Can you be a feminist if you have long hair?

[Fizzypoo]

I would love to be a feminist. I have read some books, I have read the feminist boards on here for a number of years (before GC) and I have learned about the structural inequality women have, and still have more to learn.

But I have long hair, I like looking hot on a night out and realise this is for Male attention. I have a lovely boyfriend, 2 DC and work in a LA job where I have to be careful about what I say online (and even who I follow on twitter as I'm GC). I would love to be a no nonsense sort of person like Greer and have that inner confidence in what she says with no fucks given, but I'm not.

I would like to go to meet ups in the city I live near, but I don't think I would fit in! I feel like a young naive girl as opposed to a strident feminist woman who knows her shit. Can I really belong in feminism?

Of course you can have long hair. What difference does the length of your hair make?

What? I have long highlighted hair, wear a fuckton of make up and totter around in very high heels all day. Nobody's taking my feminist badge away

Please do join in your local GC groups! I gave done a few meetups, bit of leaf letting etc - such a lovely mix of women. (About half of us had long hair and half short, if I remember correctly )

Thanks for the best laugh of the day!

My hair is long. Some men seem to find me attractive. I don’t have a cat. I do wear flat shoes. I’ve never looked at another woman’s cervix to raise my feminist awareness but I’m a feminist.

I'm a feminist because I believe women are fully human and don't need male approval, supervision or permission for being so, and that it is right for society to provide specific facilities and opportunities for women which can only ever go a tiny way towards rebalancing the huge sexism endemic in society.

I have long hair because I am autistic and can't stand other people touching my hair so I am limited to options I can do myself so it's either very long or buzz-cut short.

But you weren't asking about just the long hair as per the title but all sorts of things that might be construed as "being feminine" - of course this can be fine. You don't have to be stridently gender-nonconforming to be a feminist. What is tricky is establishing that your sense of self worth isn't reliant on these things, or on the approval from others that your conformity buys you.

There is no feminist uniform.

You don’t even have to be female to be a feminist..

Feminism is about supporting women's rights to choose how they live their lives and protect them from discrimination (among other things).

If a woman chooses to be a stay at home mum who wears lipstick every day and hates taking the bins out, feminism supports her rights to do that as much as it supports a short-haired, loud-mouthed female soccer player who drinks pints (stereotyping massively here!) There isn't 'one type' of feminist.

FWIW I am the main breadwinner in my family, have long hair, drink pints and hate taking the bins out. I am a committed (and fairly educated) feminist.

No. You have to have a buzz cut.

You can't wear make up, get married, have any children, shave your pits or your legs, or say anything nice about any man, ever. And, of course, you must burn all your bras. And never say the words Victoria and secret in the same sentence.

HTH.

I will @MacaroonMama

@FossiPajuZeka thank you, you understood what I was trying to articulate.

@MIdgebabe I've now seen one of those threads, I don't think what I'm asking about is the same as that op.

I think Germaine Greer herself had long hair when she was younger, so it should be ok, OP.

Shiva on a segway

Lang

Come to a WPUK meeting and you'll see every single flavour of woman all banding together in solidarity. From the gorgeous powerful butches to the most feminine of women. Nobody cares.

I'm getting the weirdest advert for wigs popping up next to this thread. Of course, feminists can wear wigs as well

Andrea Dworkin managed it

I would just love to be a feminist but I don't own a pair of dungarees and I'm not sure I have enough whiskers on my chin

I'm ashamed to say that despite my stridency on here I still have long hair. I do say I want it cut sometimes but my gf says she loves long hair.

Greer was a leggy, short-skirted, long-haired sexpot while at the same time writing some of the most important feminist works of a generation. Don't sweat the small stuff.

Is this a joke?

Yes, you can of course be a radical feminist and already are one if you agree with radical feminist literature. You don't have to be a butch lesbian separatist to be a radical feminist, it sounds like perhaps you have got the two confused.

Why of course you can have long hair.

But,
Is it blue?

Mine is and has been many vibrant colors over the years since I was a teen (electric and Navy blue mixed for the better part of the last ten years). I won't let the TRAs appropriate my existence nor my choice of hair color.

I don't see how hair color, length, or lack thereof could possibly bar you from being a feminist.

Christ, I've got long hair AND shaved legs, pits and bush. I'm now having an identity crisis that I've been doing feminism wrong. I don't wear skirts though unless it's a very special occasion when I might wear a dress. I like romantic fiction too.

I'm booking myself in for therapy as I feel so conflicted I might need to go out and dye my hair blue.