[Avodah] Q&A: Isn’t Wearing a Wig Over Hair Pointless?

[Harry Maryles]

--- On Sun, 1/20/13, Micha Berger <micha at aishdas.org> wrote:
What then about "sei'ar be'ishah ervah" (Berakhos 24a)? I suggested
that's a /consequence/ of the issur deOraisa. Because it's supposed
to be covered in public, uncovered hair becomes a sign on intimacy,
a statement that "you're not stam 'public'." And that would explain
why sei'ar is different than the other items in the gemara's list
in only applying to married women, unlike shoq and qol.-----------------------
IOW the Se'ir of a married woman is like a wedding band.
I would not think that is the reason it should be called Erva.
I have always had problems with this issue - especially the Stirah between married and unmarried women.
You can't have two physically identical things and say one is Erva and one is not.
In fact Chasdic communties tend to braid the hair of Penuyos in a effort to somehow apply Seir B'Isha Erva to them too - in at least a minimal way. I guess it bothers them too. But their solution is to be Machmir. The rest of Orthdoxy is not. 
I am not saying it's Mutar for married women to not cover their hair in public. But I agree with Rabbi Michael Broyde's analysis which factors in societal attitudes about covered hair.

HM

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