过去多年来，人们始终认为女性的头发是一种“无上的荣耀”，长发是女人味的象征。不管随着时间更迭，女子发型如何千变万化，丝缎般的长发都被保留了下来。但到了21世 纪早期，情况发生了改变，女性挣脱传统之茧的束缚，用一种崭新的发型——波波头取代了飘逸的长发。波波头是齐脸颊的短发，干净利落，比那被认为突显女人味 的屡屡长发容易打理得多。当这种发型刚开始流行时引起了轩然大波，很多人对它展开攻击，认为女人留这种男孩子气的发型很不合适。大概因为这种公众的侮辱， 波波头成为了众多女性自立的象征，也成为了新兴女权运动的一部分。
For many years, a woman's hair was considered to be her “crowning glory”. Long hair was treated as a sign of femininity and although how women wore their hair changed over time, they always kept it long. All that changed in the early twentieth century, when women began breaking convention and adopting a drastically new hairstyle known as the “bob”. A bob haircut is a short, chin-length cut that is much easier to care for than the long, troublesome locks that were considered to be so feminine. While it was first gaining in popularity, many people were scandalized that women would wear their hair in such a short, “boyish” style. Partially because of this public outrage, the bob became a symbol of independence for many women and became intertwined with the burgeoning women's movement.
In light of how many different hairstyles women wear today, it is surprising the amount of opposition the bob met with in its early days of popularity. An American preacher is reported to have declared that “a bobbed woman is a disgraced woman,” an opinion that seemed to be shared by much of society. Some employers forbid their female workers from bobbing their hair and fired those bold enough to do it anyway. Many hair salons refused to cut women's hair short and only reversed their policy once the bob's popularity made it clear that they could not financially afford to turn away customers any more. Because long hair had been so intricately linked to society's conception of femininity for so many years, the short boyish cut seemed to be a refutation of traditional gender definitions.
Despite this staunch opposition, the bob quickly gained in popularity, especially among young women. At the height of the haircut's popularity in the 1920s, barber shops enjoyed an influx of female customers in search of the new bobbed style. Young women who wanted to rebel against their families and societal rigidity saw bobbed hair as a means of flouting social norms and of forging their own identities. Unlike long hair which was traditionally worn intricately pinned up, the bob was a style that was easy and comfortable for women to wear. Like never before, women were taking charge of how they looked and defining femininity in their own way, rather than just accepting the status quo.
讨论：是否存在别的发型也引起了类似的社会变革？ (Discussion Question: Have any other hairstyles brought about social change in a similar fashion?)
Sources:
Clements, Jo. "100 years of the bob:Flappers, Twiggy, Katie Holmes, and now Jessica Alba, it's the
style that has transcended time." The Daily Mail 9 Jan. 2009: n. pag. Mail Online. Web. 8 Aug.
2011. <http://www.dailymail.co.uk>.
"Vogue of Bobbed Hair." The New York Times 27 June 1920: n. pag. The New York Times. Web. 8 Aug.
2011.
Image:
Actress Florence Turner with bobbed hair
[Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
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