Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 46.7.72.149 (talk) at 19:21, 1 June 2011 (Undid revision 432044828 by Snappy (talk). Twinkle is for vandalism only. Blogs are not reliable sources.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Bearded lady" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (June 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

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. 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.

In fiction

This article may contain irrelevant references to popular culture. Please help Misplaced Pages to improve this article by removing the content or adding citations to reliable and independent sources. (January 2009)

• 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 of J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth, and dwarfs of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series.
• In the movie SpaceBalls the antagonist Dark Helmet's escape pod is stolen by a bearded lady.
• The Kids in the Hall featured an Irish bearded lady as the best friend of Chicken Lady, a popular recurring character on the series.
• The HBO series Carnivàle featured a bearded lady as a performer in the carnival.
• In A Series of Unfortunate Events, the toddler Sunny Baudelaire disguises herself as "Chabo the Wolf Baby" in the House of Freaks by wearing a costume beard.
• On an episode of My Name Is Earl, Judy Greer plays a woman who has grown a beard and joins the circus.
• The first book in the series The Emigrants features a woman with considerable facial hair, Brita-Stafva, mistress at Hästebäck and of Robert Axel Nilsson, brother of the main character.
• The character Baba the Turk in Stranvinsky's opera The Rake's Progress is described as a bearded lady.

See also

• Jane Barnell as Olga Roderick in Freaks
• Hirsutism
• Annie Jones
• Jennifer Miller
• Wilgefortis
• Julia Pastrana
• Helena Antonia

References

1. Taylor, Sarah K (June 18, 2009). "Congenital Hypertrichosis Lanuginosa". Emedicine. Medscape. Retrieved December 4, 2009.
2. 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.

External links

• How Facial Hair Influences Women's Everyday Experiences

  v t e Human hair
  Classification	by type Lanugo Body Terminal Vellus by location Body Ear Nose Eyebrow unibrow Eyelash Underarm Chest Abdominal Pubic Leg
  Head hairstyles (list of hairstyles)	Afro Afro puffs Asymmetric cut Bald Bangs Beehive Big hair Blowout Bob cut Bouffant Bowl cut Braid Broccoli haircut Brush, butch, burr cut Bun (odango) Bunches Businessman cut Butterfly haircut Buzz cut Caesar cut Chignon Chonmage Comb over Conk Cornrows Crew cut Crochet braids Croydon facelift Curly hair Curtained hair Czupryna Devilock Dido flip Digital perm Dreadlocks Ducktail Edgar cut Eton crop Extensions Fauxhawk Feathered hair Finger wave Flattop Fontange French braid French twist Fringe Frosted tips Hair crimping Hair twists High and tight Hime cut Historical Christian hairstyles Hi-top fade Induction cut Ivy League, Harvard, Princeton cut Japanese women Jewfro Jheri curl Kinky hair Kiss curl Laid edges Layered hair Liberty spikes Long hair Lob cut Lovelock Marcelling Mod cut Mohawk Mullet 1950s 1980s Pageboy Part Payot Pigtail Pixie cut Pompadour Ponytail Punch perm Professional cut Queue Quiff Rattail Razor cut Regular haircut Ringlets Shag Shape-up Shikha Shimada Short back and sides Short brush cut Short hair Spiky hair Straight hair Standard haircut Step cut Surfer hair Taper cut Temple fade Titus cut Tonsure Updo Undercut Victory rolls Waves Widow's peak Wings
  Facial hair (list)	Beard Chinstrap Goatee Ned Kelly Shenandoah Soul patch Van Dyke Moustache Fu Manchu handlebar horseshoe pencil toothbrush walrus Designer stubble Sideburns
  Hair subtraction	cosmetic Removal waxing threading plucking chemical electric laser IPL Shaving head leg cream brush soap Razor electric safety straight disorders Alopecia areata totalis universalis Frictional alopecia Pattern hair loss Hypertrichosis Management Trichophilia Trichotillomania Pogonophobia
  Haircare products	Brush Clay Clipper Comb Conditioner Dryer Gel Hairstyling products Hot comb Iron Mousse Pomade Relaxer Rollers Shampoo Spray Volumizer Wax Hair texture powder
  Haircare techniques	Backcombing Hair coloring Crimping Curly Girl Method Hair cutting Perm Shampoo and set Straightening
  Health and medical	Greying of hair Hair follicle Hair growth Trichology
  Related	Andre Walker Hair Typing System Beard and haircut laws by country Bearded lady Barber (pole) Eponymous hairstyle Frizz Good hair Hairdresser list Hair fetishism

• Articles with trivia sections from January 2009
• Androgyny
• Bearded women
• Facial hair
• Sideshow attractions