It's rather likely that we all have at least one relative or acquaintance whose views on the modern world seem to be stuck in the past. Whether it's about some kind of serious social issues or something as casual as someone's appearance, they just simply don't get it.
Like the uncle today's OP has. This man, after seeing how his nephew was planning to spoil his girlfriend, couldn't shut himself up about how all of it was very feminine. And then he came for the young man's appearance. It probably won't surprise you to learn that, soon enough, this turned into quite a nasty family drama.
More info: Reddit
Some people just can't stop themselves from commenting on someone's appearance, no matter how annoying it is
Image credits: Sofia Mvila / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
Just like the uncle in today's story, who had a problem with his nephew's long hair
One day, he started picking on his nephew for the dinner decor he prepared for his girlfriend - in his eyes, it seemed too "girly"
Image credits: Vitaly Gariev / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
He made a comment that, combined with his long locks, the nephew was "really selling" the whole overly feminine shtick
Image credits: ConfectionDull3312
This made the young man lose it and call out the uncle's baldness and divorcé status, but he later regretted it, as it felt like crossing a line
The OP has long, curly hair that he’s been growing out for a few years. He likes taking care of it, but the thing is that most of the products that fit his hair are targeted towards women. He doesn’t really care about that; after all, it’s just a marketing strategy, but not everyone is like him.
One week, his girlfriend had a stressful week, so he decided to cook dinner for her and decorated the place with flowers, wrote a card, and just overall did a nice thing. When he was doing all of this, his uncle, who had been living with them for a while, walked in.
He looked around and made a comment that it all looked like something “a girl would set up.” Then, he proceeded to say that the original poster is doing “a lot of girly stuff for a guy” and then added that his long hair is “really selling it.”
He ignored the request to back off and continued making similar comments until it really started to get on the OP’s nerves, and he lashed out.
Basically, as you can see, the uncle was very much hung up on the idea that long hair is a feminine thing. And while nowadays it might be viewed this way by many, back in the day, the situation was a tad different. In fact, long hair used to be a symbol of masculinity.
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From Greeks to Vikings to American Indians to Japanese – all of their men had long hair. In ancient Greece, warriors with flowing locks had even odes composed about the beauty and strength of their hair.
The locks weren’t limited to warriors only – ancient Greek philosophers rocked them too. Apparently, they were viewed as a symbol of intellectual pursuits. Just think about it – Socrates and his student Plato are depicted with long hair and beards. Their long hair represented their dedication to the pursuit of knowledge.
Things started to change in ancient Rome around the 1st century BCE when soldiers started chopping off their hair. Turns out, locks were a liability in battle, as it was easy for enemies to grab. That’s how a cropped style became a symbol of discipline, military strength, order, and control, while the previously popular long style started being viewed as wild or even barbaric.
Well, the OP’s uncle might not be viewing the nephew’s hair as a barbaric choice, but a wild one for sure. After all, in modern society, it’s normal or even expected for women to look like Rapunzels, but if the men choose it, they might be looked at weirdly. Usually, by those who have completely different hair, just like this bald uncle.
That’s why the author told his relative that he’s not the authority figure to comment on hair – what can you say about something you don’t have? Granted, he said it in a rather harsh way, bringing up the uncle’s divorce as well, which later made him think that he might have crossed a line.
But the netizens told him that he wasn’t that bad – the uncle was picking on him, so it was a natural reaction to lash out like that. Do you agree with such a stance? Please explain yours in the comments!
But netizens reassured the young man that he didn't cross the line that much; it was just a natural reaction to a bully
