Short Hair Don't Care

Short-haired me. June 2013.

Recently, I learned that short hair connotes a damaged woman. In cropping our locks, short-haired women have chosen to become unattractive to men. As no normal woman could want to deflect male attraction, short hair indicates a dislike for men and other psychological instability.

Who knew?

Well, other than the writer of a deliberately incendiary post on a men’s site.

Female writers have written responses to the post, including a lengthy blog by Laurie Penny on The New Statesman.

The discussion fascinated me—and confused me. Consider my eyes opened. I’d never realized that people saw short hair as a statement of any kind, political or social or personal or otherwise. I didn’t know people categorized women with short hair into any specific “type.”

If I’d considered short hair a statement at age fourteen, when I cut it off, I’ve long since forgotten what sort of statement I thought I’d made. Unless liking myself with short hair makes for a statement. In that case, yep, I’ve made a statement.

Sure, if I’d thought about it at all, I would have conceded that some men prefer long hair on women. (Just as some women prefer long hair on men.) Does that mean my short hair has made me less attractive to men than I might be with long hair? I have no clue. Perhaps. Yet I’ve never had trouble getting dates.

Maybe more men would approach me if I had long hair. But why would I want more men to hit on me?

Quality over quantity.

The right man will like me with short hair, just as I like myself with short hair. If a man doesn’t like my tresses, I’d rather he not approach. Shouldn’t we all seek people who appreciate us for exactly ourselves, just as we are?

I don’t care if you don’t like my short hair. I like it. And that’s all that matters.

Do you think women with short hair make a certain statement or fit a particular “type?”