Why Hair Should be Gendered, At All? I had my first buzz cut as an adult in 2017. It was a gut feeling to go to the salon and make them cut all of my hair. When the process started, I had a hard time looking in the mirror, I was cutting of what I think of my femininity. I wasn’t the only one that associated long hair with femininity, short hair with masculinity. For example, French people used to shave a women’s hair as a form of punishment. It was a way to socially disgrace the women by taking away her femininity. Men who wanted to grow hair faced serious resistance from others since it was looked as though men is downplaying himself by having a girls’ hair. Frankly, looking from the position I’m sitting right now, it’s hard to understand how come someone’s hair can be someone else’s? If you are a man your hair is a men’s hair, if you’re a woman your hair is a women’s hair, if you are a queer person, your hair is a queer person’s hair. It’s yours. Hairstyles should not be gendered. Even as a teenager, long before I rocked a buzzcut, I hated the idea that people need to hide who they’re and some people should wear some kind of clothes and some other people should have some other kind of hair. And I believe there is a handsomeness to carrying a long hair and there is great
femininity in
punkish buzz cut.
having
a
For example, Jared Leto’s amazing Jesus-like hair in 2015’s Oscars and Kristen Stewart’s bleached buzz cut hair in 2017’s Personal Shopper Premier. When we see them carrying these beautiful head of hair, do we really think they’re being something other than themselves?
When Gender Trouble: Feminism and Subversion of Identity This was published it was initially a critique for feminist political agenda. Feminism tried to create an identity that was essentially heterosexual and cis, discluding any other form of being outside of its fight. Consequently, feminism at that time was continuing to reinforce the stereotypical viewpoints about gender and identity therefore it was giving way to other forms of mistreatments and inequalities. In this book Judith Butler built a new understanding of identity which is now called as Queer Theory. Today we know that the sex we are born into does not determine the gender we are going to live in. Gender is all forms of social expressions and identity formed by society and its solely performative. That is why a simple thing like hair had this much power on people’s understandings. However, now that we know so much about gender and identity, do we really need to put ourselves into the box of men and women or are we ready to see the world outside of this binary, starting with hair. In the past five to ten years, based on this very idea, gender neutral hair salons started to open up in different parts of the world. This worked perfectly for everybody because it eliminated
the Pink Tax for women (Pink Tax is the additional value therefore money in the female products and services) and it removed the fear of facing discrimination while getting your hair done.
Male hair salons have been traditionally cheaper assuming men is not looking to afford much on a haircut and that reverse assumption is reason why female salons have always been much more expensive. Masami Hosono, Creative Director of Vacancy Project (a gender-neutral salon in NYC) talked to Allure about this project saying whoever comes to salon their paying options are the same, they’re paying for a haircut by Hosono. Vacancy Project is just one example to a change that is happening in hair industry. I really do believe gender neutral hair salons gaining more attention and importance today since it really gives its costumers a liberty and chance to be themselves without putting them under any kind of judgement. These are exciting days, indeed. Here is the article “An Ultimate Guide to Coloring Hair� Click here. Photo Sources:
[1] http://cdn01.cdn.justjared.com [2] metrouk2.files.wordpress.com [3] http://www.hurriyet.com.tr