QuoteReplyTopic: Hair cutting as a masculine power trip? Posted: January 10 2006 at 6:59am
A few months ago, my boy-heart (age 20) and I (age 17) were walking to his house when we passed a group of about three guys his age hanging out across the street. When the recognized he was a boy, they started cat-calling and threatening to cut his hair.
More recently, I read a novel (Capt. Hook) where the same sentiment was found:
"And of course, his [James] long black curls, bombilating [bouncing] with each step he took, caused many to delight in the idea of shearing them from his head." - Capt. Hook: Adventures of a Notorious Youth, J.V. Hart, p. 11
Can anyone tell me what the deal is with this? Is it some sort of testosterone-fuelled power trip? Is it a holdover from when Westerners used to shear the long hair of the natives as part of the attempt to 'civilise' them? Is it a repressed sexual thing, like the short-haired male feels threatened by the confidence of a male with long hair?
I didn't think that kind of thing happened anymore-- for the most part, it's gotten to the point where long-haired guys are pretty normal and accepted, these days. Unless your guy looks or dresses in some way feminine otherwise. . . a lot of guys still have a problem with that. . .
But it's not a one time thing, as I stated it showed up in a novel written by someone from Texas about Victorian England (well-researched, I love that author! XD) as well as that one incedent. Doesn't anyone have any similar stories? It was a threat, like a threat to beat him or me up. It's like this urge to cut the hair. Doesn't anyone have any clue why, psychologically? I'm still in the dark, and you two don't seem to understand what I'm asking.
I don't think it's instinctive, (I am a nuturist over a naturist every time!) I think that themes like that have percolated down into our everyday, mainstream culture to some extent and reside in the popular sub-conscious.
Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life.
I've seen a particularly aggressive and violent guy I knew get ticked
off when he thought someone was a pretty girl, then found out it was a
guy with long hair, then realized he'd fancied a guy. He was so
homophobic that this disturbed him and made him have violent urges
towards the guy who he felt "made him look gay".
It could also be that long haired guys often get pretty girls, and
these other guys are too scared of how their friends will treat them to
grow their own long, but are jealous and want pretty girls too.
It could also be that they are just a gang of thugs looking for a fight
and they focus on something obvious because they don't think too
hard. Who knows?
Making metal barettes/concord clips hair safe, long hair style how to: http://alonghair.wordpress.com
Susan: Whoah, thanks for the insight!! I never thought of that before, but it makes a whole BUNCH of sense!! I mean, the whole issue of confidence being attractive--more attractive--than sheer aggressiveness. On a side note, I think it's really weird that boys try to impress girls the way they try to impress boys (i.e. with aggression and brutality) and girls try to impress boys the way they impress other girls (i.e. by starving themselves to be thin or wearing clothes that they percieve as flattering). But that's another story, isn't it?
Confidence gets the ladies/gentlemen, every time. ^_^ Thanks for your help Susan!
[QUOTE=Susan W]I've seen a particularly aggressive and violent guy I knew get ticked off when he thought someone was a pretty girl, then found out it was a guy with long hair, then realized he'd fancied a guy.
-This is a very interesting point and it was mentioned in the book "Escape from Childhood" (by John Holt, a child liberationist like me). In it, he mentions the theory that men disapprove of other men with long hair because they have the habit of "sizing up" a girl, I.E. looking her over on sight to consider her from a sexual point of view, and get upset if they see a "longhair" and think him to be a girl.
My friend John is a Mexican American and around the late 70s, he had REAL long hair, like many of his friends. One day, a guy whistled at him from a car. It did not take too long for him to get a haircut after that.
It could also be that long haired guys often get pretty girls, and these other guys are too scared of how their friends will treat them to grow their own long, but are jealous and want pretty girls too.
-This is news to me. We longhairs have an advantage with pretty girls? You hear so much about girls liking shaved heads, or at any rate a traditional short haircut on men. Please Susan, tell me more!
Melantha: Absolutely, confidence is attractive - Its far more important than looks, really.
Duke: I haven't read that book. I do think its mostly
homophobic men that get upset by accidentally sizing up a guy,
otherwise the guy who'd made the mistake would just go "Oops! Mistake!"
and maybe feel embarassed. Homophobic hatred is often related to
childhood issues though. Though I know its true its strange, as a
woman, to think that guys size us up first thing from a sexual point of
view - Sizing someone up in such a way is something that doesn't
even occur to me until much later, only if I discover a personality I
can trust! I don't know how well I represent the rest of
woman-kind though.
Maybe you are hanging out with girls who don't approve of long haired
guys ...go somewhere else! Some people pick up the views of their
families or people around them (especially if they haven't worried
about thinking of what their own view on a certain topic might be), and
if everyone around them has the anti-long hair on guys viewpoint, and
there aren't THAT many long haired guys around for them to get to know
and form their own good opinion of, you may run into more women that
share this no-long-hair-on-guys viewpoint. Go to places where you
see more long haired guys, and you will find that more long-hair loving
women are attracted to be at those places too. (I guess I always
hung out with the crowd that didn't care much for traditional views,
and the long haired guys were always taken).
Making metal barettes/concord clips hair safe, long hair style how to: http://alonghair.wordpress.com
Kuroneko
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I guess that's one of my more masculine traits-- I actually do size up girls sexually when I first see them. However, I don't get angry if I mistake a guy for a girl at first, only disappointed and maybe a bit embarrassed. *shrugs* But guys tend to be more violent/aggressive than girls in general, so the difference in reaction isn't surprising. I think I have an easier time telling genders than most people, though-- unless it's one of those "guess the gender" contests where they're trying to fool people, I probably get it right some 98% of the time ^_^ .
Melantha, tell your BF to learn some martial arts a.s.a.p.! Intolerant & alterophobic (It's actually alterophoby the issue we're talking here!) seldom get extremelly violent. They have the weird & wrong impression only they are 'real men' and everybody must worship them for veing so. There are places in this world where a long haired MAN's life can be very hard because of such imbecils... Pls, tell your BF to resisty the social pressure and keep kis hair long!
I think your initial assertion is absolutely correct. Wasn't it
un-reconstructed dads from the old days who used to bark: "Get your
hair cut, you look like a girl!". I mean, they never said, "Grow your
hair, son, you look like a convict!", did they? Ergo, the desire to
influence another to cut their hair is pure control-freakery. I had it
throughout my childhood.
Wish I heard at least once my parents telling me "Grow your hair, son, you look like a convict!"... Phil is right - it's all about control. Some freaks simply wanna control everything and everybody! Unfortunatelly for the whole world, politicians belong to this freakish category! BTW (this might be an ideea for a new topic) has somone ever seen a long-haired MALE politician - I mean nowadays, not in the 1600s? Wish I had!
Thank U for the reading, Susan W! If I were a citizen of Hong Kong I'd sure have voted for him. I guess this is the first politician I like - not only because his hair is long. From my point of view (I know a lot of people will disagree or even hate me for saying this), short haired politicians are NOT trustworthy. And Leung Kwok-hung proves I'm right!
Blessed be,
Mark Edward Arthur Mac Arran Blackrose
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I don't think it is as much of a power trip as jealousy over seeing someone outside of social norms. I find that most people wish they were strong enough to step outside the box, but few are.
Kuroneko pointed out she doesn't think it happens that much anymore. As a professional musician, I have long hair. I still get comments from passerbys whenever I am out in a crowd and not on stage or recognized for my persona. My son also chooses to wear his hair long. He plays basketball for a travelling youth team and gets teased constantly. He understands that simple minds will always pick on people that don't accept traditional social norms. Therefore, he continues to let it grow. It's curious that the same ones that initially tease him, welcome him as "Nash" once they see him play and respect his skills.
Society is cruel, uneducated and utterly fruitless. Teach our children well, they are the future.
I can barely conjure myself out of bed, let alone conjure up the devil.
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Thank U for the reading, Susan W! 
If I were a citizen of Hong Kong I'd sure have voted for him. I guess this is the first politician I like - not only because his hair is long. From my point of view (I know a lot of people will disagree or even hate me for saying this), short haired politicians are NOT trustworthy. And Leung Kwok-hung proves I'm right!
