Bearded lady
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A bearded lady or bearded woman is a woman who has a visible beard. These women have long been a phenomenon of legend, curiosity, ridicule, and more recently, political statement and fashion statement. A small number of women are able to grow enough facial hair to have a distinct beard. In some cases, female beard growth is the result of a hormonal imbalance (usually androgen excess), or a rare genetic disorder known as hypertrichosis.[1] Sometimes it is caused by use of anabolic steroids. 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.
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[edit] In fiction
- In William Shakespeare's Macbeth, the Weird Sisters have beards, among other strange facial attributes.
- The female dwarves in fantasy fiction are often depicted as having beards; examples include dwarves[2] of J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth, and dwarfs of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series.
- In the movie Dirty Work, one of the first acts of the main characters' revenge-for-hire business is to shave a bearded lady at the behest of a circus midget that she has been tormenting.
- In the movie SpaceBalls the antagonist Dark Helmet's escape pod is stolen by a bearded lady from the three-ring circus alluded to as being on board the Spaceballs' massive ship.
- The HBO series Carnivàle featured a bearded lady as a performer in the carnival.
- The character Baba the Turk in Stravinsky's opera The Rake's Progress is described as a bearded lady.
- In Angel, females of Lorne's species, including his mother, are bearded.
[edit] See also
- Jane Barnell as Olga Roderick in Freaks
- Hirsutism
- Annie Jones
- Jennifer Miller
- Wilgefortis
- Julia Pastrana
- Helena Antonia
[edit] References
- ^ Taylor, Sarah K (June 18, 2009). "Congenital Hypertrichosis Lanuginosa". Emedicine. Medscape. http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1072987-overview. Retrieved December 4, 2009.
- ^ Tolkien, J. R. R. (1994), Christopher Tolkien, ed., The War of the Jewels, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, "Of the Naugrim and the Edain", ISBN 0-395-71041-3
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Bearded Lady |
- How Facial Hair Influences Women's Everyday Experiences
