, we don't want those girls distracting themselves by staring at their own cleavage."
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 8:59 AM on October 5, 2005


Anyone else curious if this is just the effort of an Education Minister who simply wants fewer girls attending public schools?

Maybe to keep down the cost of education. Maybe he's just anti women's rights.

I don't know what phallocentric means, but no girls!
posted by herting at 9:03 AM on October 5, 2005


herting
Er, I think you're reading way, way too much into this. There's no grounds whatsoever to make such accusations.
posted by Sangermaine at 9:25 AM on October 5, 2005


No grounds, but it can be considered as a possibility.
posted by agregoli at 9:40 AM on October 5, 2005


Looks like a job for...


posted by wakko at 9:42 AM on October 5, 2005


"God made the Idiot for practice, and then He made the School Board." - Mark Twain

"Plus ça change... (plus c'est la même chose)" - Moi
posted by bigskyguy at 9:42 AM on October 5, 2005


i understand it's extreme, but i also remember the various 'mandates' when i was in high school intended to keep us unruly kids focused on studies - long skirts, no midriffs, etc. seems all these mandates are intended to make females less attractive, right about the time when they really start to become women.
posted by NationalKato at 10:21 AM on October 5, 2005


I think the male brain in an adolescent boy would work better without the constant distraction of a certain organ...

Perhaps if someone had cared enough about me, I woulnd't need a spell-checker...
posted by buck09 at 10:57 AM on October 5, 2005


Anyone else curious if this is just the effort of an Education Minister who simply wants fewer girls attending public schools?

That's the first thing that came to mind when I read this, especially when it mentioned girls thinking of dropping out because of the rule.
posted by transona5 at 11:02 AM on October 5, 2005


In Soviet Russia girls must shave backs in order to attend school.
posted by nofundy at 12:31 PM on October 5, 2005


The girl in the pic still looks cute.

I hope that they don't make them cut their boobs off when this doesn't work.
posted by ikkyu2 at 1:26 PM on October 5, 2005


wasting their time - three hours, sometimes days - with their hair

I can totally relate. One time, I had this wicked knot and it took the best part of a week to comb the bugger out.
posted by Sparx at 1:52 PM on October 5, 2005


A hare-brained scheme.
posted by Joeforking at 3:37 PM on October 5, 2005


"Girls' success rates are lower than boys," she said.

Which, obviously, is due to longer hair.
posted by Specklet at 4:22 PM on October 5, 2005


To make me cute I have to shave my ass and walk backwards. Luckily I'm a guy and I don't have to do that. I hate having a cold ass.
posted by Eekacat at 5:37 PM on October 5, 2005


Long hair and cleavage are similarly distracting to males? Huh.

Now i just need to find something to do with my cleavage for 3 hours a day.
posted by artifarce at 6:51 PM on October 5, 2005


Hah! It's simple, you just spend a great deal of time "losing" items in there and then retrieving them. Oops! I just lost my pencil.

Also, I came down with a mysterious case of itchy nipples last week and was spending a lot of time rubbing them. For some reason my husband found this very distracting.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 7:49 AM on October 6, 2005


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