Slut Strands: " Change your hair; change your life"---from Inherent Vice

[Mark Kohut]

"Slut strands aren’t a new thing, nor do they have anything to do with
promiscuity, perceived or literal. It’s a term I’ve been aware of since I
was a preteen ski racer in the early 2000s, and it certainly predated me
and my friends. Though at the time, as alpine skiers with wild dreams of
being the next Julia Mancuso, we hermetically sealed our hair tightly into
our helmets, lest anything create aerodynamic drag and slow us down.
Important reminder: We were 12. Ski gear, especially older ski gear, tends
to make everybody on the hill look like genderless snow astronauts. (Which,
come to think of it, kind of rules.) Slut strands are about signaling to
everyone else on the hill that you want to be recognized as a female
athlete. That you ski or board just as well as, or even better than all the
men who dominate those sports around you. Olympian Maddie Mastro—who
finished outside of the top 12 in the qualifying round in Beijing which
meant she didn’t ride in the halfpipe final with Kim—posted a viral TikTok
about them back in November of last year. “The feminine urge to pull hair
strands out of your helmet every day so people know you are a girl,” reads
the text in the video. “Sl*t strands 4 life,” Mastro added in the caption.