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Society
The Politics of Hair
by Nilanjana Biswas
"This time
it's going to be all about hair!" announces the editorial of a recent
issue of 'Scripts', the little magazine brought out by LABIA (Lesbians
and Bisexuals in Action), a Bombay-based collective. What follows is a
fascinating collection of stories, narratives, poems, cartoon strips and
illustrations that talk about hair, the long and short of it.
Such is the razor effect of advertising and popular media, shearing
public imagination to the point of barrenness, that few can think of
hair in any context other than that of fashionable models and cosmetic
products. And so - as in the case of the current issue of 'Scripts' -
when the context is radically shifted, a new terrain opens; imagination
receives a new lease of life.
LABIA is an autonomous collective of lesbian, transgender and bisexual
women. Established in 1995 and formerly known as Stree Sangam, this
non-funded campaign and action group has been bringing out 'Scripts',
which it describes as "a queer zine". The magazine was started in 1998,
and was consolidated in 2003 as part of a three-day international film
festival on sexuality and gender plurality. Since then, LABIA has been
publishing 'Scripts' with steadily increasing consistency.
The issue on 'hair' (Number 9) is a slim volume of living history that
subverts the categories of current political analysis. Hair is, after
all, only hair; to offer it as a subject of critical political enquiry
is almost to invite a rap on the knuckles. But, as the editorial points
out, "the roots go deep" and the issue of hair is deeply intertwined
with gender performance and with perceptions of body and self.
A few years ago, when Sharad Yadav dismissed the demand for 33 per cent
reservation of electoral seats for women, it is not insignificant that
he described it as an absurd demand from westernized, shorthaired women
("par kati mahilaein"). It was not the first time that a
patriarchal stereotype was being used to divide women further on the
basis of class and caste to prevent their political empowerment.
Nor is it insignificant that the most striking marker of the Brahmin
widow was her tonsured head. Hair is, after all, intrinsically
associated with feminine sexuality - a force that is worshipped in the
open-haired Kali, strictly controlled in the married woman, and
suppressed - if not obliterated - in the widow. Even today, there are
shocking reports of women, upon suspicion of adultery, being publicly
tonsured and paraded nude often at the behest of the local panchayat
(village council).
Leafing through 'Scripts', it becomes clear that hair is a knotty issue,
inseparable for a woman from her construction of self and sexual
identity. When that identity is at complete odds with societal
expectations, the journey for the haircut that fits is often fraught
with deep trauma.
Modern Indian society shackles the sexuality of lesbian or transgender
or bisexual women, not through chains but through oppressive denial. It
is only when they struggle to claim the same conditions for themselves
as are available, indeed prescribed, for heterosexual women and men -
such as the right to marry or be together - that a violent clampdown
occurs. The cases of lesbian women preferring joint suicide to
separation forced by disapproving families bear testimony to society's
extreme intolerance of women's 'deviant' behavior.
And since society has bafflingly simple rules that define how good girls
should behave, the very first signs of deviance invite punishment and
control. Often it is that first haircut. From emotional blackmail by a
distraught mother to an outraged father's silent boycott, the first
haircut heralds the beginning of trouble.
However, the first haircut, if it turns out right, may bring the joys of
self-affirmation and self-acceptance. A woman's first visit to the male
saloon or roadside barber shop for a 'chhota' may be an act poised on
the razor's edge, as it were, both liberating and terrifying.
As some of the narratives suggest, hair may be the subject of a lesbian
lover's tiff, of manifest grief and mourning, of a mother's anxiety, of
mistaken identity, and hilariously, even lead to a sneezing bout that
foils a grand seduction plan. In one narrative on the loss of a
relationship, where the author of the piece is in deep mourning after
her lover leaves; in a daze still, she snips off her hair.
There is a striking extract from a Marathi novel by Namdeo Kamble called
'Raghav Wel'. It describes a couple of Dalit beggar children,
Raghu and Kaushi, who find a bunch of strange, curly hair mixed up in
the bowl of rice they receive as alms; the sight induces a complex whirl
of emotions in the young Raghu whose eyes know no sleep that night.
Hair is much more than a physical attribute. It has a loaded
significance in our cultures and, today, as the winds of globalization
sweep across the country, hair is also big business. Playing upon the
mix of our deepest fears and fantasies, every year, through the sales of
shampoos, conditioners, coloring agents and other such products, the
Indian cosmetic and toiletries industry rakes in several millions of
rupees annually
I carefully mark a recent newspaper article about a woman who fought for
(and won) compensation through the consumer court after she went bald as
the unfortunate result of trying to streak her hair a pretty shade. Of
what, I wonder with a sigh as I return to my copy of 'Scripts'. Time to
let my hair down!
November 12,
2006
By arrangement with
Women's Feature Service
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Society
The Week of November 12, 2006
Ekla Chalo: Any Point Talking to President Hu?
by Rajinder Puri
Chinese President's Visit to India: Much Ado
about Nothing by Dr. Subhash Kapila
History grants Nitish Kumar an opportunity in
Bihar by Ramesh Menon
Pakistan's Military Dictator Besieged by Dr.
Subhash Kapila
Status: Nemesis of Fools, Smarts and Nations by
Gaurang Bhatt, MD
Reaping the Peace Dividend in India's North East
by Col. Rahul K. Bhonsle
A Panoply of Orchestrated Fraud by V.
Sundaram
Buddhism and Quantum Physics by Christian
Thomas Kohl
Are We Really Civilized? by TA Ramesh
Anger of Varunavrat by VK Joshi
Shaking up the Structure by Zofeen T Ebrahim
Wanderlust by Attreyee Roy Chowdhury
Khat e Kabuliwala: Inside an ancient temple near
Mazar-e-Sharif by Rajesh Talwar
Following the Coast by Naiya Sivaraj
Pachmarhi, Nature's Gift to Madhya Pradesh by
Anil Gulati
If You Can't Slap 'Em, Snap 'Em by Elayne Clift
Women Presidents Pack a Punch by Ambujam
Anantharaman
The Politics of Hair by Nilanjana Biswas
Murky Meat Factories by Alka Arya
Sex Workers' Bank - Healthy Returns by
Nilanjana Bhowmick
A Louder Voice by Rodrick Mukumbira
Reneging the Blue Billion by Priyadarsi Dutta
Strange are the Ways of God by Arya Bhushan
The Witty Side by Melvin Durai
How to Deal With - Analytical Physiologist Disorder
by Michael Levy
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