Why do women traditionally wear long hair, and men short hair? Today, long hair is a pain in the ass to comb, wash, and do general things with.

Is the only reason why women still have long hair because hair is such a big part of appearences, and appearances are fused so closely to sexuality, that women won't have hair that is easier/cheaper to maintain because it's not socially acceptable?


Does anyone know of any cultures where women have short hair and men have the long hair?

In most African tribes i have noticed women to have very short or no hair but the men are the same too. More and more women keep short hair these days, atleast in modernized parts of the city (NYC, NY for example) but even those women are a rarity.

My guess is that is is associated with gender roles in a society. A women is expected to have long hair and men are expected to have nice short hair, though it isn't as penal and looked down upon to go against that norm unlike other things.

Why is it in women’s romance novels (not as if I have read any) the man always have long hair?

Originally posted by Neuromancer
Why is it in women’s romance novels (not as if I have read any) the man always have long hair?

Thank Fabio for that. Those are aimed at bored housewives....i guess they like the allure of a European man.

I see no evidence for that it should not be acceptable that women have short hair and men long hair. Have you been to Europe lately?

Hair trend's pretty odd, isn't it? I remember reading a book saying that sometime near or in middle age it was even <i>compulsory</i> that men have long hair, sometimes with an extra condition that if a man had his hair cut, he would lose some citizenship rights or even more severe punishment......

I think that a woman should be able to wear her hair any way she chooses. I like short hair on a woman but long hair, when it looks right, isn't bad either.

Um, having short hair is socially accepted. What planet are you on? :P

We wear long hair because it makes us look pretty and boys like it; no other reason, really.
I adore boys with long hair. Short hair is sexy too..... Aw, you got me thinking!

I don't care how long the hair is. As for my hair it is neither long or short... its an Afro :(

I meant buzz cuts, or short hair like men wear today...only for women.

I haven't seen many women with "short hair"....like Sinead O'connor's hair back in the day (the girl that ripped a picture of the pope live on TV). You guys might be thinking of short hair as in only 4 inches long that comes just below the ears. Yea, that's short compared to shoulder length hair, but it's still a pain in the ass to maintain.

Wouldn't short hair (0-2 inches or 0-5 cm) be easier to live with than "longer hair?" I have seen women with short hair, but because a handful do it doesn't mean it's socially accepted. Maybe in Europe it's different, like you guys said.

But back to sargentlard's thoughts about gender roles. Would women, in general, switch to easier to maintain (and cheaper!) short hair, or does there need to be a strong difference between a woman and man's appearance?

Short hair is socially acceptable. Most women in THIS culture aspire to get longer hair simply because of images....

Either way, I prefer women with short hair. AKA Halle Berry ****drool******

****drool******
****drool******
****drool******'****drool******
v****drool******
****drool**********drool**********drool**********d rool**********drool******

I don't see what wrong with short hair on women and long hair on men? I'm totally ok with it and I've seen short haired girls that are still very attractive (and when I mean short I mean below 4 in)

thefountainhed,
you mean liek this? http://www.guru3d.com/forum/images/smilies/drool.gif

Ye, if you want to see women with short hair, I guess you have to come to NYC. Women with a 1mm hair length are here too. :P

People, migrate to NYC!

Well in certain cases in NYC women having short hair indicates their preference of gender.

This raises another curious albeit stupid question.

Why do homosexual women get those horrendously ugly mullet cuts or those trucker haircuts?...not all of them but certain lesbiens seem to prefer those hairstyles.

Yo Fetus! You gotta teach me how to make those cmilies man.

NYC just for women with short hair? Maybe if you were a hot woman, I'd consider.

Originally posted by thefountainhed
Yo Fetus! You gotta teach me how to make those cmilies man.



He gets them from another site. Just quote his post to see from where. I doubt he animates his own.

I animate my own avatars though http://www.theologyweb.com/forum/images/smilies/gavin.gif

NYC just for women with short hair? Maybe if you were a hot woman, I'd consider.

Are you a hot man? With long dark hair done pirate-style?

They do. A good number of the women I know wear hair as short as mine. (~1 inch)

its so I don't accidentally hit on a man while at a bar. the whole thing is to make my life and dating habits easier.

the world revolves around me, and I'm getting a bad case of motion sickeness.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by sargentlard
[B]Well in certain cases in NYC women having short hair indicates their preference of gender.

This raises another curious albeit stupid question.

Why do homosexual women get those horrendously ugly mullet cuts or those trucker haircuts?...not all of them but certain lesbiens seem to prefer those hairstyles.
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M*W: I know what a mullet is, but what is a trucker haircut? I guess I don't get out enough!

Originally posted by Medicine*Woman

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M*W: I know what a mullet is, but what is a trucker haircut? I guess I don't get out enough!

It is something similar and equally ugly.....few get them but why? Does no one tell them it is very, very, very unflattering on them?

I do not know about the majority but I would rather have long hair. I tried short once. I did not like it and have kept mine waist length ever since.

That is quite long considering such long hair is rare to see these days. Must be hell to manage.

http://www.lovelonghair.com/images/kr4b.jpg

It is not really all that much effort. I have had it long for most of my life so I am use to it. I do braid it to work in the garden and around the house. I put it up in a roll for day wear and a twist for nights out.

hair is very closely related to sexuality and self image
so a man with long hair is going against societies norms and is there by labeled rebeliouse
women like to dream of rebeliouse men for sexual encounters regardless of the fact that they do not realy understand what that translates to in this current society
:D

personaly i would be most unlikely to date a women with realy short hair as it is as much a statement as a man wearing a dress
how many women would go up to a man wearing a dress and ask him out for a romantic date?

men have to do the work currently
so there are certain signs required to indecate to the primates what is sexualy in the game and what is not
long well conditioned hair is a sign of good, high quality grooming

the arguement can be transfered to the shaving or not shaving concept for women and men also

so what is the ideal? for a man
look at the strippers!
excellenyt muscle definition with a good amount of muscle and long hair
what is the ideal for a women almost the same,
# except the obviouse submissive signs of personality for all those twisted power freak men that are soo easily frightened by a friendly women with an opinion and active interaction with strangers
:)

i haven't seen any evidence of a specific haircut for women. as in clothes, it's pretty much anything goes. the question should be rephrased to ask why not long hair for men, except that many do have long hair. i know a boy who has the same med-long cut i do. i hadn't thought of it as anything but a ladies' cut until i saw him wearing it and it looks fine on him too. but yeah, i don't see hair rules for women.

Originally posted by WellCookedFetus
Why is it in women’s romance novels (not as if I have read any) the men always have long hair? Because that's an archetype, an image from our collective unconscious. Remember Samson in the Old Testament. His long hair was the key to his strength. (I can tell you don't read them. The long hair is often on the cover illustration, not in the text.;))

Sexual dimorphism is not very prominent in our species. Compared to the animals you see in nature documentaries, male and female humans are nearly identical if they're dressed to cover their modesty. (Which is admittedly not always the case these days.)

The greatest visible difference is that males have more hair. Having facial hair is a sign of masculinity.

Somehow that's gotten twisted up in contemporary culture. I think that Hitler's mustache is what kindled the extremely recent trend toward a clean-shaven look. The unkempt and often unwashed beards of the hippies just accentuated society's notion that nice men shave. This isn't the first time this has happened. Fashions come and go and they can override the collective unconscious (and sometimes even common sense) for short periods.

But if you review portraiture throughout human history, it's clear that mustaches and beards were the norm far more often than not.

But today's American women have to deal with a culture in which the most desirable men are not reliably identified by their beautiful facial hair. The illustrators of romance novels know this. So they go back to the collective unconscious and the example of Samson. Men have more hair than women, that is an archetype. If it's temporarily taboo for men to have that extra hair on their faces, then let them grow it out of their scalps.

Fabio is a perfect example. For those of you who aren't familiar with the Fabio phenomenon, he was the model for many of those romance novel covers for many years. He has gorgeous blonde hair beyond shoulder length. I'm a (straight) man and even I have to admit his hair is to die for! He's got to be one of the ten best looking guys on this planet, and his hair has a lot to do with it.

Women adore him. They stand in line for hours for a chance to be photographed with him. Sure, he's a complete package: charming, sensible, humble, filthy rich. The kind of guy you pray your sister or daughter will marry. But it's the hair that really does it, not any of that other stuff. :)

Abundant hair on men is sexy. Women are programmed to respond to it, and so are we. Notice the huge chunk of the GDP devoted to baldness remedies?

If fashion temporarily discourages you guys (hey, I'm still a hippie ;)) from wearing it on your face, you just let it hang out of your head. Ladies love it. That's the way the world is supposed to be.

So short hair on women? Nothing wrong with that, in fact it's great. It makes it a lot easier for us to establish sexual dimorphism without having to get hair extensions!

the fasion is the key to the molding of most peoples
looks and ways of doing things in relation to personal hygene

the most fashionable thing for women is to have most if not all hair removed except for the head ..
and so according to the normal run of sociatal things the hair length will become crucial to be as long as possible with all other body hair removed

this will be the main pre cursor for men to remove all hair completely as they will not be bound the the huge social stigma of no hair on their head

which will then follow to have long hair in fashion with no other body hair

and on it goes untill genetic engineering has identified the way to stop hair growth in specific areas and then it will be normal to have only hair on your head...

you could call it natural evolution

Originally posted by Medicine*Woman
M*W: I know what a mullet is, but what is a trucker haircut? I guess I don't get out enough!

I think a trucker haircut is just a woman with a mullet, a cigarette behind her ear, a wad of chewing tobacco in her mouth, wearing a flannel shirt.

As for short hair versus long hair; I don't really have a preference either way. Whether or not it looks good depends on the woman. Halle Berry and Meg Ryan look much better with short hair, where Salma Hayek probably wouldn't. Would Monica Bellucci and Jennifer Aniston still be hot if they shaved their heads? Probably not.