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[mallowstep]

I could see Tigerstar using Featherpaw's hair as a way to humiliate her by cutting it really short. ("Look at you Feather... You can't even take care of yourself, we need to get rid of all this hair, since you are such a dirty child.") It could feed into why she likes to keep it long now, as it's something she now has control over and the thought of having someone cut it brings back memories of what Tigerstar did as punishment.

yeah! i don't remember where the first time i said this was but he does in fact do this.

hm i'm going to put in a cut bc this feels like i'm going to ramble

cw: child abuse, misogyny, religious motivated child abuse & misogyny

so we've established tigerstar formally hates women, right? like in contrast to the cat misty au where it's more of a joke (he does hate women but in my cat world misogyny is very different and not the way tigerstar hates women), he actively is just -- a huge misogynist. to the point where like.

tigerstar doesn't believe half the shit he says. he just likes Power and Control. he definitely believes some of it, but he doesn't believe a lot of it. but when it comes to misogyny...he starts from "i'm saying this because it gets me what i want" but talk to goldenflower and she will tell you "no he was Always Like This. he was Always controlling and misogynistic that's why i left him."

but okay, so. we've talked about how he uses "modesty" as an argument for controlling how women dress. and -- featherpaw does not Get That...protection? recognition? hm. i'm not quite sure but. there's a sense that -- well he presents it as. modesty is something women should have. it's a gift. women are being corrupted, being turned against something natural and good for them.

so when he makes the only clothes featherpaw has access to a pair of shorts (above the knee, not elastic but not baggy, like these things), and a tank top, you know.

mistyfoot and tawnypaw (and the other women etc just assume when i ref misty and tawny i mean all women but those are the two featherpaw interacts with and therefore the ones who are emotionally relevant) aren't even allowed to wear pants.

tigerstar definitely does some stuff that is blatantly transgressing this (notably, whenever he makes mistyfoot go to a party), but -- for featherpaw it's a constant reminder that she is. not worthy of a basic thing.

(also she's cold.)

so the other thing is -- he expects women to have long hair. takes it very seriously. this has nothing to do with goldenflower having long hair nothing whatsoever.

but anyway. mistyfoot and tawnypaw, long hair.

featherpaw has pretty long hair for a while, but. you can only do so much to detangle long hair without a comb.

and, there's not a bathroom in featherpaw and mistyfoot's room? so they're. you know. featherpaw is not getting regular baths/showers.

and at some point, tigerstar goes to yank her by her hair, and he realizes it's a mess (and kind of gross), and he just, oh he's going to make such good use of this in the future.

the pattern of abuse remains basically the same here, in that. featherpaw's gonna go through it no matter what, but tigerstar likes to blame it on mistyfoot. so he mentions that featherpaw is looking a little...unkempt, does mistyfoot need help?

and mistyfoot is Panicking because she can't! she can't do anything! like she literally can't do much more than untangle featherpaw's hair as best she can and like. make use of the few minutes featherpaw has to brush her teeth in the morning and evening to try to do something.

(she braids featherpaw's hair at first but it turns out that's just really tempting for assholes to pull. uh. and she doesn't have a hair tie so it doesn't even keep.)

right but tigerstar lets mistyfoot stew in this for a while, and they're -- this is a few months into their time. so he lets mistyfoot stew in this for a while, maybe mentions it one or two more times, and then he pressures her into "asking for help."

probably by saying something to the effect of -- "if you're sure you're taking adequate care of her, then she's deliberately disobeying, and that merits punishment."

so mistyfoot asks for help and tigerstar puts his hand on her cheek and kisses her forehead and says of course he'll help. he has featherpaw brought to him, has her kneel in front of him, and just chops off her hair in a deliberately horribly ragid way.

and there won't that be so much easier to take care of?

he wouldn't shave featherpaw's head, because then he couldn't use it to make her hold still, but from that point on, he regularly chops it.

and it's. he mocks featherpaw for it, too. like -- you know. calls her ugly and -- how could she possibly think she'd be allowed to eat dinner with them looking like that?

(never mind he's the reason she looks like that)

but it's also another like. othering and dehumanization tactic. tawnypaw's hair is long and glossy and all tied up with a neat little alice ribbon (something she hates, to be clear), and tigerstar uh.

tigerstar brushes mistyfoot's hair?

yeah.

but. featherpaw can't keep her hair, isn't even deserving of modesty, yeah.

and that's 100% why she grows it out long after. that and just. legitimately liking her appearance with it. but. mistyfoot cuts her hair once about when they get out of the hospital, to even it off, and then they just let it grow.

mistyfoot starts braiding it as. you know just a thing to do. if. i dunno my mom used to braid my hair and like. it's just a nice thing. i was at summer camp once and i never get homesick but a camp counsellor braided my hair for me and i broke down in Tears bc it's just a positive memory thing.

and featherpaw has. almost entirely negative associations with people touching her hair. she struggles with taking care of it, like. the fact that she hasn't taken care of her hair in many years and before that she was young enough it was only barely her responsibility is part of it right?

like she was nine, which is -- young enough that you still need help washing your hair. you know she was transitioning into being independent but that's. there's a lot of suds and steps.

and then she spends six years where like. it's not that she never bathes it's that baths usually look like ice water and supervision by someone she does not feel comfortable getting undressed in front of. and they're -- not super frequent.

and then she's in the hospital for a long time, aggressively too sick to take care of herself. by time time the triplets are born she's getting better but she doesn't go through a full rehabilitation process. she's still pretty weak when they leave, because mistyfoot's options are "leave featherpaw or take featherpaw" and she obviously takes featherpaw.

and then for the first time in her life she is responsible for her own personal care.

so. mistyfoot doesn't want to fight with her about this. and so she's finally like, "can i braid your hair?" because if they braid it, as long as they take it out and change the way it's braided now and then, the amount of brushing that needs to be done is dramatically reduced.

and then you know. it's just routine and a good together activity.

there's always. feathertail's life is a constant back and forth of independence vs needs. she can't fully take care of long hair by herself, like she Physically Can't Do It, but she also can't cut her hair short enough she could manage it.

when it grows out long enough she can braid it over her shoulder, she feels better. mistyfoot usually french braids it, because that's a lot more secure, feathertail does two braids.

anyway yeah i forgot where i first mentioned tigerstar as Why feathertail likes her hair long but. it's definitely harder with the kids because long hair is so tempting to pull, and it's just. a Bad thing.

triggering for both mistyfoot and feathertail but they have very different associations with it.

so braids!

(also brook likes braiding feathertail's hair. i realize i have not mentioned brook once and that's bc i literally have 0 idea when/how/where they meet, but she also braids it. she's got some more skills too. does a crown braid once and feathertail decides that she's going to marry this woman.)