She looked beautiful with the long hair

She looked better with it short.

It looked good short, I don't think it super '80s' looking either - wasn't like it was a mullet or poodle perm, you could get away with the short 'Billie Jean' hairstyle today imo

Ya, not at all 80's. The opposite of 80's.
80's the girls wore very long hair and teased it up using hairspray and even sugar water. Huge crispy hair, made their heads look twice the size.
It was horrible.

She may have looked better with long hair, but chopping off that beautiful hair was needed. She felt that she was being treated differently because she was a stereotypical female because of her long hair. Women are known for having long hair and wearing makeup. Billie Jean felt that she wasn't being taken seriously as a female because of the way she looked. Watch the scene where she reported her brother's bike stolen. When Peter Coyote's character said "You're a very pretty girl. He was probably just trying to get your attention." Notice how Billie Jean turned her head in frustration. It was like she felt that everything she was saying meant nothing because she's a girl.

I thought she looked more hot short.

long hair always better