Writing about the current trend for beards, the Atlantic produces a piece suggesting that American beards have a "racially fraught" history that is also about oppressing women.
Also, in hard economic times it's cheaper not to buy razors. Also, the immediate antecedent isn't the 19th century but the counterculture of the 1960s and '70s. They aren't looking back to Stonewall Jackson and J.E.B. Stuart, though they had magnificent beards. The hipsters are thinking of the hippies who served as the extras on Paint Your Wagon.
Those guys grew beards because it was more 'natural' and 'back to the earth,' which it really is. Turns out the thing grows there if you don't do anything to stop it. Natural fertility, man. Man's like a wheat field. Groovy.
Of course, some of us grow beards because our fathers grew beards and our wives like it. That's not a trend, it's a tradition. It makes no reference to race, and the only reference it makes to the rights of woman is her right to be free to enjoy a mighty beard on her husband.
15 comments:
Heh. I saw that a while back but I can't hear you over the sound of your facial hair is oppressing me.
Oppressors. Hairy oppressors, all.
Wait! I thought society frowned on women who grew beards? Isn't that why she's a side show in the circus? Now we're oppressed by the fact that men can and do grow them?
Oh puhleezzze. It's time for these *women* to pull themselves up by their tampon strings and get on with finding a life.
Well, I say decrying beards is racist. After all, there are Hasidim, Sikhs, Amish, and a number of others who believe it improper to shave.
Yet, here we have oppressed women, who for quite trivial reasons, really, don't get to have beards. Prolly ought to have a leveling tax on beards to compensate the beard-challenged gender for their disability (am I allowed to say "disability?").
Oh, the confusion. Oh, the humanity.
On the other hand, I have a beard because I got tired of shaving in the USAF. Why couldn't I have joined Zumwalt's Navy, instead?
Eric Hines
Grim, I saw this and immediately thought of you-- need a new trade?
http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/rare-chance-as-city-swordsmith-seeks-apprentices-1-3292194
As a matter of fact, I do.
" After all, there are Hasidim, Sikhs, Amish, ..."
None of which are "races" in any definition I can find.
Yeah, but then "Hispanic" isn't a race, either :p
That one drives my spouse nuts.
Maybe Eric was right--we need an irony button.
Eric Hines
I've never understood the point of shaving by anyone, anywhere.
Well, despite my preferences, Zumwalt had it wrong, and the USAF, Army, Marines, et al., were/are right to try to limit facial flora.
We all run the risk of operating in a chemical environment, and beards get in the way of a good seal.
Entirely consistent with the original reason for clean shavenness--it was a matter of hygiene, too.
Eric Hines
I'm generally a fan of voluntary shaving. I have no desire to force it on others, but I love the way my legs look and feel and I love it when my husband kisses me and his face doesn't scratch my skin all up (he has a heavy natural beard - I used to joke that he had a 11 am shadow).
But I like beards on some men too. It really depends on whether it suits them - pretty much like haircuts. Beards can be very attractive.
I've never understood the point of shaving by anyone, anywhere.
Well, I sometimes shave my head. It takes about three minutes with clippers and another five minutes with a razor. In return, I don't have to think about combing or brushing my hair for weeks. It looks totally squared away no matter what.
My beard is different. Like Cass' husband, I'd have to shave it twice a day -- which is a heck of a waste of time since I like having a beard anyway. The beard gets nice and soft after a while, Cass.
" The beard gets nice and soft after a while, Cass."
Not if you're all walrus whiskered as I am- prickly as a cactus only 'softens' to 80 grit sandpaper rough as it grows out. Wife is conflicted- likes what I look like with a little growth, likes what it feels like clean-shaven. Compromise is to shave about once every ten days or so.
Well, I only wash mine with water and whale oil. Then I dry it over a campfire of peat, and turf...
That was awesome :)
Douglas, the Unit doesn't like to shave on vacation and that's fine with me. His face and neck deserve a vacation too!
But my skin is very sensitive to abrasion. He had a beard in college when we were first married and it did bother my face. What both sexes endure for love!
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