# Were hippies in the 1960s really discriminated against? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 24, 2009, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-hippies-in-the-1960s-really-discriminated-against/504116 "2009-07-24T13:08:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-hippies-in-the-1960s-really-discriminated-against/504116/61 "2014-04-26T15:04:51Z")
> [@Una\_Persson](#): > > Oddly, I’ve been told personally of some of my female relatives being hassled a bit in the 1960’s for having hair that was too short, being called “boys”, and even “hippies” for having _short_ hair, wearing jeans, etc. In rural areas, it wasn’t just long hair and hippie dress, it was looking different, period. The single most memorable bit from Robert Heinlein’s ‘The Day After Tomorrow’ a - mostly forgettable - book about building a revolution in the United States after the ‘Pan Asians’ conquer it? The fact that the man leading the revolution, a non-professional military officer whose main business is PR and advertising tells his recruiters that he wants solid citizens and ‘no long haired men or short haired women.’ And this was written in 1941 and published in book form in 1949! ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-hippies-in-the-1960s-really-discriminated-against/504116/62 "2014-04-26T15:21:19Z")
So what did Heinlein have against classical music? [What’s A Long Haired Musician?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=394644) ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-hippies-in-the-1960s-really-discriminated-against/504116/63 "2014-04-26T18:21:25Z")
I hear hippie were never good a punctuation, either. But think how long your hair would be if hadn’t cut it since 2009? ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-hippies-in-the-1960s-really-discriminated-against/504116/64 "2014-04-26T18:41:38Z")
Zombie’s hair doesn’t grow. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-hippies-in-the-1960s-really-discriminated-against/504116/65 "2014-04-26T18:54:12Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I hear hippie were never good a punctuation, either. But think how long your hair would be if hadn’t cut it since 2009? Maybe he did too much LDS back in the 60s. ---
**Author:** ![ThisUsernameIsForbidden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b4bc9f/32.png) [@ThisUsernameIsForbidden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisUsernameIsForbidden)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-hippies-in-the-1960s-really-discriminated-against/504116/66 "2014-04-26T18:56:48Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Maybe he did too much LDS back in the 60s. The Mormons were tough, but at least you can spread your precious seed among multiple wives. I’m sure the hippies appreciated that! ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-hippies-in-the-1960s-really-discriminated-against/504116/67 "2014-04-26T19:01:44Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Maybe he did too much LDS back in the 60s. I think he was at Berkeley. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-hippies-in-the-1960s-really-discriminated-against/504116/68 "2014-04-26T19:09:34Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > I don’t know how many “hippies” there were actually. I never saw the book that set out the rules you had to obey to be a “hippie”. I think a more useful term instead of “hippies” would be “Long Hair”… Good point. Asking how many hippies there were has the same problems as asking how many nerds there are, or how many rednecks, etc… You could do a poll to find out how many people in some area drive old pickup trucks, vote Republican, and chew tobacco, but then some people who would consider themselves to be rednecks or who would be widely considered such don’t do all of those things. These terms - hippie, nerd, redneck, etc., are vague and have fuzzy borders. You can find people who are solid, core examples of each stereotype, but then you’ll find lots of people in the borderlands. Is someone who dislikes SF but has a great love for medieval chivalric romances necessarily nerdy? ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-hippies-in-the-1960s-really-discriminated-against/504116/69 "2014-04-26T19:47:06Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > The single most memorable bit from Robert Heinlein’s ‘The Day After Tomorrow’ a - mostly forgettable - book about building a revolution in the United States after the ‘Pan Asians’ conquer it? > > The fact that the man leading the revolution, a non-professional military officer whose main business is PR and advertising tells his recruiters that he wants solid citizens and ‘no long haired men or short haired women.’ > > And this was written in 1941 and published in book form in 1949! I thought that was “Fifth Column”? ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-hippies-in-the-1960s-really-discriminated-against/504116/70 "2014-04-26T20:47:17Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > I thought that was “Fifth Column”? Sixth Column, later retitled The Day After Tomorrow. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-hippies-in-the-1960s-really-discriminated-against/504116/71 "2014-04-26T20:47:31Z")
It was published under both “Sixth Column”, and “The Day After Tomorrow”. It was actually based on an outline of John Campbell’s, and Heinlein acknowledged that it was not his best work. Among other things, he said he had to work hard to remove Campbell’s racism – given that many readers (especially today) still find it racist, that gives you an idea of Campbell’s view of the times. ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-hippies-in-the-1960s-really-discriminated-against/504116/72 "2014-04-26T21:06:50Z")
I came home from college for a weekend back in the draft-dodging days. Hair down to my belt. My family had gone to my younger sister’s track meet, so I headed over there. When my Dad saw me, he yelled, in front of the whole crowd, “SON! You’re back from Canada, I’m so thrilled!” BTW, we called ourselves “freaks,” not hippies. ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-hippies-in-the-1960s-really-discriminated-against/504116/73 "2014-04-26T23:50:51Z")
I’m curios as to how these threads get restarted. Do people really do a _search_ for “Were hippies in the 1960’s really discriminated against?”? ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-hippies-in-the-1960s-really-discriminated-against/504116/74 "2014-04-27T00:12:08Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > As for “Easy Rider”, I think: If we’re allowing scenes from fictional movies of the era, then there was also the diner scene from Alice’s Restaurant. ---
**Author:** ![LC\_Strawhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@LC\_Strawhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LC_Strawhouse)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-hippies-in-the-1960s-really-discriminated-against/504116/75 "2014-04-27T01:49:47Z")
Long hair may have been unacceptable, but weren’t big greasy pompadours and duck tails A-OK back then? Or did that only work if you were in a NYC street gang? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-hippies-in-the-1960s-really-discriminated-against/504116/76 "2014-04-27T02:02:14Z")
> [@LC\_Strawhouse](#): > > Long hair may have been unacceptable, but weren’t big greasy pompadours and duck tails A-OK back then? Or did that only work if you were in a NYC street gang? Wasn’t that just the '50s? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-hippies-in-the-1960s-really-discriminated-against/504116/77 "2014-04-27T02:09:47Z")
> [@LC\_Strawhouse](#): > > Long hair may have been unacceptable, but weren’t big greasy pompadours and duck tails A-OK back then? Or did that only work if you were in a NYC street gang? People were as hysterical over those in the 1950s as they were over hippies in the 1960s. In fact, the hysteria over the hippies was probably made worse because of the gang associations of the 50s. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-hippies-in-the-1960s-really-discriminated-against/504116/78 "2014-04-27T04:09:39Z")
Outback Australia, 1970s: A friend of mine was with a group of young guys out driving in the back country (I think shooting 'roos or wild boars or something). They weren’t hippies, just young. They drove late at night several hundred miles between towns, got to the next one in the morning, got petrol, and went to the main street to find somewhere open, because they were very hungry. Cop pulls up behind them… COP: “Piss off.” GUYS: “We’re just grabbing a burger.” COP: “Not in my town. Piss off.” ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-hippies-in-the-1960s-really-discriminated-against/504116/79 "2014-04-27T04:14:32Z")
> [@LC\_Strawhouse](#): > > Long hair may have been unacceptable, but weren’t big greasy pompadours and duck tails A-OK back then? Or did that only work if you were in a NYC street gang? Sure decent people would look askance at you if you looked like a [biker,](http://philitt.fr/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/marlon-brando-wild-one.jpg) but it was because they were afraid you would beat _them_ up, not that they wanted to beat _you_ up.😃 ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-hippies-in-the-1960s-really-discriminated-against/504116/80 "2014-04-27T04:58:03Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > So what did Heinlein have against classical music? > > [What’s A Long Haired Musician?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=394644) Wasn’t there a bit in Starship Troopers about there being too much Delius and not enough Beethoven? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-hippies-in-the-1960s-really-discriminated-against/504116.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-hippies-in-the-1960s-really-discriminated-against/504116.md?page=5)