The geek with the receding hairline. The greasy, balding business man. The egomaniac with a combover. The hot stud with the smooth head.
These are all stereotypes that our culture associates with the bald and balding. Doesn’t the description, “short, fat, and bald” render a concrete image in your mind? What about “bald and sexy?” Did you visualize Vin Diesel?
The first fallacy with bald stereotypes is that they almost always relate specifically to men despite the fact that 40% of hair loss sufferers are women. With statistics like that, you’d expect a portion of the stereotypes associated with hair loss to represent females, but they don’t.
The next fallacy has to do with polarity. In one extreme, we have the bald loser. He’s the guy who can’t get a date, lives alone, and annoys even his own friends. Think George Costanza of Seinfeld fame and you’ll get the picture. At the other extreme, we have sexy daredevils who are confident and alluring, and are often heroes. Bruce Willis epitomizes this image, even though for a good portion of his career he was wearing hair pieces. But even after he went for the full shave, women still considered him hot. Read more ›
