In an absurd decision, schools in Japan have now banned female students from tying ponytails inside the schools. The schools have claimed that this hairstyle has the potential to sexually excite a male.
Japanese schools are infamous for imposing rules which would otherwise seem abnormally strict and absurd to people from other countries. From regulating the length of the socks to the colour of the undergarments, Japanese schools have always come up with these absurd rules that surprise people elsewhere.
According to reports, a former middle school teacher in Japan has told VICE World News that the school administration mentioned that the girls who expose the nape of their necks could sexually excite boys.
The teacher further said, “They are worried boys will look at girls, which is similar to the reasoning behind upholding a white-only underwear color rule. The students are compelled to accept these norms because there is very little criticism against this.” It is notable that according to a survey done in 2020, one out of ten schools in the southern prefecture of Fukuoka had banned ponytails.
This is not the only arbitrary and regressive stricture in Japanese schools. In fact, Japanese schools have imposed many such draconian rules, and students never get any explanation behind imposing them. For example, a bob hairstyle is allowed even though it reveals about as much of the neck as a ponytail does, while an undercut is strictly prohibited. The students are also not allowed to dye their hair, and if it is not ‘black or straight’, they must prove it is the natural colour or style of their hair.
According to Asao Naito, an associate professor of sociology from Meiji University, these rules may vary from school to school and across the generations but the intended impact of these rules is to ensure that no one stands out from the crowd.
These absurd rules sound similar to some of the rules imposed over the years in North Korea by Kim Jong Un. The North Korean leader has banned so-called ‘non-socialist’ hairstyles such as the spike and mullet, along with dyed hair. According to the new laws, men and women can only keep one of the 215 other authorized hairstyles.