These women are called metal chicks. A typical metal chick will want you to hold her while you listen to her favorite Morbid Angel album (which is obviously anything except Illud Divinum Insanus). She will enjoy being engaged in heated discussions such as how Pete Sandoval is truly a legend to death metal drumming.
Metal Chick is a doll in the Super Sonix band. She plays the double-neck guitar and is the older sister of Metal Babe.
Nomenclature. Heavy metal fans go by a number of different names, including metalhead, headbanger, hesher, mosher, and heavy, with the term thrasher being used only for fans of thrash metal music, which began to differentiate itself from other varieties of metal in the late 80s.
The simple answer is that long hair was seen as a sign of noncomformity in the formative years of rock and metal (60s, 70s, and 80s). The tradition has continued to today, even though long hair is less taboo nowadays.
Studies have suggested a link between listening to heavy metal and increased suicide risk or desensitisation to violence, but these have often failed to take account of outside factors, such as poor family relationships, drug abuse and feelings of alienation.