Mothers: the machismo boosters

May 26, 2015 / education, fashion, social, style / No Comments »

Yesterday I cut my daughter’s hair. I’m not a professional, and haven’t got much experience but, when I took a couple of steps backwards and looked at her, I was flabbergasted by her clean and spontaneous face .
Later my wife came home, and my satisfaction was fast gone. My wife shouting at me: “look what you’ve done of her, she was so pretty before, you’ve ruined her!”

The morning after, at the school gate, same reaction from the other mothers, looking at me like I was a torturer, a monster.

I’m a person who speaks opinions clearly out. So , to whom gave me a chance for a discussion, I explained my reasons.

1.  short hair stays cleaner.
2.  combing short hair is easier. My daughter is five. With short hair, she can comb them by herself, gaining autonomy and self confidence.
3.  short hair has less possibility to take lice.
4.  after swimming lessons, hair dries faster. So you don’t need to ruin the hair with a hair-dryer, a very beloved equipment of longhair girl´s mother.
5.  you can run and do sports easier because no hair gets into your eyes.
6.  when a father cuts the hair of a son, he may not reach the same aesthetically result of a professional, but with his example he transmits some good values: dear to do, learning through experience , doing new things is fun,…..
7. if you don’t bring your daughter to a professional stylist you are showing her that appearance is not so important.
8.  when you do yourself the hairdresser, you save  money which can be invested in more valuable matters : culture , education, charity,….

But for those mothers surrounding me my reasons were all insignificant, compared to their longhair beauty commandment. Their judging fingers where still pointing at me: ” You’ve ruined your daughter!”.

I kept my mouth shut, but in my mind there was a clear voice. All these mothers are the ruin. By placing appearance above practical, healthy and ethical reasons, they are promoting stupid pretty girls, ready food for a macho society.

Luckily there are lots of fathers fighting against it. For example my Opa, my Dutch grandfather, used to cut his daughters hair short too, whenever his wife was at adequate distance . Here pictures of my aunt Patricia in the sixties.