nerad@closus.DEC (03/26/84)
!libation, as per usual...
In most Western cultures until very recently, it was considered the obligation
of the mother of the girl child to keep the child's hair as long as possible.
The hair was generally worn loose, tied back, or braided, but always down. It
was a signal in many cultures that an ingenue was of an age to be courted when
she was allowed to wear her hair up, and after marriage no one ever saw her
hair down but her husband, and perhaps her close relations/female friends.
The female skull is a bit oblate toward the upper back of the head (rising
from the neck). This has led to customs in some few parts of the world
ranging from elaborate coifs to emphasize this "feminine" feature, to pressing
the heads of babies to exaggerate it, or stretching the necks of women with
brass rings to emphasize the line of nape-top of head.
In many European cultures, one was supposed to be able to dis-empower a witch
by cutting her hair off short. (references to the Bible: Sampson, and "a
woman's hair is her glory..."). In the modern neo-pagan movement in this
country, long hair seems to be the general desired state of the majority of
women.
A case can be made for long hair being a symbol of women's oppression. Like
pale, perfect skin, long fingernails, high heels--long hair is another symbol
of the cultural prisoner/pedastal figure. It takes a large proportion of
"vanity time" in a woman's routine, and can prevent her from "dangerous"
physical activity (like wearing armor, historically. Any picture of Joan of
Arc, helmet in hand, with flowing long hair--well, let us say it is showing
artistic license. Some hair can cushion a helmet, but long hair would fill it
before your face got in.)
Please don't interpret this as an opinion against long hair! I am trying to
grow mine again, having cut it short in high school (in an effort to look
mature... hmmm...). And please excuse the lack of references; if I had time
to research all this stuph, I wouldn't have time to write it (and earn a
decent living... cultural anthropologists don't get paid like software people
*sigh*).
Shava Nerad
Telematic Systems (@DEC Ed. Svcs.)
{allegra,decvax}!decwrl!rhea!closus!neradksh@cbosgd.UUCP (Karen Summers-Horton) (03/26/84)
I think saying that all women cut their hair when they've 'caught their man' is ridiculous. I think as women get older, they tend to have pressure from society to portray a more mature appearance - hence they cut their hair (or wear it up). This is true whether they are married or involved or not. The same goes for men - in college it was not uncommon for me to see a guy with hair down to his shoulders (as recently as a few years ago). But when these men hit the real world, the pressure to cut their hair increased, and they usually gave in to it. Karen Summers-Horton