Shaved head

[kitewithfish]

I'm a white girl vaguely considering shaving my head. Any thoughts?

Edit to clarify my situation and some of my concerns:

Situation:
1. I am bisexual and present in fairly traditionally femme-y ways. I am dating a cismale.

2.I live in a neighbor that is predominantly Black with a large population of students who are White and nonBlack people of color. I am not intentionally racist.

3. I'm going to be working in a church with a fairly congregation in terms of race and sexual orientation (but fairly straightforward in terms of gender identity, as far as I can ascertain).

Concerns:
1.I'm a little worried that my training pastor would not like it, but I doubt that it would really be that big a deal.

2.I'm a little worried that people who don't know me will think I am donning a hairstyle in favor of racism.

3.I'm a little worried about what my skull looks like. I have no idea what the back of my head looks like. I could have a weird-shaped head. I have no idea.

Comments

[flourish]

I was a white girl with a shaved head for over a year and it was a great experience!

I got hit on by guys a lot less and girls a lot more.

I was never mistaken for a man, because I am pretty strongly gendered female in my behavior.

I found it easier to exist in male-dominated spaces because I had desexed myself to some degree, despite this.

Just my two cents...

[flourish]

Aha!

I don't think that people tend to associate women with shaved heads with "skinheads." I never was told by anyone, no matter where I was, that my hairstyle made them think I was a skinhead. That doesn't mean they weren't thinking it, but I suspect I would have at least gotten a clue.

That said, I don't know your particular situation and I was never in a similar one while I had a shaved head, so I'm not sure what advice to give with regard to your job, etc.

[kitewithfish]

Well, it's an internship, and it is a big gay parish, as these things go, and there are certainly some Black ladies with shaved heads and some White ladies with short hair. And I think the response would probably be something along the lines of "Oh. Are you going to keep it that way?"

[kitewithfish]

Intriguing.... Did you get any negative responses re:the skinhead issue?

[flourish]

LOL, we cross-responded!

No, I don't think that most people associate women with a shaved head with skinheads, or at least they didn't seem to with me. That said, I was living in Portland, OR, which is a very white city - I was not in many situations where it would come up.