Villanova Student Shaves Her Head to Confront ‘Hair Privilege’
Jillian Kay Melchior, Heat Street, April 5, 2017
A Villanova student claims that shaving her head helped her confront her “hair privilege,” as well as “society’s oppressive gender norms.”
“I’m not a big fan of being oppressed, and I don’t like it,” said Yvonne Nguyen in a Facebook live video where she shaved her head on camera to Beyoncé songs.
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In an op-ed for the student newspaper, Nguyen said that the oppressive societal gender norms had made her feel like she was only a “true girl” if her hair was “long, straight and silky.”
“Shaving my head enabled me to be reflective of ways society forces me to conform to labels that I didn’t choose,” she wrote. “Shaving my head liberated me, as I allowed myself to be faithful to my values and genuine self.”
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“I would like to remember the privilege I have in terms of being able to grow my hair out,” she wrote in the accompanying post.
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“One must forgo some of their undeserved privileges to provide justice for others,” she concluded. “Are you wiling to shave?”
