Bob Hairstyles and the Changing Idea of Femininity in Thai Society during the 1920s

Chonlatorn Jiamjaimuangkaew, Bhawan Ruangsilp

ABSTRACT:

A hairstyle can serve as a medium for expressing specific identities or meanings and as a site of contesting ideas. Analysis of the Thai print media of the 1920s shows that hairstyles, especially the bob haircuts which were newly adopted from the West, became a controversial topic in Thai society as much as a popular fashion among Thai women. As this study finds, the public debate on bob hairstyles and the attempts to define or redefine femininity in Thai society during this period were based on three main lines of argument: impact of modernity, national progress, and social values. These processes also reveal the growing of a new kind of self-awareness among Thai women, against the backdrop of the shifting gender relations and the construction of Thainess and Otherness.

KEYWORDS: Femininity – Hairstyles – Gender Relations – Modernity – Thailand

DOI: 10.62788/Nn433XB

PUBLISHED IN: ICCMETS Conference Proceedings 2024

DATE OF CONFERENCE: October 21 - 22, 2024

CONFERENCE LOCATION: Singapore

PUBLISHER: EDUCATION STUDIO (THAILAND) CO., LTD.

ELECTRONIC ISBN: 978-616-7901-69-5

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