When “a haircut is not just a haircut”: The Embodied Deconversions of Former Pentecostal and Holiness Women

Women of Pentecostal and Holiness belief traditions are known for embodying their faith through a set of dress standards which prevent women from cutting their hair, prohibit any form of pants, jewelry, or makeup, and require they adopt various forms of “modest” attire. While there has been significant scholarship on the social and personal significance of women’s religious dress among church members, there is little to no information about how former Pentecostal and Holiness women perceive these dress standards. Furthermore, while scholars have explored the concept of deconversion, specifically as told through narrative from a more general vantage point, there is not much work which considers the role of the body within these narratives. Thus, this MA thesis seeks to address this gap in literature by studying the role of embodiment within the deconversion narratives of former Pentecostal and Holiness women. To accomplish this goal, I interviewed a total of 11 women who deconverted from churches with dress standards. These interviews highlight a specific phenomenon I term as “dress deconversion,” in which women leave former dress standards. My findings suggest that dress deconversion is interconnected with but distinct from traditional deconversion and is experienced by women in a variety of ways. Overall, women tended to utilize their dress and bodily presentations to mediate outside expectations, deconstruct religious beliefs, assert new identities, and erase past identities. These results are crucial to contextualizing women’s embodied deconversion experiences and may offer valuable insight into the relationships between the body, female empowerment, and faith. I argue that the dress deconversions I explore in this thesis may challenge existing ideas about not only Pentecostal and Holiness deconversions, but also the ways in which women access power through their bodies.