With his head bent towards his chest and hair hanging in front of his face, Nathaniel Hitch began crafting his man-bun.
It started with the combing, removing any tangles that may have formed; fingers should do the trick.
Then, Hitch worked meticulously to restrain his mane with a trusty hair-tie. After a few patient moments, a man-bun was formed.
Hitch, a junior at Towson University, has sported a man-bun for the past two or three years, though he’s had long hair since he was 16 years old.
“It helps me fit in by helping me stand-out,” said Hitch, who is majoring in music. “In the arts, people are like ‘this person’s different’ therefore people gravitate toward you.”
While the man-bun may be seen as just another trending hairstyle, Hitch acknowledged that it also tests society’s definition of masculinity and femininity.
“I actually think that the man-bun is kind of a way of creating a more masculine view of femininity, so kind of trying to bridge that gap,” he said.
For Cindy Gissendanner, Ph.D., style choices play an important role in the formation of identity.
“I think hair and fashion and that sort of style…is very significant in terms of how people identify themselves in terms of gender identity and also how others view their gender,” said Gissendanner, who is the Chair of Women’s and Gender Studies at Towson.
Gissendanner added that society’s perception of gender, at least in terms of physical expression, is evolving.
“It’s part of outward appearance and the culture has definitions of what is masculine and what is feminine in terms of dress, hair, makeup, cosmetics, and body alterations of whatever sort,” she said. “I think those things are gendered, although I think the definition of what falls within acceptable masculine behavior and acceptable feminine behavior has become less rigid.”
The man-bun as a hairstyle may indicate a deviation from traditional gender norms as society becomes more accepting of gender fluidity.
When it comes to the name “man-bun,” however, the issue becomes a little hairy.
Gissendanner asserted that labels such as “man-bun” are used to make gender fluidity more palatable to society.
“In some ways it keeps that binary,” Gissendanner said. “If it’s a man-bun, then it sort of upholds that idea that there are important differences between in terms of gender that define people on that binary. So it’s ‘safe’ to have a man-bun. It wouldn’t be ‘safe’ to just have a bun.”
Amanda Jean Thomas, a Towson sophomore and Communication Studies major, claimed that the label is unnecessary.
“For me, I don’t understand why we label everything to very specific degrees,” Thomas said. “I mean, it’s a bun, you just happen to be a man.”
She explained that defining something as masculine or feminine has the potential to limit people’s identities.
“I think they’re outdated terms in the sense that they give people the wrong impression that they can’t be one or the other if they are a certain gender,” Thomas said. “I think they should be able to be used interchangeably.”
Hitch understood how some people could interpret the label as a reinforcement of those gender norms, but claimed that, in the case of the man-bun, the distinction is a necessary one to make.
“It’s typically been ascribed to women,” Hitch said. “The idea of calling it a man-bun is to separate it and distinguish it from a female hairstyle because it’s definitely different on men.”
Still, Hitch explained that gender norms and labels should not force people to look a certain way and that ultimately it should be the individual’s own decision.
“I think how a person wears their hair portrays a lot about their character and how much they ascribe to gender norms,” he said.
Regardless of differing opinions on the matter of labels, Gissendanner urged people to be attentive to how gender is a part of their everyday lives.
“That boundary, that gender binary, is reinforced not just in the realm of fashion but it’s reinforced in the economy, who gets what kinds of jobs more often than others,” she said. “So there are penalties—economic penalties, political penalties—all kinds of penalties for people who cross the line so that I think at some level that personal style is a political issue.”
Gissendanner went on to explain that acceptance is not only cultural, but must also be demonstrated in our laws, economic systems, and educational systems in order to combat institutional discrimination.
Since deciding to don the man-bun, Hitch has become more aware of his own identity as well as how other people perceive him.
“I think one of the big changes was that people started seeing my long hair as stylish, not so much as like rebellious, because that’s what it used to be back when I was a teenager,” Hitch said. “Because I did it before the trend started, I see it as an expression of my individuality. But because other people see it as a trend, they see it as stylish.”
As society slowly lets its hair down on the issue of gender norms, Hitch continues to wear the man-bun with style.
Marcus Dieterle 