# Oprah and Stedman term

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oprah-and-stedman-term/365011>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 18, 2006, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oprah-and-stedman-term/365011 "2006-07-18T14:17:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![DuhCow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b38774/32.png) [@DuhCow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DuhCow)\
**Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oprah-and-stedman-term/365011/1 "2006-07-18T14:17:19Z")

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People often use the term “beard” to describe a woman who is in a supposed relationship with a gay guy to mask his real sexuality. What is the term for a guy that is in a supposed relationship with a lesbian?

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**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\
**Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oprah-and-stedman-term/365011/2 "2006-07-18T14:49:07Z")

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> [@DuhCow](#):
>
> People often use the term “beard” to describe a woman who is in a supposed relationship with a gay guy to mask his real sexuality. What is the term for a guy that is in a supposed relationship with a lesbian?

Merkin?

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**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\
**Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oprah-and-stedman-term/365011/3 "2006-07-18T15:08:29Z")

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Note that “beard” is _not_ solely used as given in the OP. It was used in “Broadway Danny Rose” to describe Woody Allen’s role in pretending to be Mia Farrow’s boyfriend. It appears to come out of the showbiz/NYC world.

It is usually applied to a guy but not necessarily having anything to do with sexuality.

In short, the answer to the OP is “beard.”

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**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\
**Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oprah-and-stedman-term/365011/4 "2006-07-18T15:24:25Z")

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Yes – a beard is someone pretending to be in a relationship so that the actual relationship can be kept secret. You might beard a man’s mistress to hid the affair from his wife, for instance, or pretend to date a gay man or woman so their sexuality is not known.

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**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\
**Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oprah-and-stedman-term/365011/5 "2006-07-18T20:58:15Z")

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I don’t follow Oprah’s TV shows or magazine, so I might have missed a lot. However, this Oprah-as-lesbian concept is news to me. Is this for real, or is it just another case of supposing that all powerful women are lesbians?

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**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\
**Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oprah-and-stedman-term/365011/6 "2006-07-18T21:50:41Z")

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> [@AskNott](#):
>
> I don’t follow Oprah’s TV shows or magazine, so I might have missed a lot. However, this Oprah-as-lesbian concept is news to me. Is this for real, or is it just another case of supposing that all powerful women are lesbians?

Dunno about Oprah’s sexuality (though I think she’d say so if she were gay), but it’s pretty common knowledge in Chicago that Oprah is Stedman’s “beard”.