A Hong Kong principal-turned-legislator has said that boys should not be allowed to have long hair in school because they are “so sweaty”.
His comments come after a form five student in Hong Kong recently lodged a complaint with the city’s equality watchdog over her school’s policy of not permitting boys to have long hair being discriminatory.
Tang Fei, a lawmaker for the election committee constituency and the principal of Heung To Secondary School (Tseung Kwan O), said on a Commercial Radio program on Friday that generally speaking, schools have rules on students’ appearances to ensure they are dressed in a simple, neat and clean manner.
He added that the rule that forbids boys from having long hair — which is a common policy in most schools in Hong Kong — is necessary.
“Boys in secondary school tend to sweat more during physical education classes or other physical activities, while girls don’t sweat that much relatively,” said Tang, who is also the vice chairman of the pro-Beijing Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers.
“Why do boys need to have short hair [in school]? Because they are so sweaty.”
When challenged by a host on the show over how he was perpetuating gender stereotypes by saying boys are sweatier than girls, he replied: “Boys and girls have physical and psychological differences. Hence, they should be treated differently. If this differential treatment is viewed as a gender stereotype or gender discrimination, do we have to have the same policies for all boys and girls?”
Tang added that it was more important to give the student who lodged the complaint professional support for his purported gender dysphoria.
The issue of whether boys should be permitted to have long hair in school became a heated debate in Hong Kong after Nathan Lam, a form five student from Tung Wah Group of Hospitals Wong Fut Nam College. announced in an Instagram video that the Equal Opportunities Commission is seeking to mediate her complaint against her school for practices that are discriminatory on the basis of gender.
Lam’s Instagram account bio says the teen’s preferred pronouns are she/her.
In the around seven-minute long video, the youngster — who now has short hair — said she was pressured by her school into cutting her long hair after being told she would be suspended if she did not do so.
Lam said she had a bit of gender dysphoria, adding that she was depressed for a while after cutting her hair.
But she realized he could not go on like that and decided to make a change, not just in her school, but across all institutions in the city.
In his video, she argued that it was prejudiced for schools to assume that boys having long hair will be unclean and untidy.
She added that a person’s hairstyle is also important for his or her self-expression.
Lam also said that her school’s concerns that it will receive complaints about male students with long hair are going against its teaching that one should not judge a book by its cover.
She said she was inspired to look into the issue after former pro-democracy legislator “Long Hair” Leung Kwok-hung won a legal battle against the Correctional Services Department, with the court ruling that compulsory haircuts only for male prisoners amount to sexual discrimination.
Lam has gotten a lot of support for his video and actions from netizens, including Hong Kong rapper Tyson Yoshi, who commented: “Let’s go 🔥 support.”
On the other hand, Tang is facing public backlash for his comments.
“Are girls with long hair necessarily clean and tidy?” asked one netizen.
“Those in the education sector tend to be conservative and are not willing to accept new ideas,” said another.
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