Bearded ladies used to be ogled for entertainment as a part of freak shows that were popular from the mid-1800s to mid-1900s, but bearded ladies still exist today.
Women are able to grow beards due to disorders, such as congenital generalized hypertrichosis terminalis and polycystic ovary syndrome. Harnaam Kaur is one such woman who receives stares on the street and taunts from bullies about her facial hair. The 23-year-old from Slough, U.K., was made to feel so ashamed about the way she looked that she isolated herself in her house, began to harm herself and considered suicide.
Kaur was 11 when hair started growing on her body. In order to fit into society’s standards of gender, Kaur tried to remove or conceal her hair. She waxed it twice a week, and when that was too painful, she tried shaving and bleaching it. She wore baggy clothes to cover herself up and hid her face with her hands while talking.
But by 16, she decided to accept her body after being baptized as a Sikh. According to the religion, the body should be left in its natural state, so Kaur left her hair alone and let it grow. Now, seven years later, she says she is more confident in her body than ever before.
She told Barcroft Media, “This is who I am. I’m different, and I’ve learned to accept it fully.”
Some people may say Kaur shouldn’t be called brave just because she has polycystic ovary syndrome. But I will make the same argument I made for Ellen Page last week: It’s not that Page’s sexuality or Kaur’s syndrome that make them brave, but it’s how they are accepting themselves despite societal norms.
By embracing her hair, Kaur is rebelling again prescribed gender roles, and that should be an inspiration to all women. People would call Kaur “beardo” instead of weirdo or “she-man” and “she-male.” She has even received death threats for the way she looks.
These comments show that society’s ideas of masculine and feminine beauty are very rigid. The experience of this one woman highlights the overall issue of gender inequality. Some men grow hair, and some don’t; some women grow hair, and some don’t. All should be OK and celebrated.
Kaur defies the concept of what women “should” look like. “I feel more feminine, more sexy, and I think I look it too,” she told Barcroft Media.
Many of us have characteristics we don’t like about ourselves: our crooked noses or that one oddly placed mole or that jagged scar, but once we love ourselves like Kaur, we won’t care what anyone else thinks.
As my girl Tina Fey says, “Do your thing, and don’t care if they like it.”
[Lauren Adamson is a UF journalism junior. Her column appears on Tuesdays. A version of this column ran on page 7 on 2/25/2014 under the headline “Bearded ladies and double standards"]
