Short Hair?... I Don't Care!
by Sidra Lackey
Issue date: 5/4/09 Section: Arts & Entertainment
There's a big difference between black women cutting their hair short and women of other ethnicities doing the same. A Black woman tends to get more kudos for going "back to her roots" or going against the norm of straightening and extensions. When a white woman goes short, she may get more grief, especially from men because she's pretty much expected to have long hair. I love seeing other black women with their hair short, but I'm almost in awe when I come across a White, Indian or Hispanic woman who has cut her tresses. I see it as them going against the notion that beauty is equated to long hair, because their cultures especially seem to praise long hair on women.
Why is short hair on women so intimidating? Because there is a myth that says short hair makes a woman look like a man. Long hair on women has always represented femininity and sexuality in most cultures. Short hair on women goes in and out of style but it has a long way to go before it becomes an accepted norm of attractiveness for women everywhere.
A line in the poem "On Short Hair" by Joan Juliet Buck reads, "Long hair tells men that you are all woman, or a real woman, or at the very least a girl. Short hair always makes them wonder." Hmmm… this is exactly why there's such a huge stigma against women who have short hair: Men don't want a woman to look like them and women don't want to look like men. It's a really ridiculous way to think because unless a woman with short hair is shaped like a man, she can't possibly be mistaken for one. And it's not the end of the world if it happens. I've been mistaken for a boy recently and it's because I had my head down and hoodie up. I almost laughed aloud at the irony because with my hair uncovered, I've never been mistaken for the opposite sex. But if I ever am, who cares? I know my femininity is not dependent on the length of my hair. Buck said it perfectly: "Chase to the cut." I agree. Short-haired women, stand tall. We are beautiful.
Why is short hair on women so intimidating? Because there is a myth that says short hair makes a woman look like a man. Long hair on women has always represented femininity and sexuality in most cultures. Short hair on women goes in and out of style but it has a long way to go before it becomes an accepted norm of attractiveness for women everywhere.
A line in the poem "On Short Hair" by Joan Juliet Buck reads, "Long hair tells men that you are all woman, or a real woman, or at the very least a girl. Short hair always makes them wonder." Hmmm… this is exactly why there's such a huge stigma against women who have short hair: Men don't want a woman to look like them and women don't want to look like men. It's a really ridiculous way to think because unless a woman with short hair is shaped like a man, she can't possibly be mistaken for one. And it's not the end of the world if it happens. I've been mistaken for a boy recently and it's because I had my head down and hoodie up. I almost laughed aloud at the irony because with my hair uncovered, I've never been mistaken for the opposite sex. But if I ever am, who cares? I know my femininity is not dependent on the length of my hair. Buck said it perfectly: "Chase to the cut." I agree. Short-haired women, stand tall. We are beautiful.
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