Bald heads today, strap-ons tomorrow.
May 19th, 2008 11:15 am by Kelly GarbatoBah.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — Under a huge tent just outside the medical unit at Camp Liberty, shielded from the blazing sun, soldiers watch and cheer as two men at a time get their heads shaved. Clumps of hair fall to the hot sand below.
But they’re not just fighting the Iraqi heat. They’re showing solidarity with sick kids they don’t even know.
It started with a dare on St. Patrick’s Day 2000, when two guys shaved their heads to support children with cancer. Thus was born the St. Baldrick’s Foundation. In eight years, the awareness and fundraising organization says, events have taken place in 18 countries and the United States, “raising over $34 million and shaving more than 46,000 heads.”
Maj. Stephen Roberts knows a lot about bald heads. He’s a pediatric oncologist at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. And he’s seen a lot of his young patients lose their hair to chemotherapy.
The kids he guides through treatment don’t seem fazed by it. “They’re just amazing, inspiring kids,” Roberts said. “They’re going through something more difficult than most of us can imagine and they do it with a level of grace and strength that I don’t think I could match.”
This year, Roberts planned to participate back home in Washington, but he deployed to Iraq. So he organized the shearing on the base.
Sounds like a nice feel-good story, right? Wrong.
Back in Iraq, the female soldiers can’t participate; Army regulations don’t allow shaved heads for women. But that doesn’t stop them from cheering the guys on — or making donations.
Fucking awesome. So first the patriarchy doesn’t want teh wimmins in the military because our lady bits will distract the men and cause them to rape us through sheer lust and sexual frustration. Then they object to us looking too masculine, too unladylike….you know, fitting in with the guys. We’re not even cool enough to show solidarity with kids with cancer (I thought we were supposedly the nurturing sex, yo!). Those uppity bitches, just who do they think they are?!!1! Next thing you know, they’ll be demanding to wear pantaloons and shit.
And don’t you just love how strong, competent military women have been reduced to cheerleaders for teh menz? IBTP.
Preemptive strike: Yes, I think the ban on earrings for men is ridiculous, too. If one sex is allowed earrings, then both sexes should be allowed earrings. But it isn’t an example of misandry, but homophobia. So there, MRAs.
UPDATE, 1:30 PM:
It occurred to me while doing Tae Bo this afternoon that the topic of women of color and “black hair” didn’t even enter my mind when I wrote this post. So let’s discuss.
Firstly, Why Tae Bo?, you ask. There’s an African American women in the DVD I’m using, and she’s got closely cropped hair. (Not to mention, a kickass physique that I totally envy.) So, given the “the politics of having kinky hair,” as Pam phrases it, what of WOC and the military? Are women with kinky hair allowed “manly” cuts, or are they expected to wear it to the collar? And if they’re required to keep it longish, what constitutes “neat” (which also appears to be in the military regs)? Would Cynthia McKinney’s so-called “wild” hair (an even more appalling description, which I refuse to quote, can be found here) be a grounds for a court-martial? Just how does the military square the intersection of sexist and racism they’ve created here? (Rhetorical question; they don’t.)
I’d also like to apologize for failing to recognize this in my original post. Sheer white privilege on my part. No, I definitely don’t want a cookie; how about a cracker instead? Perhaps a water cracker…those are English, right? Can’t get any whiter than a water cracker.
On the bright side, maybe this will inspire a bit of empathy the next time Shane gets flummoxed during a discussion of vagina-stuff.
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Tagged: cancer hair beauty combat military war iraq feminism misogyny sexism homophobia
