University of Virginia Library

Cavalier Sexuality: It's All A Matter Of Hair

By BOB HUSBANDS

What does your hair length
tell you about your sexuality?
What does it tell you about the
people you associate with?
Why do your parents get so
worried when you grow your
hair long?

Hair communicates publicly
the social-sexual category to
which you are supposed to
belong. If you don't agree, try
letting your hair grow long. Or
if it is long, cut it short. Then
see what your friends have to
say. In either case, you will
probably be given a suspicious
look or two. Like it or not,
your hair style helps to
establish your identity, and
when you change your hair
style people question your
identity.

But of course you're asking
by now, what does my
particular hair length say about
me?

Generally very long hair
suggests unrestrained sexuality,
long hair suggests average
sexuality, closely trimmed hair
means restricted sexuality, and
no hair simply means no
sexuality at all.

A lesson from history
should help explain . In the
17th century English War of
the Roses the antagonists were
the Cavaliers and the
Roundheads. The Cavaliers
wore their hair long, indulged
in wine and women, and
generally followed their sexual
impulses (sound familiar?)
while the Roundheads wore
their hair short and were
Puritans.

Modern society is no
different. The American way
of life is very much geared to
the meaning of one's hair
length and style.

Dirty Locks

In America today, very long
hair is usually associated with
permissiveness, promiscuity,
and "dirtiness". Most parents
try to keep their son's hair at
the length which they feel is
appropriate. They will
sometimes say that long hair is
all right if it is neatly combed,
clean, or if it's tied back. Why?

Their wishes may relate to a
desire to restrict their son's
sexuality. But the same father
who worries about the meaning
of his son's long locks has good
reason to fear what his growing
baldness communicates about
his own potency. It is curious
to observe that very few
parents want their son to cut
off all his hair, perhaps because
few parents want their son to
appear celibate.

Parents' desires to control
their son's hair length also
relates to some of the people
and ideas which are associated
with long hair.

Generally, the more creative
function a person performs the
longer is his hair. This includes
artists, writers, and musicians.
Who can forget the older set's
reaction when the Beatles first

appeared or when the Rolling
Stones came out?

People tend to fear some of
the roles associated with long
hair. Remember that
revolutionaries and leftist
groups are usually pictured
with long hair. Parents at times
talk emotionally about the
association between drugs,
moral degeneration, general
irresponsibility and long hair.
"Those dirty hippies" is a
deviling term familiar to most
American homes. In most cases
parents simply don't want their
sons to grow their hair long
because they fear these things
all of which are associated with
this hair style.

On the other hand, short,
neatly trimmed hair represents
authority: President Nixon
personifies this image
perfectly. Or think of how you
picture the typical corporate
executive or a Marine Corps
sergeant – not with bangs and
hair on the shoulders, to be
sure.

Clean Celibacy

The Roman Catholic
priesthood also serves as a good
example. The fact that priests
have shaven heads creates an
association with celibacy which
gives them an additional source
of power and authority besides
that normally associated with
closely trimmed hair.

Many interesting public
figures have had
emotion-evoking hair styles.
Who can forget how many
times people in a crowd told
Robert Kennedy to get a
haircut? What did they
associate it with? He did have
13 children and was termed a
liberal, that might indicate
something. However, there are
exceptions to the long hair
theme. Paul Newman and the
maverick Yul Brynner are still
sex symbols that remain
unexplained phenomena.

Hair styles will continue to
be a topic for debate. The only
thing that is blatantly obvious
about this subject is that
nothing is really obvious. Of
the possible viewpoints to take
on the topic, the emphasis of
this article has been on some of
the anthropological
perspectives. It should
probably be added that there
are other perspectives to take
– such as hair from a historical
viewpoint or from a
psychoanalytic viewpoint.

However, one tends to
wonder where the nebulous
ends on this subject and where
the clearcut emerges. Yet one
thing seems certain – and as
the present trend seems to be
for hair to become increasingly
more visible – it will not
disappear as a subject of the
past.