Banning dreadlocks in schools is just backward

He has attended the same school’s kindergarten for four years, but it wouldn’t let him proceed to the preparatory school with dreadlocks.

“I refuse to communicate to my son that girls are superior or favoured by society in any way,” she wrote on Facebook. “Allowing braids for girls allows them to feel beautiful and pretty. My son loves his locks and no matter his reasons for wanting to keep them, he should be allowed the same privilege the girls enjoy.”

So yeah, it is reverse gender discrimination. Girls have all the attention while the boys are abandoned, not even allowed to wear dreadlocks to school.

One of my greatest regrets is that I can’t have dreadlocks. There’s a certain charm that comes with having them running down your ears as you interview the devolution Cabinet secretary or “the mighty prophet of the Lord”, David Owuor. If the widely revered preacher can have a beard that mutinous, why can’t the rest of us, lesser beings, grow our hair long?

The High Court ruled in favour of the school, saying Kabugo had failed to convince the court that Cungu’s culture and religious rights had been violated.

“She has made a choice for the son to keep the dreadlocks for fashion and cosmetic reasons and not for religious reasons,” judge Mumbi Ngugi said. In any case, would the Kenyan audience accept a male news anchor with locks?

I guess the whole debate centres on the common convention for what is considered smart, acceptable or fashionable in Kenya.

Rusinga School, for instance, does not explicitly outlaw dreadlocks, besides insisting that hair be of a “natural” colour. “Hair should be kept neat and tidy at all times,” a guidebook advises. “Hair styles should be selected with good judgment, so as to avoid drawing attention to oneself.”

I’m not surprised the private school outlaws something without saying so outright. This appeals to the borderline obsessive pseudo-conservatism of most Kenyans, and the high-power, distance culture that defers to authority without questioning.

Edwin Mukabi, 27, has worn his hair long since he joined college in 2005 but says he has liked long hair since he was a child.

“This kind of backward, neo-colonial world that people live in is so annoying,” he wrote in response to Cungu’s case. He told me he works for an international organisation and his hair has never bothered his employer.

“What I could not understand is why it would ever be an issue on the intellect and the productivity someone would bring to the table.”

The colonial tangent Mukabi brings up is worth pursuing. Kabugo points out that African culture had no perms, weaves or wigs but we totally accept them now over what was originally ours.

“I admit some were crazy but dreadlocks were African from the get go and if anything, they were worn by males!”

My friend. Boniface Mwangi, had his son, Nate, bright beyond his years and a straight A pupil, suspended from Rose of Sharon Academy at the beginning of the year for his dreadlocks.

The headmaster said he was afoul of the school’s grooming policy. When he thought of suing, I laughed it off as a First World problem. Maybe he had a point.

When did we decide that a long-held African tradition was not decent enough for the modern age? Even though the constitution specifically outlaws any form of discrimination, institutions and individuals are still firmly insulated in their own prejudices.

Telling kids that having dreadlocks isn’t good grooming is silly and surprisingly ignorant for an educational outfit, even a respectable one like Rusinga.

In Kenya, having dreadlocks has been left to artsy and musical types. Because so few men in “real life” occupations like academia, banking and law enforcement are allowed long hair, it seems alien to boys growing up.

There is nothing special or extraordinary about locks beyond being an outward symbol of free expression and creativity that should be encouraged.

Nate Mwangi now goes to a different school where his dreadlocks are allowed. Cungu shouldn’t have to go through that.

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There’s a thin line between a compliment and harassment

WHEN DOES A compliment to a woman become harassment? A viral video of a woman walking the streets of New York and getting 108 catcalls in 10 hours has opened a global debate on just that.

When we aired the video on #theTrend, most men were scandalised, considering “appreciating God’s creation” harmless.

But one guest, Anita Njeri, wasn’t so convinced, railing against rude men in matatus and other public spaces who resort to insults when ignored. She’s been called a feminazi (feminist nazi) for her strong views, but she makes solid points.

While most women say they don’t mind innocent compliments, any acknowledgment only emboldens the men and it goes downhill from there. I assumed this was only a problem unique to New York, but a staggering number of Kenyan women experience it daily.

“They say Kenyan men are not romantic,” mused Twitter user @am_robie. “When we appreciate them, they call it street harassment. What do you want?”

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On matters gay, Kenyans are preaching water, drinking wine

NINETY TWO per cent of Kenyans consider homosexuality unacceptable, according to a Pew Research Centre survey. Yet Kenya has the highest number of Google searches for “gay sex pictures”.

The Google Trends report came out just after the Kenya Film Classification Board banned the feature film, Stories of Our Lives, which tells the stories of some gay Kenyans.

One of the film’s producers, George Gachara, was even briefly arrested. Gachara and his partners, Njoki Ngumi and Jim Chuchu, premiered the film at the Toronto Film Festival in September.

In a country that’s mostly Christian and rabidly opposed to homosexuality, there sure are many odd sexual preferences your local pastor or imam wouldn’t approve of.

Some gay commentators claim that the most homophobic people are secretly gay; maybe this provides a shred of evidence.

Madowo is the technology editor at NTV ([email protected])