Strange Things Out of Hair
Baldness and Masculinity in Early Modern England
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 16616548 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Anu Korhonen (0000-0002-3692-3144, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2010 |
| Volume | 41 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 371-391 |
| Publication date | 2010-06-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Sixteenth Century Journal (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0361-0160 • E-ISSN: 2326-0726 |
| Publisher | University of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1086/scj27867791 |
| OpenAlex | W2203937127 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 8 |
In the recent history of masculinity, the male body has gained ground as a fresh field of interest, parallel in many ways to earlier emphases on the female body in women's history. This article explores male baldness as a constituent of masculinity in early modern England. Drawing from printed texts of various genres, combined with evidence from diaries and (auto)biographical writings, it shows that baldness could have many meanings to sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Englishmen. The article argues that the key contexts for understanding hair loss were age, health, and physical attractiveness—all linked to questions of honor and shame, but most often discussed with an ironic tone. Matters of outward appearance were deemed trivial, particularly in the case of men, and baldness too emerges as an ambiguous marker of masculinity—one best taken rather lightly
Aesthetics · Art · Attractiveness · Honor · Literature · Masculinity · Physical attractiveness · Shame · Sociology · Tone (literature · Gender Studies · Historical Gender and Feminism Studies · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · History · History of Emotions Research · Psychology · Social Psychology
Making Sense as a Cultural Practice
Objects, Emotions and an Early Modern Bed-sheet
Making Sense as a Cultural Practice
Missionary Men in the Early Modern World
Shakespeare and Masculinity
Manhood and Masculinity in Early Modern England
It’s Just Hair, Right?” From Loss of Identity to Building a New Man in Young Men’s Accounts of Male Pattern Baldness
Masculine Power? A Gendered Look at the Frontispiece of Hobbes's Leviathan
| Citations per year | 0.62 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2013 - 2025 (13) |
| Highly cited | No |