I’m sure that I’m not the only one who hates when people decide to speak on behalf of a group – voluntarily. This unfortunately seems to happen a lot with men and men who think they embody the voice of the whole group. I’m mainly writing this in response to a disgusting and erroneous article I read the other day explaining why women with short hair are undateable and that men preferred women with longer hair. All men prefer women with longer hair is what the article claimed, as if the male writer had performed some type of study or poll to base his article on.
The writer of the article had the nerve to assert that women with short hair are damaged. Apparently all men think that women with short hair are damaged. The author tried to correlate two things that have absolutely nothing to do with each other – hair length and personality – and pretended that this information is well known. By whom? I had never heard of such theories. It was, of course, based on his personal experiences with women, many of whom were just crazy (if we’re to believe his article), and he was the one attracted to them.
I believe the most disturbing part of his article was the comment section that was crowded with males who came to his defense and disgruntled women who, for good reason, were offended by his article. The author did apparently speak on behalf of the illogical, and probably single, men that came to his aid. Many of the men disagreed entirely with him. I’ve noticed this recent trend on the Internet where usually single men tell their potential mates what qualities they need in order to date these eligible bachelors. I’m willing to bet that these outspoken and critical gentleman tend to remain single after speaking of what women should do to attract men in 2014.
One person’s opinion cannot account for the whole of the group, unless maybe the group is some type of organization or foundation (even this can be untrue in certain situations). I would hope that anyone with intelligence wouldn’t speak on behalf of a group with such unfounded, uncorrelated ideas. In regard to that article, women have autonomy now. Men need to cease their crusade to control what women wear, their makeup, hair, etc. Please, just stop. You don’t look smart or informed. You look primitive and close-minded. Unless there is scientific evidence to bolster a claim, do not make said claim.
Carl Case is a senior psychology and Spanish double major from Brookhaven.
