Longhair Stereotype Scene

Longhair Stereotype Scene
Posted by Jazbrd on October 23, 2002 at 23:14:23: Previous Next

Well, I finally had my first encounter with a person calling me the
“Longhair’s n-word,” “get a haircut.” I have been growing out my hair for about three and a half years now, and I have always wondered if I would be cursed at in this way. Soooo, I decided to be prepared.

I, and my girlfriend of thirteen years just moved down the block from a rented house to a house we purchased together. After a week of living in my new house, I had a package that was mistakenly delivered to the old address, and the guy who owns that place came over to my new house to tell me about it.

Meanwhile he had a friend with him who had a serious military buzz cut and was probably in his mid thirties. Anyway, I had just awakened from a nights sleep, and my hair was loose, not in a ponytail and a bit messy. I walked out to the balcony in the front of the house, and after the owner of the other place told me about the package, I heard a voice from down on the street in a idling giant 4x4 pickup truck, saying “what are you going to do about your hair!” It was windy standing out there, and my hair was blowing all over my face and then I heard the voice in the truck say “when are you going to get a haircut,” I asked the voice in the truck why he was so concerned about my hair. He couldn’t hear what I was saying sitting in the passengers seat, still strapped in, so he turned off the ignition. I repeated what I had said, and he said, “Oh, I am just fuckin’ with ya.” Then he said, “if you come down here, I will cut it for you.” So, I said just a second. I think he must have thought that I was going to get a gun or something. Anyway, I went to get a piece of paper with a list of “longhair stereotypes” I had written down. Then I put my hair in a ponytail and went down to the truck. I said hi, my name is Larry, and I am a bit confused. I have this list here to show you, and could you please tell me which of these stereotypes you are referring to. Here is the list I handed him:

  1. Gay, homo, faggot, queer
  2. Drug user, drug fiend, doper
  3. Hippie, rebel, counter culturist
  4. Biker, illiterate redneck, outlaw
  5. Criminal, thug, juvenile delinquent
  6. Vagrant, bum, transient
  7. Jesus freak, religious fanatic
  8. Evil rock musician, metal head
  9. Transvestite, girly man, pretty boy
  10. Lowlife, trailer park trash, scumbag
  11. Computer geek
  12. Eccentric artist
  13. Non-conformist
  14. Mid-life crisisist
  15. Rapist, child molester, sexual deviant, pervert
  16. Filthy person, lazy person, unproductive person

Anyway, he picked out “Hippie.” Maybe because I put on a “far-out” shirt to go with my long hair. :-)

After that, I said thank you, and then said that I would like to say
something to you now. What I said was this.

If you and I were standing at the edge of a cliff, and you lost your balance and were about to fall, I would reach out to you and save your life by pulling you to safety, even though I know of your non-acceptance of me. I went on and said that I would do this because I respect you as another human being sharing our planet, as I respect myself and desire others to respect me as well. I continued, when I get up in the morning and look in the mirror, I see a person with integrity. When you get up in the morning and look in the mirror, whom do you see? At this point, he didn’t say anything more, and the driver said “we’re outta here,” and they drove away.

As a note, some stereotypes, such as Hippie I really do not mind. The fact that it is used as a stereotype is not cool. It is like telling an ethic or racial joke. When one does, it puts that person in a pseudo superior position. What right do they have to judge what is right and wrong about how a person expresses oneself. As far as I am concerned, long hair on men is a NON-ISSUE period. It is not raining on anyone’s parade or negatively affecting anyone in any way, besides we all know how beautiful it is. :-)

Of course then the religious person gets involved and says that
there are laws against people running around nude in public, and since they interpret the bible saying that long hair on men is a sin, they don’t want their children exposed to long haired men in public, and that there aren’t enough laws. Gee, maybe all the longhairs will get to join all the pot smokers in prison pretty soon. Oink oink…




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