Bearded lady

A bearded lady (or bearded woman) is a woman with a naturally occurring

Background

A relatively small number of women are able to grow enough facial hair to have a distinct beard. The condition is called hirsutism. It is usually the result of polycystic ovary syndrome which causes excess testosterone and an over-sensitivity to testosterone, thus (to a greater or lesser extent) results in male pattern hair growth, among other symptoms. 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] In some cases, a woman's ability to grow a beard can be due to hereditary reasons without anything medically being wrong.^[2]

There are numerous references to bearded women throughout the centuries, and William Shakespeare also mentioned them in Macbeth:

you should be Women,
And yet your beards forbid me to interpret,
That you are so.

— 138–46; 1.3. 37–45

However, no known productions of Macbeth included bearded witches.^[3]

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.^{[citation needed]}

Race

Charles Darwin's ideas on sexual selection that influenced the perception of women with excess facial hair were applied differently across race.^{[citation needed]} Women of color who had excess facial hair were actually perceived as evidence of human's evolution from apes, whereas white women with excess facial hair were perceived as diseased. A beard on a white woman challenged her sex and medical condition, whereas a beard on women of color challenged her species.^[2]

Some famous bearded women were Krao Farini^[2] and Julia Pastrana.^[4]

Entertainment

Notable examples were the famous bearded ladies of the

8th century

• Iconography of the bearded Mary

12th century

• Topographia Hibernica written by Gerald of Wales

14th century

• Wilgefortis

16th century

• Helena Antonia

17th century

• Magdalena Ventura, portrait by Jusepe de Ribera (1631)

19th century

• Julia Pastrana
• Krao Farini
• Josephine Clofullia
• Annie Jones
• Alice Elizabeth Doherty ("The Minnesota Woolly Girl", 1887–1933)

20th century

• Clémentine Delait (late 19th century and early 20th century)
• Jane Barnell (late 19th century and early 20th century)
• Jennifer Miller

21st century

• Harnaam Kaur

Popular culture

• Ethal Darling, Kathy Bates's character in American Horror Story
• Lettie Lutz, Keala Settle's character in The Greatest Showman
• A fascination with Wilgefortis grips the narrator of Fifth Business, the 40th-best novel of the 20th century according to the Modern Library's readers' list.^[6]
• In the fictional country of
  Elbonia from the Dilbert comic strip, both men and women have beards and look identical.^[7]

• Ferriman–Gallwey score

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bearded Lady.

• How Facial Hair Influences Women's Everyday Experiences
• Solving the Mystery of the Bearded Lady
• Bearded Lady Reunites With Long-Lost Son
• 'Bearded lady': I'm not a mistake
• Harnaam Kaur on life as a bearded lady