Is this how super-skinny models make women feel?

We always hear about how the TV and magazine industries make women and girls feel inadequately beautiful… Or then there’s all those times women are objectified by men.

I ask because I got a pretty serious haircut. It had been six months since the last time the clippers had touched it. That, my mom says, is the longest I’ve ever gone without one since I was a baby. So I guess I look a little different. My hair had gotten pretty curly, and it’s looking a bit straighter today.

Some of the commentary I received:

“You look like such a school boy.”

“So you got your ears raised?” (typical)

“Flabbergasted stare followed by immense laughter (Ashley)

“You just look so different.”

“Who is that?”

“I almost didn’t recognize you.”

The comments didn’t make me feel victimized. It more or less got me to thinking about what other people were thinking. I guess I just wasn’t expecting that many people to pay that much attention. And I didn’t pore over GQ trying to find the right hair cut. I don’t think I’m that complicated.

Well, I hope my youthful cut didn’t ruin anyone’s day. At least this is a newsroom, so something else will surely come along to distract anyone who is disturbed. Or laughing.

My 90-year-old grandmother—who had been pretty adamantly against my “long” hair—is, of course, never satisfied. She had just told me two weeks ago that she wouldn’t allow any men “with ponytails” in her house. (It was definitely not long enough for a ponytail.)

Her reaction: Well, you didn’t have to cut it all off. Thanks, Granny.



Before the cut. That's my little cousin who apparently did not want to take a picture.



And after. Today in the newsroom. With an American flag growing out of my head.