Soc. 3251W Race, Class, and Gender

On March 22, 2007 in the Fashion and Style section of the New York Times one headline read “I Have Taken on My Daughter’s Hair and Won�, which chronicled a father’s discovery of hairstyling. The author was inspired when he watched a cousin’s husband skillfully weave his daughter’s hair into neat little braids. From thus on the author took on the challenge of learning how to style hair while also discovering the difficulties that women face in relation to their hair.

The article was an interesting and ultimately humorous intersection of gender roles and race. Whenever the author braided his daughter’s hair in public women would approvingly smile and comment about how wonderful it was to see a man so involved with his daughter. After a trip to the YMCA the author approached his wife with boasts of compliments that he had received for his braiding skills. “She listens to my occasional boasts, amused and a little annoyed. Add it to the list of things women do with little fuss that practically earn men a medal.� Women are expected to take on nurturing roles within the family and when men take on nurturing roles others comment at the break from gender roles.

Besides chronicling his frustration with combs and pins the author describes his discovery of the complications black women face when they’re deciding what hairstyle to pick. “Does having a relaxer to straighten natural kinks bow to white society’s notion of good hair? Do free-form ’fros and braids with fake hair extensions look “professional� enough?� While race, class, and gender studies often deal with serious subjects such as domestic violence, discrimination, and class inequalities even something as seemingly simple as hair has implications to one’s status in society.