RE: Shaving

From: havelock (havelock@tig.com.au)
Date: Thu May 25 2000 - 06:24:49 BST

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From: "havelock" <havelock@tig.com.au>
To: <memetics@mmu.ac.uk>
Subject: RE: Shaving 
Date: Thu, 25 May 2000 15:24:49 +1000
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    there has been a lot of work on hair. I always remember Desmond Morris'
    explanations in the Naked Ape which might entertain that covers a biological
    explantion of gender attraction.

    While historically we have seen long hair as meaning a wilder state
    (wildman - Samson, Mad Hermits and the Unibomber) and shorter hair has come
    to reflect a more civilised image. eg. In the 60's when the youth rebelled
    against authority they took to wearing long hair and facial hair.

    I suspect the current mode of no facial hair has more to do with ageism than
    conforming to social authority - how many mens hair die ads do you see these
    days compared to 10 years ago?

    You might want to look at:

    Historical

    'The beard as an iconographical feature in the Viking period and the early
    middle ages' by Bergen, p in Acta Archaeologica 1964

    The famous 'Magical Hair' by Leach E in The Journal of the Royal
    Anthropological Institute of Great Britian and Ireland

    and

    Medusa's Hair: An Essay on personal symbols and religious experience by
    Obeyesekere, G 1981

    I have more if you want them

    > -----Original Message-----
    > From: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk [mailto:fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk]On Behalf
    > Of TJ Olney
    > Sent: Thursday, May 25, 2000 12:50 PM
    > To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
    > Subject: Shaving
    >
    >
    > Does anyone have any references for the history of shaving and/or for any
    > sociobiological explanations for how shaving (male and/or female) would
    > be or even could be a reproductive advantage?
    >
    > Put another way, are shaving customs, clearly memetically transmitted
    > behaviors, purely memetic?
    >
    > Are they perhaps an example of a memeplex that confers genetic advantage
    > through sexual selection only after the memeplex is widespread?
    >
    > TJ Olney
    >
    >
    > ===============================================================
    > This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
    > Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
    > For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing)
    > see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
    >
    >

    ===============================================================
    This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
    Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
    For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing)
    see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit

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