Oh, brother. It looks like Katy Perry might be getting a little carried away with herself. Perry believes her new haircut could help redefine femininity — the haircut she has had for a few days, looks incredibly similar to other women who have had a similar haircut and for all intents and purposes just appears to be a simple post-breakup haircut. Wow, I mean, where to begin? Is it time we sat down and had a talk, Perry? I hate to break it to you, but you’re not going to be redefining anything other than your own sense of self (as one should when transitioning into a new phase of life) any time soon.
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Listen, I have had super-short hair for about four years. I’ve run the gamut, from pixie to bob to buzz cut. I currently sport a buzz cut:
new hairs. pic.twitter.com/gX3wgRlOQT
— allie "sorry i dipped" gemmill (@__allie) March 6, 2017
So, when I see that Perry somehow believes her short hair will redefine femininity, I want to politely tap her on the shoulder and offer her a chill pill.
All good-for-yous aside, Perry is actually a little misguided in her belief that she will somehow manage to totally reshape how society perceives femininity. Does she believe that she alone will get people to stop accidentally calling women “sir” when they approach from the side or from behind because she lobbed her hair off? Did she possibly envision that her new half-pixie, half-buzz cut would render all judgments about women and their sexual orientation or gender identity null and void because she was so brave to chop off her locks? Does she think that men will stop trying to grab me or joke about trying to “turn me straight” (not that it matters, but I am straight, so ha) when I go out to a bar? That last thing has happened a lot over the last few years, and it’s made me reconsider my stance on kneeing men in their genitals.
Basically, my point is this: Short hair is empowering as fuck. Like, I totally get the endorphin rush that comes with cutting off all that hair and letting the relative weightlessness of your head guide you through the world. Who needs a full head of hair when you can sport your natural glory unencumbered by long locks? No shade, but short-haired women know what’s up. I love having short hair, and I’m willing to go on record and say I will never grow it out again. For the rest of my life. I plan on living until I’m about 150, so that’s a long time, friends.
So, imagine how much my empowerment and happiness doubles, triples, quadruples whenever I see a female celebrity embrace short hair. The glow post-chop is much fun to witness. Seeing women represented in film, TV and media with short hair and relieved of the pressure to justify their sexuality or gender or give any damn reason about why they wanted to cut their hair is so great to see. To me, femininity is not defined by hair, but seeing a woman subvert expectations of traditional femininity by cutting her hair short is perhaps the most feminine and feminist thing I can think of doing.
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Femininity has already been changed and redefined thanks to women who came before me and Perry who decided to cut their hair. Short hair is not a new trend, but it is still revolutionary. Not to brag, but if you want to redefine femininity, you buzz your hair down like me and keep people guessing; you don’t cut your hair into a pixie, bleach it and beat your chest yelling about feminism while you perform at the iHeartRadio Music Awards.
Again, I want to stress that I believe Perry looks great and I am happy she has a newfound sense of self in the wake of a breakup. Getting stable and staying focused after a big change like that is tough; I don’t want to diminish her work in that area. Similarly she is killing the music game right now. I mean, have you even listened to “Chained to the Rhythm” yet? It’s amazing.
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But the hubris that comes with stating you want to “redefine femininity” with a haircut — one that’s been worn and celebrated for decades too — is a little ridiculous. I can’t congratulate your choice of coif insofar as to imply it’s somehow revolutionary, especially when it ignores all of the potentially sticky social situations that come with wearing it.
Please take a chill pill, Perry. Sanctimonious feminist isn’t a good look.
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