Bearded woman: Encyclopedia - Bearded woman

Bearded woman

The bearded woman has been a phenomenon of legend, curiosity, ridicule and more recently political statement.

A small number of women are able to grow what may appear to be a Beard. This is usually not truly beard growth, but simply dark body hair. Cultural pressure leads most to remove it, as it may be viewed as a social stigma. Notable exceptions were the famous (and usually fake) bearded women of the circus sideshows of the 19th and early 20th centuries, before so-called freak shows became unpopular.

Some contemporary feminist women, wishing to question the boundaries of social norms, have not removed visible facial hair as a political statement. Most notable was the artist Frida Kahlo.

In some rare cases, female beard growth is the result of an hormonal imbalance known as hirsutism, or an even rarer genetic disorder known as hypertrichosis.

Bearded woman - In fiction

In the chapters 40 and 41 of the second part of Don Quixote, the Dueña Dolorida and other ladies wear fake beards. They tell Don Quixote that the beards are the result of an evil charmer, and the knight has to ride Clavileño to the skies to undo the charm.

In Monty Python's Life of Brian, some Jewish women wear fake beards to pass for men and stone a blasphemer who had pronounced the name of Jehovah.

Women in the fictional country of Elbonia and the female dwarves of both Tolkien's Middle Earth and Terry Pratchett's Discworld series have beards.

See also

• Hirsutism

Categories: Human appearance | Sideshow attractions | Feminism | Women

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Bearded woman", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki