How stereotypes are born

At the risk of stirring up a hornet's nest, I wanted to make an observation. In the course of discussions here in the past, the statement has been made that these boards have a slant towards being very pro long hair and anti short hair. The rebuttal has been that people here support freedom of choice and everyone is entitled to wear whatever hairstyle they choose and shouldn't be pressured into doing something they don't want.Currently, on the Personals board, there is a discussion thread (which you can go to by clicking here) that began with a post by Brian on a makeover he did on Genni, a young woman with very long hair. The end result wasn't the most flattering style ever, but it wasn't bad and it appeared that she was happy with the style.Given that, I would fully expect and understand if all of the succeeding posts in the thread took Brian to task for selling a copy of the video he made of the makeover or that he could have chosen a more attractive style (even though it supposedly came from a picture chosen by Genni).That wasn't the case, however.Of the 11 posts (I'm discounting my own and Diane's response to it, Brian's own posts, and Mark/Jack's duplicate and the response it generated), 6 are direct attacks on Brian for cutting Genni's hair at all. If they could get their hands on him, I believe he would have been lynched. None of these posts say that it could have been cut into a better style, but that by simply doing the cut at all Brian is "pathetic", "a butcher", and has committed "horrendous act of personal vandalism" and that "(s)adly, such offenses aren't prosecutable".Again, I don't particularly like the style myself, but if she wanted it cut, he did it, and she liked it, then how is Brian at fault? That's the type of thing that breeds the "pro long hair, anti short hair" stereotype.Just an observation,JerkyFleaP.S. And Diane, I would guess he is selling the tape because there is a market for it. Pretty much that simple.Related Link:JerkyFlea's Celebrity Hair Spray

No kidding!!I love long, *healthy* hair. And it was more than evident than Genni definitely needed a major trim. I personally would have gone mid-back or up to the shoulder, but some of those responses were crazy!>6 are direct> attacks on Brian for cutting Genni's hair at all .Apparently, Brian edited out the part where he kidnapped Genni, put a gun to her head and forced her to get the haircut.....>Brian is> "pathetic", "a butcher", and has> committed "horrendous act of personal> vandalism" and that "(s)adly, such offenses> aren't prosecutable".But I guess growing hair down to your feet, no matter what it looks like is an admirable goal, even if the hair is so split that there are less than 100 hairs reaching the longest length!I really think people need to be a bit more open-minded and think more about the style than the length. People who call the person who performs long-to-short makeovers the "butcher" are just as radical as those who say, "buzz it all off" or "shave it"!!

To keep the record straight, I did not write that Brian himself was pathetic. I said that his talent was. Even those who support Genni's choice of a hair cut readily concede that the cut itself isn't very flattering and that any number of other lengths and/or styles would have been preferable. This is where his talent lacked, in my opinion.As for Brian himself, I have no question. He is certainly not pathetic, as he knows how to hock hair cutting parephenalia with incentives to buy now. Good for him, I say, IF Genni is aware and amenable to the fact that he is selling her image via the internet. If not, then for shame. But either way, Brian, himself, is not pathetic. Hardly. He's a shrewd businessman.What's more, he brought the issue to a hair care site, not just to hair cutting sites. As Jeff pointed out, Brian most likely was very well aware that his lack of detail in his first posting would elicit an emotional outburst from many readers. Again, hardly pathetic. Daresay I that he is politically savvy?Please watch what is quoted, because my thought was taken out of context.Jennifer Eve

But as JK said, often people will accuse the site of being only friendly to long-haired people, and others will vehemently deny it. He was just pointing to the reason some people may get that impression, and he's right! There were some very nasty comments. Can you imagine if someone announced that she grew her hair several feet long for a drastic change from several years ago and everyone said how awful she looked in long hair!? No, I can't either. {grin}

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