new thread
I just plotted the age responses on the recent survey here in this web community (represented in black above) and compared them to the ages of members of a gay longhair web community. The plots revealed two very interesting things:
Among the general community represented here, there are peaks in the forties and in the teens. This suggests the earlier comments that "the average longhair here is in his early to mid thirties" doesn't tell the whole story. There actually is a dip in the numbers in the twenties and thirties. We have two generations in which there are more of us, and a generation in the middle where there are less.Among gay longhairs, there is just one peak, and it is sharply in the thirties. The gay group discouraged those under eighteen from joining, but the dropoff in the twenties in that group nevertheless confirms the trend.
Generations tend to rebel against the fashions of their parents' generations, so the situation that we have those of us who came of age in the sixties and seventies being followed by a drop-off and then a new surge is not surprising. That we have a new generation of longhairs coming along is great news! We've seen an upsurge in long hair on models in fashion advertising in the last couple of years, and this surely is speaking to the preferences of this newest generation as they move into the targeted age group that spends so much. :-)
That gay longhair generations are in a different cycle was surprising. Their cycle is almost completely out of phase with that in the general population.
The number of men in both samples was similar, and I adjusted the gay group's numbers in proportion so there would be the same number of men in each sample. That made the curves show the generational effects, which was my intent. In society at large, of course, one will find gays to be a small fraction of the population, so one should not infer if he is a longhair in his twenties or thirties, people are more apt to think he is gay. A large majority of longhairs even in those sparser generations are of course straight, just because there are about twenty times more straight people.
None of us ever complain about there being too many longhairs, of course. What makes us feel isolated is when there are too few. Gays in their teens and fifties, and others in their twenties and thirties, appear to be more apt to find themselves in that situation.
When I've gone to gay events, I've seen very few longhairs my age (55), yet I see longhairs in my generation all the time in other places. I've never felt very connected to the gay community, and in this little exercise one can see what may be the major reason. I've known for a long time that, when it comes to my identity, I am far more "longhair" than anything else. I'm not going to connect with any community that does not in reasonable numbers and in my generation include longhairs.
Among the general community represented here, there are peaks in the forties and in the teens. This suggests the earlier comments that "the average longhair here is in his early to mid thirties" doesn't tell the whole story. There actually is a dip in the numbers in the twenties and thirties. We have two generations in which there are more of us, and a generation in the middle where there are less.Among gay longhairs, there is just one peak, and it is sharply in the thirties. The gay group discouraged those under eighteen from joining, but the dropoff in the twenties in that group nevertheless confirms the trend.
I was one of the 40-49 age groups that responded to your survey. I was interested in your comment about not feeling connected to the gay community. Even thougH I have been "out" for serveral years I have always felt this way too. Now that I have been growing my hair out for over 2 years I feel even more so. I feel the the prejudice against longhaired guys is as strong or stronger in the gay community as in the straight community in general. While I'm certainly aware thier is a substansial longhair gay community, we are a small minority these days.
Having said that, I am pround to be a longhair and a gay man, those who accept me for that will and those that wouldn't wouldn't. Its just a shame these issues even have to exist.
Im 16 and my decision wasnt to do with any kind of rebellion. I just genuinly think Id look better with hair down to my shoudler-blades. As far as the gay issue goes, although Im not part of that society I can say, as an outside observer, that there seem to be fewer gay men with long hair. Granted my view is probably tainted of not knowing any gay men (at least, not as far as I know.).
Growing long hair for me, was in many peoples opinion (my families anyway) a way of hiding. My brother also was suspected of the same thing. I suppose, in a way it is.
I tend to agree that the majority of gay men I have seen do have short hair, but then again I'm not homophobic so I don't really care. Each to his own I say.
By the way Bill, I am very impressed. You really do add a lot to this board and your information and advice is second to none.
Keep it up! And guys...Keep it long! (Hair I mean) :->
Well, at 42 I've been "out" (as we say) since age 18 and have worn my hair in everything from "nipple-length" to a "buzz cut" and about every point in between.However, no matter what the length of my hair has been at any given point, I have never, ever felt any "connectedness" to any "Gay Community" at any time.I can't even tell you what it is! The only time there have been "issues" concerning my hair length have been the times I have been either *discouraged* from entering or entirely refused entry to "gay establishments" because of some quickly-thought-up nonsense "reason" that I could not be allowed entry.(e.g., "No sneakers night", "No Jeans night", "No entry without a red ribbon night", etc., etc.) Now that I'm *temporarily* sporting a "buzz cut" I've suddenly been getting treated without discrimination at "gay establishments". It's a seemingly hypocritical attitude from some "Community" which has always *allegedly* sought "tolerance and acceptance above all" -- but the glaring hypocracy is undeniable -- and this is coming from someone who *is* gay! Where'd all that chatter and rant about "tolerance" go? Beats me!
Batchain's (George C.O.'s) front page of "Oddity".
Batchain's (George C.O.'s) front page of "Oddity".
Sorry I don't believe any of your stuff. The rebelling against parents thing especially. People in the 20's were the generation of people into grunge music. They mostly had to get long hair to look like their idols. I remember because I came sort of like 5 years after them. Your suggestion that they rebelled agaisnt their parents is rubbish. Plus I mostly see, nowadays, people wearing their hair in skinhead fashion, hardly any longhairs.
Hey Adriano, I'm cool with hearing your theory, and the one you think is "mine" is just one we read about all the time, certainly not original with me, nor one I'm particularly attached to. Any ideas to explain the numbers are welcome by us all here I'm sure.
That's too bad, man. Here in California we saw things turn around after a low point in 1998. Skinheads are less numerous and we see more hair - more longish hair, and more ponytails, too. We've seen a lot more teens on the board here in the last couple of years. We also see a lot more longhairs in fashion ads. Three years ago there were none. Movies and TV shows are featuring longhaired men again. There was nothing like "Lord of the Rings" coming out in the late 90s.
As for your wish for "more evidence", I'm just reporting numbers I've seen. If you want to dig deeper, we'd all welcome hearing what you find. Why? Because these three topics come up on this board over and over: "There aren't enough longhairs," "Straight people think I'm gay because I have long hair," and "Gay people think I'm straight because I have long hair."
What the last two mean, when you think about it, is neither group wants to claim you when you're a longhair. :-)
in skinhead fashion, hardly any longhairs.
I feel the same way about the rebelling part. My dad used to have long hair but that made no difference of my love for long hair. As far as the new generation starting to have longer hair that may be true. I'm a freshman now and there aren't any true longhairs yet including me. But there are a few who are growing their's out. I can at least think of 6 other students who seem to be growing out thier hair. As far as all the other grades I have seen only 3 others with longhair and 1 cut theirs so make it 2. Maybe longhair is slowly making a return.
Only in my year at school, about 5 people have tried growing their hair out, only to be told to cut it off by the principal. I'm getting incredibly close to the length they got before they were told to cut it off, so I'll see how that turns out. I agree that maybe long hair is coming back even if very slowly
You can't really draw any conclusions from the data for a couple of reasons:
You have a statistically insignificant sample size.
You have not shown that the survey actually measures what you intend. Perhaps it's more of a measure of who is likely to answer the survey.
FYI, I don't think I participated in the survey, but if I had, I'd have goosed the black line in the 30-39 category by one notch.