4 ms·

It's sort of funny that this was an actual TV program, but the association of hairstyle with personal virtue and shared political views is a much broader phenom

It's sort of funny that this was an actual TV program, but the association of hairstyle with personal virtue and shared political views is a much broader phenomenon. As a current example, online political activists/commentators have been known in recent years to disparagingly refer to people as having "fashy" or "feminist" hair.

BEEdwards 7y ago
Then something with real life consequences and not just internet nonsense, the hair of people of color is banned in both schools and places of work. IE dreads and afro styles.
- pbhjpbhj 7y ago
  This argument is pretty poor IMO - hair styles common to certain light-skinned people, skinhead and mohicans (say), are banned in many schools and places of work (in UK) too. It's weird to me that people get dictatorial about hair (but understandable in the sense that people will control what they feel they can to assert their dominance; petty power plays are rife in human society) but it doesn't seem racist.
  - danaris 7y ago
    It's racist when the styles that are banned are what certain ethnic groups' hair does if you don't take any special effort to style it—you just let it grow out and tend it normally—or if they're a very culturally common style among that ethnic group. Skinheads and mohawks are banned because they are strongly associated with violence and gang activity. Are you saying it's fine to associate traditional hairstyles of those of African heritage with violence and gang activity?
    - UnpossibleJim 7y ago
      The problem with associating the skinhead haircut with skinheads is, it's also associated with balding men who would rather not fight the inevitable and look sad trying =P
      - danaris 7y ago
        I totally agree, particularly since I've been balding since about 20. However, there is a genuine link between skinheads and violence—including neo-Nazism. The only link between hairstyles traditional to those of African descent and violence is racism and stereotyping.
        UnpossibleJim 7y ago
        Oh, I don't deny the link between skinheads and violence (to do so would be a farce). It's just a bit frustrating to be a white male who happens to shave his head in a VERY liberal city and deal with judgmental looks (oddly enough, only from well to do young to middle aged white people, which is hilarious).
        jonhendry18 7y ago
        " there is a genuine link between skinheads and violence—including neo-Nazism" True, but skinheads started as movement heavily influenced by Jamaicans and Jamaican music. The Nazi thing came later, but there have always been non-Nazi skinhead subgroups, like SHARPS (Skinheads against racial prejudice). A girlfriend of mine in college in the 90s was a Jewish skinhead at the time. Wikipedia: In the earlier stages of the movement, a considerable overlap existed between early skinhead subculture, mod subculture, and the rude boy subculture found among Jamaican British and Jamaican immigrant youth, as these three groups interacted and fraternized with each other within the same working class and poor neighbourhoods in Britain.[2] As skinheads adopted elements of mod subculture and Jamaican British and Jamaican immigrant rude boy subculture, both first and second generation skins were influenced by the heavy, repetitive rhythms of dub and ska, as well as rocksteady, reggae, bluebeat, and African-American soul music.[2][3][4]
    - pbhjpbhj 7y ago
      Well long hair happens with people regardless of skin colour, you can be ginger and have a fro -- long hair (for boys), or long hair that's not tied back (for anyone) is often against rules, which seems analogous to the fro situation? wrt dreds, they're not just uncut are they, I've seen plenty of light-skinned people with dreds. They're a sort of loose matting? Dreds in the UK are associated with "crusties", hippy eco-activists. Mohicans, mohawks if you like, were associated with punk many years ago but there's no connection now AFAICT, and whats wrong with punk?
caiocaiocaio 7y ago
In the late 60s, people took long hair very seriously, up to the point of writing angsty, tormented songs like "Almost Cut My Hair" by CSNY. Five or six years before that, "long hair" meant someone who knew a lot about classical music and fine art.
- happytoexplain 7y ago
  I'd argue that the people who assaulted and forcibly cut the long hair of men or banned men with long hair from (non-professional) establishments were taking it far more seriously.
walshemj 7y ago
Ah you mean the alt right guy who was sporting a Peaky Blinders cut - he would have lasted about 20 seconds down summer lane back in the day. For those of you not from Brumingham Summer Lane was the really rough area - think the street that had the Garrison pub in the first season of peaky blinders. I can remember hearing my grandparents mention that the police dint go there in threes they went in platoon strength.
- JimDabell 7y ago
  > For those of you not from Brumingham "Brum" is short for "Brummagem", nobody calls it "Brumingham".
Nasrudith 7y ago
Hair has long been a "factional" association mark because of the commitment. Just look at the queue before the fall of the empire which mandated it. Cutting it was essentially seen as a declaration of treason against their social order by defying the order. And it continued beyond then with things like natural hair vs powdered wigs as political statements. There were a dizzying number of associations in the 20th century alone.

BEEdwards 7y ago

Then something with real life consequences and not just internet nonsense, the hair of people of color is banned in both schools and places of work. IE dreads and afro styles.

pbhjpbhj 7y ago
This argument is pretty poor IMO - hair styles common to certain light-skinned people, skinhead and mohicans (say), are banned in many schools and places of work (in UK) too. It's weird to me that people get dictatorial about hair (but understandable in the sense that people will control what they feel they can to assert their dominance; petty power plays are rife in human society) but it doesn't seem racist.
- danaris 7y ago
  It's racist when the styles that are banned are what certain ethnic groups' hair does if you don't take any special effort to style it—you just let it grow out and tend it normally—or if they're a very culturally common style among that ethnic group. Skinheads and mohawks are banned because they are strongly associated with violence and gang activity. Are you saying it's fine to associate traditional hairstyles of those of African heritage with violence and gang activity?
  - UnpossibleJim 7y ago
    The problem with associating the skinhead haircut with skinheads is, it's also associated with balding men who would rather not fight the inevitable and look sad trying =P
    - danaris 7y ago
      I totally agree, particularly since I've been balding since about 20. However, there is a genuine link between skinheads and violence—including neo-Nazism. The only link between hairstyles traditional to those of African descent and violence is racism and stereotyping.
      - UnpossibleJim 7y ago
        Oh, I don't deny the link between skinheads and violence (to do so would be a farce). It's just a bit frustrating to be a white male who happens to shave his head in a VERY liberal city and deal with judgmental looks (oddly enough, only from well to do young to middle aged white people, which is hilarious).
      - jonhendry18 7y ago
        " there is a genuine link between skinheads and violence—including neo-Nazism" True, but skinheads started as movement heavily influenced by Jamaicans and Jamaican music. The Nazi thing came later, but there have always been non-Nazi skinhead subgroups, like SHARPS (Skinheads against racial prejudice). A girlfriend of mine in college in the 90s was a Jewish skinhead at the time. Wikipedia: In the earlier stages of the movement, a considerable overlap existed between early skinhead subculture, mod subculture, and the rude boy subculture found among Jamaican British and Jamaican immigrant youth, as these three groups interacted and fraternized with each other within the same working class and poor neighbourhoods in Britain.[2] As skinheads adopted elements of mod subculture and Jamaican British and Jamaican immigrant rude boy subculture, both first and second generation skins were influenced by the heavy, repetitive rhythms of dub and ska, as well as rocksteady, reggae, bluebeat, and African-American soul music.[2][3][4]
  - pbhjpbhj 7y ago
    Well long hair happens with people regardless of skin colour, you can be ginger and have a fro -- long hair (for boys), or long hair that's not tied back (for anyone) is often against rules, which seems analogous to the fro situation? wrt dreds, they're not just uncut are they, I've seen plenty of light-skinned people with dreds. They're a sort of loose matting? Dreds in the UK are associated with "crusties", hippy eco-activists. Mohicans, mohawks if you like, were associated with punk many years ago but there's no connection now AFAICT, and whats wrong with punk?

caiocaiocaio 7y ago

In the late 60s, people took long hair very seriously, up to the point of writing angsty, tormented songs like "Almost Cut My Hair" by CSNY. Five or six years before that, "long hair" meant someone who knew a lot about classical music and fine art.

happytoexplain 7y ago
I'd argue that the people who assaulted and forcibly cut the long hair of men or banned men with long hair from (non-professional) establishments were taking it far more seriously.

walshemj 7y ago

Ah you mean the alt right guy who was sporting a Peaky Blinders cut - he would have lasted about 20 seconds down summer lane back in the day. For those of you not from Brumingham Summer Lane was the really rough area - think the street that had the Garrison pub in the first season of peaky blinders. I can remember hearing my grandparents mention that the police dint go there in threes they went in platoon strength.

JimDabell 7y ago
> For those of you not from Brumingham "Brum" is short for "Brummagem", nobody calls it "Brumingham".

Nasrudith 7y ago

Hair has long been a "factional" association mark because of the commitment. Just look at the queue before the fall of the empire which mandated it. Cutting it was essentially seen as a declaration of treason against their social order by defying the order. And it continued beyond then with things like natural hair vs powdered wigs as political statements. There were a dizzying number of associations in the 20th century alone.