Rapunzel's Daughters: What Women's Hair Tells Us About Women's Lives by Rose Weitz

From the Publisher

The first book to explore the role of hair in women's lives and what it reveals about their identities, intimate relationships, and work lives

Hair is one of the first things other people notice about us--and is one of the primary ways we declare our identity to others. Both in our personal relationships and in relationships with the larger world, hair sends an immediate signal that conveys messages about our gender, age, social class, and more.
In Rapunzel's Daughters, Rose Weitz first surveys the history of women's hair, from the covered hair of the Middle Ages to the two-foot-high, wildly ornamented styles of pre-Revolutionary France to the purple dyes worn by some modern teens. In the remainder of the book, Weitz, a prominent sociologist, explores--through interviews with dozens of girls and women across the country--what hair means today, both to young girls and to women; what part it plays in adolescent (and adult) struggles with identity; how it can create conflicts in the workplace; and how women face the changes in their hair that illness and aging can bring. Rapunzel's Daughters is a work of deep scholarship as well as an eye-opening and personal look at a surprisingly complex-and fascinating-subject.

Publishers Weekly

This earnest roundup of anecdotes, interviews, statistics and remarks about hair and self-image among women in postwar America is engaging enough, but there's not much news here. Apart from a short historical survey at the beginning that includes a few suggestive facts, the only really informative part of this book is the chapter called "At the Salon" where we learn a good deal about the profession of hairdressing: who does it, what its economics are, how its distinctive caste system works. To be fair, information is not really Arizona State University sociologist Weitz's aim. Her main goal is to authorize a common feminine obsession with hair (her own included, of course) as a subject of serious discussion. It is also, worthily enough, to make the discussion more inclusive than other books like this often are. Weitz interviews many minority women, children, lesbians and older women, but her analysis of this rich material suffers from insufficient depth of cultural perspective. Weitz avers that hair is a uniquely powerful medium of self-presentation, but makes no attempt to distinguish between hair and dress, say, or between head and facial or body hair. Observing that the typical black hair salon functions not as a feminine preserve but as a community meeting place, she finds little large-scale significance in its public and private constructions of the activity of coiffing. Similarly, she alludes to different meanings attached to long hair, short hair or hairlessness mostly in terms of different individual experiences. The overall effect is diverting, well-intentioned light reading (including 16 pages of b&w photos) that doesn't quite fulfill the subtitle's promise. (Jan.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

From long blond curls to involuntary baldness, Weitz (sociology, Arizona State Univ.) considers the role that hair plays in women's lives. She opens with a brief history of women's hair and then offers views from women she interviewed from various ethnic groups, ages, and life situations to learn what their hair means to them and how it affects their self-esteem and relationships. Weitz also considers the role hair plays in employment, citing several women who either changed their hair in anticipation of job interviews or said that their appearance was regularly critiqued on the job. Though Weitz sees no problem with women enjoying their hair and changing it as they please, she wants women to challenge society's expectations about women's beauty and calls for women to be valued for their skills and accomplishments rather than their appearance. This is a very readable but more academic treatment of hair than Diane Simon's Hair: Public, Private, Extremely Personal (2000). Recommended for academic libraries.-Debra Moore, Cerritos Coll., Norwalk, CA Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

A sociologist looks at why hair matters so much and what our concerns about hair have to say about who we are, as well as who we hope to be. In researching her subject, Weitz (Sociology/Arizona State; ed., The Politics of Women's Bodies, not reviewed) held two focus groups with women over 50 and two with teens-one of heterosexuals, one of both lesbians and bisexuals-and she interviewed 74 girls and women varying in age, ethnicity, social class, religion, sexual orientation, and, of course, hair color and style. After an all-too-brief introductory chapter on the history of women's hair, she turns to these conversations to examine what they reveal about the role hair plays at various stages of life, from childhood to old age. With liberal use of quotes, she demonstrates how young girls are taught to value hair, how the media affect teenagers' ideas about appearance, and how they use their hairstyles to explore their identities and make statements about their desire to fit in or stand out from the crowd. Subsequent chapters explore how hair figures in women's intimate relationships, sometimes becoming a battleground for power struggles, and how women adopt certain styles to compete in the job market. Weitz also looks at the camaraderie provided by hair salons, where women develop warm relationships with their stylists and with other women. Women who have lost their hair through illness share their feelings about baldness, revealing the impact that hair loss often has on one's self-image and self-esteem. Similarly, women whose hair has faded to gray or is thinning out discuss how these changes of aging affect their perceptions of themselves and the different ways they cope or elect not tocope with them. Weitz acknowledges the pleasure hair gives girls and women, but she is deeply concerned about the cultural expectations about female appearance that lead to obsessions about hair. Her aim is to free girls and women from what she calls "the bonds of the beauty culture," and her final chapter, aptly titled "No More Bad Hair Days," offers some advice on achieving this goal. Not much new here-at least for female readers-but should provide women's-studies classes with points for discussion. (16 pp. b&w photos, not seen)

Product Details

• Table of Contents
• Reading Group Guide

Table of Contents

Reading Group Guide

In Rapunzel's Daughters, author and sociologist Rose Weitz explores what women's struggles with "bad hair days" reveal about women's identities, intimate relationships, work lives, and attitudes toward their bodies. Based on four years of interviews and focus groups conducted with a diverse sample of American girls and women, the book is organized around the stages of a woman's life, from girlhood to old age. It shows how girls learn to view their hair as central to their identities, how during adulthood women's hair affects their intimate relationships and work lives, and how as women's hair changes through aging or illness they struggle to learn new lessons about living life fully and about accepting themselves as they are.

The following questions focus on these concerns, and are designed to deepen your understanding of both the book and your own "hair history."

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. In her introduction, Weitz argues that although hair might seem a trivial topic, it is not trivial at all (p. xii). Does she convince you? If yes, how? If no, why not?

2. In chapter 1, "The History of Women's Hair," Weitz writes: "Across cultures and down the centuries, . . . ideas about women's hair reflected ideas about women's nature and about how women should live their lives" (p. 3). What does she mean by this? Can you provide some examples?

3. How does the history of blacks in America affect ideas about black women's appearances nowadays, among both whites and blacks? How does this history continue to affect contemporary black girls' and women's experiences with their hair?

4. Overall, how do the experiences and feelings of minority women (black, Hispanic, Asian, Native American) regarding their hair differ from those of white women? How has your ethnicity, race, or religion affected your experiences about and feelings toward your hair?

5. In both chapter 2, "Hot Combs and Scarlet Ribbons," and chapter 3, "Ponytails and Purple Mohawks," the author discusses the messages girls receive about their hair from the media (pp. 49–53 and 65–70). What are those messages? Which parts of those messages do you think are healthy? Which parts are dangerous? What can you do to protect the girls in your life from the dangerous messages?

6. The author argues that girls quickly learn to consider their hair, and their appearance more generally, as central to their identity. How do girls learn this lesson?

7. Is your hair a part of your identity—of who you are? What do you want your hair to tell others about you? Do others ever misinterpret what you are trying to say with your hair?

8. In chapter 2, "Hot Combs and Scarlet Ribbons," Weitz argues that mothers often teach their daughters that they should suffer for beauty (pp. 37–39). Why is it mothers who take on this role? Can you give examples from your own life in which your mother taught you that you should—or should not—sacrifice for beauty?

9. What role does hair play in competition among girls and among women? Who and what are they competing for, and how do they compete?

10. What are some of the pleasures that hair offers girls? Can you remember examples from your own life?

11. In chapter 3, "Ponytails and Purple Mohawks," Weitz argues, "The notion that we can change our identity by changing our appearance is deeply rooted in American culture" (p. 64). What does she mean by this, and do you agree or disagree? Did you ever change your hair to change your identity?

12. Weitz writes, "As girls enter adolescence, not only do the rewards for looking attractive increase, but the rewards available from other sources diminish" (p. 72). What does she mean by this? Is her argument convincing?

13. How do boys' and men's experiences with hair differ from girls' and women's? How do men's experiences of hair loss differ from women's? On what basis does Weitz argue that hair and appearance have far more impact on females than on males?

14. How do the hair struggles of lesbians differ from those of heterosexual women?

15. Chapter 4, "What We Do for Love," explores the role hair plays in women's romantic relationships. How do women use their hair to increase their power in relationships? How do men use women's hair to show their power in relationships? Have you ever used your hair to get what you want from a man? Has a man ever used your hair to show his power over you?

16. In chapter 5, "Paychecks and Power Haircuts," Weitz documents what women's hair tells us about women's work lives. As she shows, one basic question women face is whether to emphasize or downplay femininity in styling their hair for work. Why do some working women emphasize femininity in their hair choices? Why do others downplay femininity? What are the benefits and problems of each strategy? Do you think your hair makes it harder or easier for you to achieve what you want at work?

17. Chapter 6, "Bald Truths," describes the experiences of women who lose their hair to chemotherapy or genetic conditions. How do women adapt—or fail to adapt—to severe hair loss? Why do so many women find losing their hair to chemotherapy more traumatic than losing a breast to mastectomy?

18. For chapter 6, the author also interviewed women who chose to shave their heads. What were their reasons for doing so? What, if anything, can we learn from their experiences?

19. Chapter 7, "At the Salon," explores the pleasures women find at beauty salons. What are the social, psychological, and physical pleasures women can find in beauty salons?

20. For chapter 7, the author interviewed several stylists about their work and their lives. In what ways is the work of hair stylists similar to, and different from, that of psychotherapists? What are the difficulties stylists face in deciding how to interact with clients? What kind of relationship do you have with your stylist?

21. Weitz opens chapter 8, "‘I'll Dye Until I Die,'" by discussing the stereotypes of aging women in American media and culture (pp. 190–96). What are those stereotypes? What older women characters can you think of in mass media, and how are those characters portrayed?

22. What are women's fears of growing old? How do stereotypes of older women, along with women's fears of growing old, affect women's hair decisions?

23. What are the benefits women obtain from dyeing their hair to cover the gray? From not dyeing their hair? In what circumstances, if any, do you think women should dye their gray hair?

24. Did the book change your impression regarding whether blondes really do have more fun? What, if anything, do you think is a good reason for dyeing one's hair? What, if anything, do you think is a bad reason? If you have ever dyed your hair a different color, did it affect how others thought about you, or how you thought about yourself?

25. Were you surprised by what you read in the book about the experiences of those whose race, religion, or ethnicity differs from your own?

26. The final chapter, "No More Bad Hair Days," addresses how we can create a society in which girls and women will be freer from social pressures and better able simply to enjoy their hair. What changes can individuals make to help create such a society? What broader social changes are needed to accomplish this goal?

QUOTE
"[A] great, clever, and insightful book [that] gives new insight into our cultural fetish." --Pepper Schwartz, University of Washington

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ROSE WEITZ is a professor of sociology and women's studies at Arizona State University. She is the author of several books, including Life with AIDS, as well as the editor of The Politics of Women's Bodies: Sexuality, Appearance, and Behavior.