"... if they ever ended up in a hospital or a care facility. 'We made a pact: When we were old and maybe unable to care for ourselves, each of us would make sure that hairy ugliness wasn’t noticeable on the other,' said Debbie Russell, 68. But there is the possibility of finding peace with age, too. 'To me, my facial hair feels like a part of my gender identity, and since menopause I have a little goatee now, which I shave,' said Mitzi Cowell, 60, 'but I dream of the day when I can just grow it out, braid it.'"
From
"Is Facial Hair the Last Taboo in Women’s Beauty? Millions of women regularly remove it. Does it have to be that way?" (NYT).
Also: "Women with facial hair have been documented throughout history, often in ways that make current attitudes seem modest. (Take, for example, Annie Jones,
P.T. Barnum’s bearded lady, who was billed in his circus as a 'freak' — a term Jones protested.)"
From that link about Annie Jones: "Annie Jones was born in Virginia in 1865, reportedly exiting her mother’s womb with her chin already covered in hair.... Jones was not even a year old when her parents first pushed her into P.T. Barnum’s exhibition in New York City. The tiny girl was billed as 'The Infant Esau'.... As time went on, the 'Infant Esau' grew into the 'Esau Lady' and, eventually, the 'Bearded Lady.'"
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32 comments:
Men die on average about ten years younger than women, but the real tragedy is that women grow some facial hair as they age. How in the hell did the word “taboo” enter into this self-pity fest? Hell, I’ve had surgery to remove a growth from my nose, and I live with the disfigurement and I don’t bitch about it or let it affect my social life. I’m 75, for God’s sake. Approaching death isn’t pretty.
You're misreading the article if you see it as a "self-pity fest"!
Maybe you won't read the whole article because there's a paywall, but think a bit about the emotion behind a line like "I dream of the day when I can just grow it out, braid it.'" That's not pity. That's exploration into the possibility of joy.
By the way, in many religions and in some philosophy, "approaching death" does involve wisdom and joy. To scoff "isn't pretty" seems woefully lacking. That woe is, ironically, self-pity.
I think you are letting misogyny drag you down.
Have you ever considered junking this misogyny bullshit? It’s stupid. Just stop blabbing this nonsense. Now, I like you a lot, Ann, but we’re all idiots about some things. This is your idiot thing.
Is Facial Hair the Last Taboo in Women’s Beauty? as if there weren't thousands of women - among the most beautiful women - who had full, luxurious beards. This article is virtual genocide against trans women, and I am Literally Shaking.
Misogyny, from menopause to Fu Manchu.
No please don’t no. If I have to shave my ears, women have to shave their bloody chins.
Beauty is a predictable concept worldwide: The most average looking person is the most beautiful, while non-average proportions will be seen a "plain" or "ugly." Youth (smooth skin) is also widely considered more attractive than wrinkled skin. This has been tested by digitally combining faces -- the more you merge the better the fictional woman looks.
As such, female facial hair will never be organically beautiful to most people. Hair is more common among older women, but that's a niche. Facial hair is relatively rare with fertile women. Hairless women are the normative (average; common; dominant) functional targets of sexual attraction. They therefore define beauty simply by being common.
Misogyny is denying sex and conflating with gender. Misogyny is feminism, it is masculinism, it is socially progressive. It is Diversity.
People: both men and women, do what they can, when they can, within reason, to normalize a favorable juxtaposition of the sexes.
What a "burden". Uh, burden. Men and women also bathe, and undergo other cosmetic treatments.
Eyebrows and eyelashes are facial hair.
There have been times when those hairs were plucked.
Eyelashes were plucked?
"unable to care for ourselves, each of us would make sure that hairy ugliness wasn’t noticeable on the other"
Priorities.
Some people (like my wife) have their eyebrows shaved off and replaced with tattoos with a more pleasing shape.
(golf clap)
It's a new tag! Misogyny Bullsh*t I have a feeling as DEI dies its ugly death over the next few years, that we'll be seeing a lot of this being trotted out as a false raison d'etre.
My mother complains that it's too hot. My father complains that it's too cold. She lowers the thermostat, he raises it, climate change.
After viewing photos of Annie Jones I wonder if she was not born intersex. The neck, breasts, brows.. all present very masculine. She also married twice yet no reports of any pregnancies.
If the only thing you have to struggle with later in life is a few stray hairs - shut up and enjoy your good fortune.
Debbie Russell could ditch the pact and have a few appointments with a competent electrologist. But that might not be enough drama for her.
Not facial hair Althouse.
https://luxeluminous.com/are-eyebrows-considered-facial-hair/
Val Smith: yes, ear hair. Not to mention painful nostril waxing! The Curse of Adam….
JSM
"Is Facial Hair the Last Taboo in Women’s Beauty? Millions of women regularly remove it. Does it have to be that way?"
Yes.
What about nipple hair?
My first job out of high school was in left-wing non-profit office. A tall, thin, very attractive raven-haired woman, a few years older than me, was a volunteer in the office. One day she bent over my desk with loose neckline and no bra underneath. Surely she knew this teenage boy could not avert his eyes?
There were no tan lines to her olive skin as her cleavage formed small but beautiful breasts. Surrounding her nipples were coarse but straight pubic hairs. I had never seen anything like that before.
Even as I could not unglue my eyes, I could not tell if I was being invited or I was trespassing. Did she want me to see? Was she looking for my acceptance? Was it seduction?
Because I was so young and acculturating to the left-wing academic milieu, as well as being a pretty shy person, I tried to be professional. I hadn't yet witnessed the absolute misogynistic hypocrisy that was rampant on the organized left.
Man, looking back, I should have gotten to know her better and asked her out for a drink and see what happened. Maybe she needed my approval?
Your comment has great rythm, a 5/4, 5/4,7/4/3 syllable cadence that reads beautifully. I had to count to make sure it wasn't just a longer form of a haiku. Thank you for the delightful experience.
What a funny old place this world would be if we were all the same. "Bodies don't come with instruction manuals or troubleshooting guides," I was once told by an old guy, "But it would sure help if they did."
A woman I work with shaves the facial hair under her chin. I feel for her. Perhaps it doesn't bother her at all. That's my take, maybe not hers. I remember the first time I saw nipple hair on a teenage girl. I was sorta shocked, but I had rarely seen nipples, much less nipple hair on a teenage girl. She became a very successful scientist and I think she is a lesbian, -- but that is just conjecture and not related to nipple hair, though I thought at the time that if I were a girl, I would pluck it. Can't hurt more than plucking nose hair. She had nipple hair - only a few strands -- because she had jet black hair. Later in life, I met more women with nipple hair and hair at that rear entrance, but they were all black-haired. It was not as shocking.
I tell people that we Men don't actually lose our hair, it just starts coming out of our nose and ears. (I finally broke down and regularly get both sets of orifices waxed. Painful, but it's only 10 minutes a month)
When I was in college in the 80s, I knew a woman who had facial hair. Her "solution" was to bleach it. But since her skin was olive, it actually made it stand out more.
Lordy lordy. Of things I'm concerned about at age 60+, body hair is not even on the list. I've gone from having to shave my legs every other day to thinking about it once a month (and many times just letting it go another week since it's not really that noticeable). I have no hair where there used to be lots of hair. I have hair growing where there used to be none. Yes. I have a little mustache, but I'm not worried about it.
Hubby has put up with me for 45+ years and my body has changed a lot over those years. A tiny 100lb girl at marriage and then a 150 plump pregnant women a few years later. I kept 25 of those pounds until recently, but I'm now almost back at that 100 lbs. My body has changed. So has his. That's life. So what? The deal was for better or worse, etc.
Some people become fixated on the most unimportant things.
Pelosi, 84, joined a bipartisan group of lawmakers to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge in the Western European nation — but was injured and later “admitted to the hospital for evaluation,” according to her spokesman Ian Krager.
“Speaker Emerita Pelosi is currently receiving excellent treatment from doctors and medical professionals,” Krager said in a statement
so.. Speaker Emerita?
what does THAT mean? let's ask!
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/emerita
emeritus —used of a woman
so, let's look at "emeritus"!
emeritus
adjective
1
: holding after retirement an honorary title corresponding to that held last during active service
2
: retired from an office or position
SO! according to Pelosi spokesman Ian Krager.. Nancy is OFFICIALLY Retired.
Because.. THAT'S WHAT THE Definition SAYS!
ps Professor, i checked and double checked my slanties and bolds.
If there are STILL problems let me know, and i'll quit entirely
pps i firgue that 'women struggling with facial hair' was the closest fit for this
i was with a girl back in the '80's that had THREE coarse but straight hairs on her left breast.. It was VERY distracting, and i felt that LASERS could have helped
Does Frida Kahlo count?
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