Hair Length and Gender (2)

Man and woman with short hair
Photo: Shutterstock
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The beauty ideal for women has been rather stable for centuries, and it is long, luscious, and at its best even curly. Abundant, healthy hair is thought to reflect health, sensuality, and youth. Throughout history, fashion hairstyles for women have come and gone, but the length of hair was not altered unless the woman joined a convent or was condemned to prison or even death.
 
Nuns show their humility by adopting short hair under their habits, and female prisoners were involuntarily humiliated by having their femininity and even humanity taken away by having their heads shaved, just as it happened to slaves and prisoners of war.
 
The power of hair has been studied by anthropologists, psychologists, and evolutionary biologists, just to name a few. When sifting through the results of the many surveys, observations, and also taking into account all of the dos and don'ts included in religious scriptures from all over the world, the picture of natural instincts versus regulated control clearly emerges with well-defined edges and the occasional sideburn.
 
Former Marine and CEO Theodore B. went through all stages of hair length himself and described his experience: "With long hair, it was hard to get a management position and respect, but the women liked it."
 
The admiration for long hair is in our DNA. It signifies strength, health, and the potential for those same qualities in offspring. Despite the fact that today more men prefer women with long hair and more women are reacting to short dapperness, the latter a trend that is just a little over a century old, the attribution of feminine and masculine qualities to the length of hair is fairly new and not in tune with our inner make-up.
 
Woman with long hair and buzzed hair
Image: AI illustration
Long hair is magical, and when healthy and well-kept, it is highly attractive and sensual. It begs to be touched and admired. For women, short styles can be just as feminine as long ones, and long hair does not emasculate a man; it is quite the opposite.
 
The more diverse our societies become, the more acceptable it is to break through the old rules and conservative ideas are slowly diminishing. There is no longer right or wrong. Gender equality, the changing of roles, and the redefinition of what signifies gender in the first place will soon deflate any discussion of how men and women should wear their hair.
 
From Julius Caesar to the Beatles and Jared Leto, from Aphrodite to Joan of Arc and Halle Berry, the story of hair lengths is the story of societies and in our century there should be no more right or wrong. Hair length is a personal choice and the world just becomes brighter with more variety and creativity on the heads around us.
 
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See also:
 
Hair lengths
 
The value of hair
 
Why hair is so important