A Chicago Tribune columnist is in the cross hairs over her hair.
Heidi Stevens has been receiving vile hate mail nonstop since June, when she changed the headshot that accompanies her parenting column, “The Balancing Act.”
“For heaven sake comb your hair,” one woman wrote to Stevens referring to her wavy bob. “Your picture instills not one iota of a knowledgeable person.”
Another told Stevens — who has regularly calls for body acceptance in her columns — to “shoot” her hairstylist.
One man wrote that “a tramp with greasy, matted, uncombed hair” would never be taken seriously.
Stevens has always rocked loosely styled locks in her author photos, but her most recent picture has sparked a new wave of criticism from readers who think she looks disheveled and unprofessional. She printed some of the best vitriol in her March 20 column, “Uncombed hair threatens the natural order.”
“Each (comment) takes me aback,” she wrote. “Not because my hair is above reproach, but because my hair is completely beside the point.”
Stevens wrote a follow-up piece on Thursday, and the hate mail kept coming — but this time, it was accompanied by support from women who have long suffered in the workplace because of others’ perception of their looks.
“Keep on threatening,” encouraged comedian Beth Littleford.
Stevens told the Daily News that she liked her hair better curly and she wouldn’t change the photo because she didn’t want to pander to her critics.
“I don’t (support) the message that we all need to be runway-ready or beautiful to have a voice.”
She recalled one comment that recommended she get her hair done for her headshot.
“I think my picture should reflect who I am, not someone who spent a couple hours at a great salon,” she said. “To me, it’s more like, ‘Hey, I’m in the trenches. I get up at 5 and make school lunches. It’s a crazy life so many people are living. I don’t mind if my hair matches that image.”
The writer, who said that her parenting pieces don’t normally generate such strong reactions, added that we hold working women to impossibly high standards.
“We set up these super-narrow boundaries of what’s considered appropriate for them to look like and then we shame them if they don’t (fit) that teeny, tiny window,” she said.
Stevens joins a long line of women who have ended up on someone’s “don’t” list because of their ‘dos — and world leaders aren’t exempt. Michelle Obama recently caught flak for wearing her hair in a tight bun for a “Jeopardy” segment. The conversation quickly became about Obama’s hair instead of the healthy eating habits she was there to promote.
But even if she had gone bald, as some speculated, would it make her any less capable?
“Who cares if Michelle Obama cut off all her hair?! I think she would wear it well,” tweeted @lisvh.
She’s not the only first lady to be put through the wringer. Hillary Clinton has famously said that all she needs to do to change tomorrow’s news is alter her hairstyle. But she seems to embrace the running joke: At a D.C. event last week, she said that her year of “new beginnings” includes a new hairstyle.
Even when they make the hairdo “do” list, there’s backlash. Critics of Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg — two of Silicon Valley’s most powerful and beautiful women — say they wouldn’t have gotten to their high-power positions if they were homelier. Both were even granted Vogue spreads, in which they looked more supermodel than Fortune 500. But the two powerhouses draw the line somewhere: They stay mum when it comes to their good looks.
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