anchovysaurus's reviews
241 reviews

The author explored some really poignant points about using hair as a form of protest, expression, and a rallying point for community. She began by explaining how immigrants often work their body hair to be more "palatable" to Western society. Throughout, she related hair to different emotions and concepts [anger, conformity, etc.].

The blonde/conformity chapter dealt more with the broader concept of conforming to Eurocentric hair ideals, not how blondness = conformity. The last chapter, wigs/play, argued that costumes allow people to understand themselves better, but this discussion related more to freedom of expression than hair, specifically. I think this book could've benefitted from a more focused lens, or at least stronger connections between concepts.

This book might be best for people who are beginning to question whether they’re on the asexual or aromantic spectra, but it often seems to be written for people who may never have questioned societal norms before. It’s quite informative about how broad the aspec is and it shares many examples of non-normative relationship structures, which were really helpful. 
The authors continually stress that they can only speak from the perspective of white, middle-class women – and they’re not wrong. Many of the “alternative” ideas they cite are already known to POCs. Lastly, the book’s subtitle includes “an asexual and aromantic perspective”, but the asexual perspective is disproportionately larger, evidenced by the authors constantly prompting readers to don our “purple-coloured glasses”, but not all of us are asexual.