The Cost Of Curls: Discrimination, Social Stigma, And Identity Oppression Of Black Women Through Their Hair

This thesis analyzes the discriminatory practices facing Black women in a multitude of arenas and spaces as a result of their hairstyles and texture. A marker of, as well as a way to express, identity, Black women’s hair is more heavily policed than that of their White counterparts and manifests itself in the form of decreased job opportunities, public humiliation, and restricted stylistic choice. The highly visible nature of hair makes it a prime target for unfair targeting by authoritative bodies, working to further ‘other’ the Black female body along with skin-tone. Looking first at how Black women navigate the institutions of the United States military, educations system, the workplace, and the entertainment industry, this analysis demonstrates that there is clear discriminatory treatment inflicted upon Black women directly resulting from how they choose to wear their hair. Further analysis shows that such treatment extends across various spaces, income brackets, and age groups, highlighting the racially transverse nature of hair discrimination. Following this analysis, a more in-depth approach is taken to further dissect the United States military’s policies regarding hair styling and maintenance. As a federally regulated institution, highlighting the ways in which these practices are not only the result of bigoted individuals, but are rather entrenched in American systems of government and control. Specifically, the second section of this work looks at the effect of implicit language and connotation on Black bodies as outline in military grooming policies. Taken together, these works suggest that there exists a social stigma surrounding the biological occurrence and identity expression of hair for Black women