Poll: Is it sexist that men in the military have to shave their heads and women don't?

[Hectix777]

+THE POLL QUESTION IS: Do you think it's sexist that men in the military have to shave their heads, while women don't?+

I just joined the Corps of Cadets at my university in the hopes of straightening out my life, getting in shape, build confidence, etc. And around the third day of what my school calls FOW (picture military rush week) and that was the day we shaved our heads and essentially lost our individuality as a person and became fish (seriously my first name is now fish). Once a couple of male cadets got shaved (my brother, who is my superior, shaved my head in order to get a good shot for out old man) I noticed that the female cadets never got in the chair, they were never even called or looked at. At time of writing we're officially in day 2 of actual school and all any female cadets have to do in uniform is put their hair in a bun or ponytail. And I'm standing there thinking," wait, so I get my head shaved, and not only do they get to keep their but all they do is put their hair in a bun in uniform?" Does this not seem unfair to anyone else? I mean if the point of shaving our head was to destroy our individuality or keep the hair out of our eyes, wouldn't it be practical to apply it to both genders? On average women do have more hair then men, and if shaved that only creates less sense of individuality because now they lack sexual gender.

I'm just saying that this doesn't seem to be fair on terms of males and females. now before anyone starts: yes, this a man's world and has a lot of bias towards men being on top, and as of late women are becoming more prominent and even equal to men in many areas (Hell a Cadet from my school went on to contract in the military and won a Silver Star medal in combat, a female mind you) but there are still areas in the world where women receive more leniency than men.
IMPORTANT NOTE: This forum is meant STRICTLY for the discussion of female military personnel's grooming and the military dress code and the inequality between men and women in some aspect in this, not about women in the military, female bosses, sexuality, or anything else. I have no offense with those who wish to discuss these topics but I don't want this forum to turn into a massive war (hehe, get it?) where several people say something they didn't mean to because they didn't stop and think and end up getting banned. Please THINK and then post.

 

[Colour Scientist]

"Hairstyles shall not be outrageously multicoloured or faddish, to include shaved portions of the scalp (other than the neckline)"
http://usmilitary.about.com/cs/navy/a/navygrooming_2.htm

Apparently they aren't allowed to shave their heads.

It also says that men are allowed to have hair up to 2 inches long.

 

[DefunctTheory]

Not really.

Hair standards for modern militaries are less about lice, and more about having soldiers that don't look like a crew of shitty 1980's mercenaries. Shaving a females hair, which may take years to grow back, really isn't practical. Sure, it may help with the whole training thing, but then what?

As it stands, be grateful. I knew a lot of females in the Army that had to wake up at 5 in the morning to be able to get their hair right for physical training.

You may not like short hair, but at least it's simple.

 

[Esotera]

I'd say yes, but it's not really a massive deal...at the end of the day it's just hair and isn't a massive deal unless you're a Sikh or something. I'm sort of surprised that the army doesn't enforce it for everyone as I'd always thought the reason for short hair was to stop the spread of lice and to stop anyone from grabbing long hair in close combat.

Anyway, I'm sure the army has much bigger issues with sexism than this.

 

[Hectix777]

"Hairstyles shall not be outrageously multicoloured or faddish, to include shaved portions of the scalp (other than the neckline)"
http://usmilitary.about.com/cs/navy/a/navygrooming_2.htm

Apparently they aren't allowed to shave their heads.

It also says that men are allowed to have hair up to 2 inches long.

Well not shaved hair, but crew cuts. The near equivalent to a shaved a head.

 

[Chemical Alia]

"Hairstyles shall not be outrageously multicoloured or faddish, to include shaved portions of the scalp (other than the neckline)"
http://usmilitary.about.com/cs/navy/a/navygrooming_2.htm

Apparently they aren't allowed to shave their heads.

It also says that men are allowed to have hair up to 2 inches long.

I was in the army, and I knew a girl who did shave her head completely. She got a ton of flak for it when they cited that it was "faddish", but eventually was allowed to keep it on the grounds that it was the same hairstyle that men could wear. I also cut my hair to men's regulations to troll my first sergeant once, and wasn't punished either.

In the end it always seemed like more of a pain in the ass to have it long and keep it in regulations, like the bun couldn't touch the collar of your uniform and a bunch of other stupid crap. I just kept mine short so I wouldn't have to deal with it. But I don't see how it's sexist anymore than requiring men and women to have different class A uniforms, or making women wear skirts for certain events...

 

[DefunctTheory]

"Hairstyles shall not be outrageously multicoloured or faddish, to include shaved portions of the scalp (other than the neckline)"
http://usmilitary.about.com/cs/navy/a/navygrooming_2.htm

Apparently they aren't allowed to shave their heads.

It also says that men are allowed to have hair up to 2 inches long.

I was in the army, and I knew a girl who did shave her head completely. She got a ton of flak for it when they cited that it was "faddish", but eventually was allowed to keep it on the grounds that it was the same hairstyle that men could wear. I also cut my hair to men's regulations to troll my first sergeant once, and wasn't punished either.

In the end it always seemed like more of a pain in the ass to have it long and keep it in regulations, like the bun couldn't touch the collar of your uniform and a bunch of other stupid crap. I just kept mine short so I wouldn't have to deal with it. But I don't see how it's sexist anymore than requiring men and women to have different class A uniforms, or making women wear skirts for certain events...

What events did you go to where they required you to wear a skirt?

When I was in the Army, it was the opposite. If you were just attending an event, it was your call. If you were participating, you best get your ass into pants like everyone else.

 

[Chemical Alia]

"Hairstyles shall not be outrageously multicoloured or faddish, to include shaved portions of the scalp (other than the neckline)"
http://usmilitary.about.com/cs/navy/a/navygrooming_2.htm

Apparently they aren't allowed to shave their heads.

It also says that men are allowed to have hair up to 2 inches long.

I was in the army, and I knew a girl who did shave her head completely. She got a ton of flak for it when they cited that it was "faddish", but eventually was allowed to keep it on the grounds that it was the same hairstyle that men could wear. I also cut my hair to men's regulations to troll my first sergeant once, and wasn't punished either.

In the end it always seemed like more of a pain in the ass to have it long and keep it in regulations, like the bun couldn't touch the collar of your uniform and a bunch of other stupid crap. I just kept mine short so I wouldn't have to deal with it. But I don't see how it's sexist anymore than requiring men and women to have different class A uniforms, or making women wear skirts for certain events...

What events did you go to where they required you to wear a skirt?

When I was in the Army, it was the opposite. If you were just attending an event, it was your call. If you were participating, you best get your ass into pants like everyone else.

When I was at DLI, the commandant occasionally made all the army women wear skirts with their class As to certain events like parades, speeches, and anything where we had to go stand out in a field in formation for ages for official stuff.

 

[DefunctTheory]

"Hairstyles shall not be outrageously multicoloured or faddish, to include shaved portions of the scalp (other than the neckline)"
http://usmilitary.about.com/cs/navy/a/navygrooming_2.htm

Apparently they aren't allowed to shave their heads.

It also says that men are allowed to have hair up to 2 inches long.

I was in the army, and I knew a girl who did shave her head completely. She got a ton of flak for it when they cited that it was "faddish", but eventually was allowed to keep it on the grounds that it was the same hairstyle that men could wear. I also cut my hair to men's regulations to troll my first sergeant once, and wasn't punished either.

In the end it always seemed like more of a pain in the ass to have it long and keep it in regulations, like the bun couldn't touch the collar of your uniform and a bunch of other stupid crap. I just kept mine short so I wouldn't have to deal with it. But I don't see how it's sexist anymore than requiring men and women to have different class A uniforms, or making women wear skirts for certain events...

What events did you go to where they required you to wear a skirt?

When I was in the Army, it was the opposite. If you were just attending an event, it was your call. If you were participating, you best get your ass into pants like everyone else.

When I was at DLI, the commandant occasionally made all the army women wear skirts with their class As to certain events like parades, speeches, and anything where we had to go stand out in a field in formation for ages for official stuff.

Thats kind of weird.

And dickish.

 

[Erttheking]

I'd have to say technically yes, but it really isn't that big of a deal.

 

[Chemical Alia]

"Hairstyles shall not be outrageously multicoloured or faddish, to include shaved portions of the scalp (other than the neckline)"
http://usmilitary.about.com/cs/navy/a/navygrooming_2.htm

Apparently they aren't allowed to shave their heads.

It also says that men are allowed to have hair up to 2 inches long.

I was in the army, and I knew a girl who did shave her head completely. She got a ton of flak for it when they cited that it was "faddish", but eventually was allowed to keep it on the grounds that it was the same hairstyle that men could wear. I also cut my hair to men's regulations to troll my first sergeant once, and wasn't punished either.

In the end it always seemed like more of a pain in the ass to have it long and keep it in regulations, like the bun couldn't touch the collar of your uniform and a bunch of other stupid crap. I just kept mine short so I wouldn't have to deal with it. But I don't see how it's sexist anymore than requiring men and women to have different class A uniforms, or making women wear skirts for certain events...

What events did you go to where they required you to wear a skirt?

When I was in the Army, it was the opposite. If you were just attending an event, it was your call. If you were participating, you best get your ass into pants like everyone else.

When I was at DLI, the commandant occasionally made all the army women wear skirts with their class As to certain events like parades, speeches, and anything where we had to go stand out in a field in formation for ages for official stuff.

Thats kind of weird.

And dickish.

Yeah, it was the same guy who put up signs telling people "not to interfere" with the extermination of the sweet alley cats that lived on the base, that had been protected by the previous guy in charge. Aw, bad memories now.

 

[Lieju]

I guess it's sexist, but I don't think women have it easier.
It seems to me that long hair is more difficult to keep within regulations.
But women don't have to shave...

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

I don't see it being a big deal. Forcing men to have longer, more strenuous excercises than women is sexist, but shaving hair isn't. It'd be like calling women shaving their armpit hair as part of a corporate job a sexist integration. I can't imagine it being a big deal.

 

[Lord Kloo]

Yes it is sexism, is it worth worrying over? No.

The army gives you shorter hair to make your life a little easier and the bunch of rabble that is new recruits a little more uniform, the army loves their uniform nature.

But females, I do believe, have a strict hair code that is uniform and that does not interfere.

 

[Bestival]

I disagree with anything and everything the army does, so also this!
Never made much sense to me anyway, when you see those dudes that have a shaved head and a fucking ZZ Top beard. How the hell does that work?

 

[DefunctTheory]

I disagree with anything and everything the army does, so also this!
Never made much sense to me anyway, when you see those dudes that have a shaved head and a fucking ZZ Top beard. How the hell does that work?

...What?

Who's Army are you looking at?

 

[Robert Marrs]

I would not really call it sexist. What bothers me about it (as with most things like this) is that if women were forced to do something that men were not it would be called a national shame, misogyny at its highest form etc. but because its just men nobody really cares.

 

[Phrozenflame500]

Eh, it's "sexist" I suppose, and kinda weird since shaving your hair is probably desirable for practical purposes.

Not really that big of a deal though.

 

[Abomination]

If sex Y has to perform action A but sex X does not have to perform action A due to them being sex X then yes, that it sexist.

I believe all soldiers should be required to shave their heads because you're dealing with a fighting force and every possible measure should be taken to improve survivability while improving efficiency. I can not see how having hair that requires a bun to be manageable could possibly be more advantageous than just shaving it off.

I keep my hair down to a number 1 and I?m not even in the military. I find it just so functional and easy to manage. If I was in a job where physical performance was a must I could not understand why you would not want to have your hair as short as possible.

 

[Kanova]

Just another example of double standards. Pretty typical.