Female Competition and Short Hair

[Alejo]

Women aren’t biologically wired for competitive behaviour between themselves and other women, they are biologically wired for cooperation and nurturing others, for mutual survival.

Until that survival is threatened, if so.. the biological wire for response to threats is activated. Women being built differently than men, do not have access to a physical violence that would give good chances of the threat being neutralized, and as such need to use different methods. One of which includes a threat identification and anticipation.

Part of that early anticipation is to address potential threats preemptively and proactively. Some of that can be manifested in suggesting potential sources of threat of stability (other women) to cut their hair short as a way to diminish the potential threat to the stability that ensures mutual survival. Yes, some women do this consciously, but those are probably pathological and do not represent the majority of women, but probably most do it unconsciously.

It truly isn't controversial in my view, and I think that most anyone can understand what is being described, both men and women. If anyone's ever felt jealousy, then you can understand what the article describes, or the mechanism that would initiate the behavior the article describes.

The article does not deny anything you've said in this thread so far, but somehow it has become something you wish to stand against. That is, you've made the same points the article's made, only you're making them after saying that the article is wrong for the making the same points.

 

[nicklebleu]

I think the above is precisely what the article is saying, in different words. Namely, women have certain behavioral traits that activate unconsciously as a way to cope with perceived competition.

Maybe the part above also explains in part why all-female companies disintegrate very quickly and are much less effective than mixed gender companies?

 

[Persej]

Sydney Sweeney: 'Women empowering other women in Hollywood is fake'

Anyone But You star Sydney Sweeney has said the idea of women supporting each other in the film and TV industry is "fake".

In an interview with Vanity Fair, the actress, who's also known for Euphoria and White Lotus, said: "This entire industry, all people say is 'women empowering other women'.

"None of it's happening. All of it is fake and a front for all the other [stuff] that they say behind everyone’s back."

Earlier this year, the star hit back at "shameful" comments made about her by a female Hollywood producer who said: "She's not pretty, she can't act. Why is she so hot?"

Asked about the incident for the latest issue of Vanity Fair, Sweeney said: "It’s very disheartening to see women tear other women down, especially when women who are successful in other avenues of their industry see younger talent working really hard - hoping to achieve whatever dreams that they may have - and then trying to bash and discredit any work that they’ve done."

Sweeney, one of Hollywood's biggest breakout stars of recent years, went on to discuss why this might be the case.

"I've read that our entire lives, we were raised - and it’s a generational problem - to believe only one woman can be at the top," she said.

"There’s one woman who can get the man. There’s one woman who can be, I don’t know, anything.

"So then all the others feel like they have to fight each other or take that one woman down instead of being like, let’s all lift each other up.

"I'm still trying to figure it out. I’m just trying my best over here. Why am I getting attacked?"

In April, Carol Baum, who produced films including Dead Ringers and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, spoke about Sweeney after a film screening.

According to Variety, Baum had said: "There's an actress who everybody loves now - Sydney Sweeney. I don't get Sydney Sweeney. I was watching on the plane Sydney Sweeney's movie [Anyone But You] because I wanted to watch it.

"I wanted to know who she is and why everybody's talking about her. I watched this unwatchable movie - sorry to people who love this... romantic comedy where they hate each other."

Baum, who also teaches at the University of Southern California, added: "I said to my class, 'Explain this girl to me. She's not pretty, she can't act. Why is she so hot?' Nobody had an answer."

In response, Sweeney's representative told Variety: "How sad that a woman in the position to share her expertise and experience chooses instead to attack another woman."

Sydney Sweeney: 'Women empowering other women in Hollywood is fake'

"It's very disheartening to see women tear other women down," the Anyone But You star says.

www.bbc.com

It's all fake, folks.

 

[Happy Poo]

This study is interesting.. In my experience women can be very nurturing and supportive yes for sure, but also jealous and bitchy/competitive. I was bullied alot predominantly from girls at school about my long hair and appearance, it ruined my confidence.
I still find it difficult to trust other women again wholly. There are some lovely women and some not so lovely, but this side to girls is definitely a thing and these experiences have caused wounds /distortions that I'm still try to get rid of, so I'm also feeling like this is quite an emotive subject for me due to being on the receiving end of negative behaviour from fellow women, especially regarding my hair!

 

[Debra]

This study is interesting.. In my experience women can be very nurturing and supportive yes for sure, but also jealous and bitchy/competitive. I was bullied alot predominantly from girls at school about my long hair and appearance, it ruined my confidence.

I whole heartily emphasize with you, and your statement “ruined my confidence” went straight to my heart.
It’s incredible how these experiences have such an impact, but as I stated in one of my previous posts, female humans are biologically wired from the moment of conception for cooperation and nurturing.

I’m guessing, but it wasn’t ALL the girls, in your school that were bully’s, was it?

I still find it difficult to trust other women again wholly.

I found gaining knowledge of the behavioural red flags that these covertly masked aggressive women send out, has changed the balance of trust for me.
There are very few people, in general, male or female, that gain my trust.
I DO trust myself, tho’, I trust my instincts, and the knowledge I have learned.
I also learned how to manoeuvre and avoid, or “manage” the interactions with others, so that I’m not as vulnerable or targeted by them.
Trust is a precious commodity for me, and not given lightly.

There are some lovely women and some not so lovely, but this side to girls is definitely a thing and these experiences have caused wounds /distortions that I'm still try to get rid of, so I'm also feeling like this is quite an emotive subject for me due to being on the receiving end of negative behaviour from fellow women, especially regarding my hair!

I do understand how you must be feeling, given that you’ve been so truthful and open in your post, and I shared very similar abusive treatment from school and work “Bully Females”.
Just for a moment, could you sit with this question, “what would it take for you to resolve this issue?”

For myself, I pursued all kinds of therapy’s, mainstream psychology, mainstream psychiatry, which amounted to sedatives, talk Therapy, body therapy, blah, blah.
Then, in the 90’s, meditation training and Energy Therapies.

Then I studied the innate natural, biological reasons and Everything, and I mean all of the nasty behaviours and reasons for their actions, made biological sense!

Oh, and another thing, geez, I can’t believe I’m gonna write this, but...my oldest sister sent me some old school photos she had found in our moms stuff.
One was a photo of my 4th grade class, and there I was, tall, long blond hair down past my waist, already looking preteen, and the saddest face....sandwiched in between all these smirking, scruffy bully kids.

As I looked at the picture, and remembered their names, the realization hit me!

The ones that had bullied me the worst, there were 4 boys, and three girls, 7 in all, well, they were all dead.
They had all gone along with the “plandemic”, probably bullied the heck out of anyone in that small community that didn’t, and probably got all the boosters too.
Over the last 2 years, I had read most of their obituaries.
Several Turbo cancers, couple of suicides, and heart attacks.
Bullies usually are Authoritarian followers.

So, there’s that dark humour, too, I guess.

 

[Natus Videre]

One was a photo of my 4th grade class, and there I was, tall, long blond hair down past my waist, already looking preteen, and the saddest face....sandwiched in between all these smirking, scruffy bully kids.

As I looked at the picture, and remembered their names, the realization hit me!

The ones that had bullied me the worst, there were 4 boys, and three girls, 7 in all, well, they were all dead.
They had all gone along with the “plandemic”, probably bullied the heck out of anyone in that small community that didn’t, and probably got all the boosters too.
Over the last 2 years, I had read most of their obituaries.
Several Turbo cancers, couple of suicides, and heart attacks.
Bullies usually are Authoritarian followers.

Debra, if you had cut your long hair a bit more often, we'd already be in 4D. I mean, aren't psychos hanging by a thread?

Regarding female competition, I knew a naturally blond girl who was manipulated by her much older, jealous sister to dye her hair red. When the parents were on a trip, the older sister convinced the younger one that she would look better with this new 'flashy' color. The rest is history—I don't remember seeing her beautiful blond hair ever again.

 

[Asa]

Debra, if you had cut your long hair a bit more often, we'd already be in 4D. I mean, aren't psychos hanging by a thread?

Regarding female competition, I knew a naturally blond girl who was manipulated by her much older, jealous sister to dye her hair red. When the parents were on a trip, the older sister convinced the younger one that she would look better with this new 'flashy' color. The rest is history—I don't remember seeing her beautiful blond hair ever again.

The dynamic is captured quite beautifully in Cinderalla

 

[Princess Lux 🌷]

Vox Day published a good piece on this on his Sigma Game substack:

The Science of Female Competition

How short hair is an aspect of women's war for male attention

sigmagame.substack.com

ABSTRACT​

Intrasexual competition between women is often covert, and targets rivals' appearance. Here we investigate appearance advice as a vector for female intrasexual competition. Across two studies (N = 192, N = 258) women indicated how much hair they would recommend hypothetical clients have cut off in their hypothetical salon. Clients varied in their facial attractiveness (depicted pictorially), the condition of their hair, and how much hair they wished to have cut off. Participants also provided self-report measures of their own mate value and intrasexual competitiveness. In both studies, participants' intrasexual competitiveness positively predicted how much hair they recommended clients have cut off, especially when the hair was in good condition and the clients reported wanting as little as possible cut off – circumstances wherein cutting off too much hair is most likely to indicate sabotage. Considering data across both collectively, women tended to recommend cutting the most hair off clients they perceived to be as attractive as themselves. These data suggest that just like mating, intrasexual competition may be assortative with respect to mate value. They also demonstrate that competitive motives can impact female-female interactions even in scenarios which feature no prospective mates, and are nominally unrelated to mate guarding or mating competition.

CONCLUSION​

In the current study, female intrasexual competition via rival manipulation was investigated. More competitive participants advised hypothetical salon clients to cut off more hair when that hair was healthy and when clients expressed a wish to have as little hair cut off as possible. Participants advised clients they perceived to be as attractive as themselves to cut off the most hair, and also advised unattractive clients to cut of more than they advised highly attractive clients to cut off. Other than targeting women of similar perceived attractiveness, participants own mate-value had limited impact on haircut advice, suggesting that this type of female intrasexual competition manifests consistently along the mate value spectrum. We observed these effects in a context – advice about a haircut – that was ostensibly unrelated to any identifiable, or implied, mating opportunity or mating threat. These observations lead us to concur with Ayers and Goetz (2022), that future research should broaden the contextual scope within which female intrasexual competition is investigated. We suspect that intrasexually competitive motives may influence the full breadth of female-female interactions, whenever opportunities to manipulate the reproductive outcomes of other women present themselves, irrespective of whether or not those interactions involve an identifiable mating threat for any woman involved.

Trust the science, girls. Trust the science. And men, while we may not understand the vagaries of the female socio-sexual hierarchy, such as it is, much less be able to put accurate labels on it, rest assured that it exists, it is dynamic, and it is hypercompetitive in a wide variety of ways that most of us are not even able to recognize as competition.

I havent noticed this mentality concerning hair where Im from; hence, I find this study interesting. I think that's being too competitive and I didnt know part of the criteria is having long nice hair.

Historically, women cooperated, women helped each other, assisted in births, and nursed each other’s babies, nurtured and cared FOR each other, for Pete’s sake!

Yes, historically. I think the competition is more obvious in the younger generation than the older ones. I love and admire my grandma and women her age for I feel like their ways are very feminine. They're strong at the same time gentle and feels like home.

These days I noticed this competitive energy with women and I find that I also participate in it consciously and sometimes unconsciously. It's so draining though so I just carefully choose the women in my circle where I feel safe and not have to compete.

 

[Alejo]

Maybe the part above also explains in part why all-female companies disintegrate very quickly and are much less effective than mixed gender companies?

I suppose it's possible, and it's probably one of many factors at play.

 

[Ant22]

Women aren’t biologically wired for competitive behaviour between themselves and other women, they are biologically wired for cooperation and nurturing others, for mutual survival.

This strikes me as a somewhat simplistic and perhaps slightly romanticised view of women. While it’s certainly true that the traits you mentioned are hardwired in us, they don’t define the totality of female nature or the full spectrum of our behaviours. As with many other concepts, context is king here too, and in some situations, being nurturing and cooperative simply isn’t going to do the trick. Situations involving conflict or danger are prime examples of this.

Jordan Peterson often references studies suggesting that women are less confrontational than men, citing gossip, innuendo, and reputation destruction as examples of toxic femininity. Is it therefore really such a stretch to imagine that women might resort to underhanded tactics, like convincing the competition to make themselves look less attractive, in order to shine?

Heck, there's even a slang term for that. From Urban Dictionary:



There's also this scene from Friends. For those who haven't watched the sitcom, Rachael (the one with the book) wants to get back with her ex, who is currently dating Bonnie (the one in the bathing suit). How fitting that the covert sabotage of Bonnie's attractive looks involves her hair, eh?

On a more serious note, evolutionary psychology explains that underhanded confrontionality pretty well I think: men are more willing and capable of engaging in open confrontation or using force because since cavemen times hunting for food or defending against wild animals or rival tribes required strength and capacity for violence. And these were traditionally male tasks. Yet although their role was crucial to the species' survival, if a man died during a violent confrontation or during hunting his offspring still had the mother to take care of it.

For women, the stakes were different. They also needed strategies to compete with other women for men, food, or shelter - just not ones that would put them in physical danger. They couldn’t afford direct confrontation as their injury or death would also mean the death of their offspring since men couldn’t hunt or fight off dangers while simultaneously caring for small children. This is why they developed more subtle - and safer - approaches, such as the aforementioned covert sabotage tactics.

And given that for millennia women relied on men for protection and the provision of resources - which was particularly important when the baby was young and unable to survive on its own - I don’t think it’s a stretch to conclude that women have learned to use the aforementioned manipulative tactics to non-violently compete with other women for the strongest possible partner with the best resources. And all that while also presenting themselves as non-violent, feminine, and nurturing, i.e.: fit to raise offspring. Over time, such behaviours became so hardwired in us that they're still very much present and are detectable by studies like the one whitecoast posted. Or who knows, they may also be a part of our overall intelligent design rather than something that developed over time.

I do appreciate the explanations and concern that I’m receiving from men’s responses, so far, regarding how and what women are up to and experiencing, in that experiment.
I gotta say, geez, how do I put this, I find it endearing and hilarious being “mansplained” about what women are REALLy feeling, and the motivation for their actions!

No mansplaining here - just a fellow girl chiming in