Thoughts on self-presentation
Oct. 25th, 2020 09:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
flexagonThis weekend I colored my hair for the first time ever, with semi-permanent conditioner from oVertone, and now it's teal. Extreme Teal. A pretty vibrant color where my hair is light, in streaks around my face, and subtler where my hair is darker; I didn't bleach first. It's funny because my blonde hair has always been part of my personal brand, and I do still consider it an identity thing to some extent, but coloring didn't make me nervous either. Someone finally convinced me that semi-permanent isn't forever, and it's 2020... which means, in this case, that the worst case of looking a little funny for a few weeks didn't sound like much trouble. But it came out well anyway, and I'm happy with my temporary, witchy new look. (For further entertainment, I dragged the bug along into this endeavor and his hair now has a purple sheen).
A more interesting thought this week: I think the pandemic has slanted my presentation of myself at work significantly toward the femme. Having picked apart my own look a few times while giving talks about gender, I know that my more feminine choices are usually up around the head and shoulders: long hair, long earrings. You know, exactly what shows up on a video call. Lately I've been painting my fingernails, and those show, too, when I gesture or touch my face. An unintentional theme.
Blue hair is intriguingly not coded for any particular race the way that light blonde hair is. Not that I don't look white, but, for the moment, the hair isn't so blatantly Caucasian either. I'm fine with that.
A more interesting thought this week: I think the pandemic has slanted my presentation of myself at work significantly toward the femme. Having picked apart my own look a few times while giving talks about gender, I know that my more feminine choices are usually up around the head and shoulders: long hair, long earrings. You know, exactly what shows up on a video call. Lately I've been painting my fingernails, and those show, too, when I gesture or touch my face. An unintentional theme.
Blue hair is intriguingly not coded for any particular race the way that light blonde hair is. Not that I don't look white, but, for the moment, the hair isn't so blatantly Caucasian either. I'm fine with that.
