Because pretty much the only reason you could find it repulsive would be a form of transphobia? Something about the deviation from the gender binary trips something in your lizard brain to say it’s WRONG.
And that’s not me sitting on some high perch. I have some of the same issues with my feelings and the gender binary, and it’s something I’m actively working to correct about myself. I have to work on overriding my lizard brain, too.
Because how can I expect it out of others–to fight their own natural prejudices–if I don’t work on the same thing in myself?
I have a beard (I’m a guy) but I can’t figure out guys my age with thickets of ear, nostril, and eyebrow hair. You know, the guys who look like Lon Chaney’s Wolfman?
Indeed - the beard in the photo at the OP’s link appears to be rather meticulously groomed. I have to give her credit for owning it: she isn’t fighting a losing battle to hide it (with bleach or shaving or avoiding being out in public), and she isn’t giving up and letting it grow like a weed.
I’m a guy, and I don’t like shaving every day; I shave every two days, and just accept that I’m going to have heavy stubble near the end of each 2-day cycle. If I were her, I don’t know how I’d deal with such a fertile field of follicles festooning my female face. I suppose I might consider electrolysis or laser treatment, but I expect those aren’t cheap, and may come with side effects and/or risks.
There is a doctor I work with who grows a thatch right on top of his nose. Sometimes he’ll get rid of it and then next time you see him it’s back again, a Brillo pad right in the middle of his face. It’d be less distracting if it at least came out of the nostrils like everyone else’s.
I’m the OP. My intention was not to insult anyone. I asked the question, because I am a respectful person and wouldn’t dream of walking up to the customer person woman and asking her about her appearance. Just like I wouldn’t dream of asking a stranger who is morbidity obese about their weight. I came to Straight Dope to ask the question, to get the straight dope!
Those that believe when someone sees something unusual, they shouldn’t notice it, then that would require an extremely low intelligence not found in humans. So I added that nickname to my ignore list.
So the majority of what we have learned here, is that some women have had struggles with facial hair and decided to give up and make the best of it, because all the procedures to go through sound like a never-ending battle. There are others who simply don’t care how they look and aren’t concerned if it fits into to what everyone else is doing. At least that’s what people have expressed here, we have not heard from a woman who has facial hair like the photo and enlighten us.
The question is because it is rare to see women with facial hair like I did, and wondered what that was all about. It should not be taken as an insult, and frankly it is offensive for someone to be criticized for simply asking a question. There was no agenda behind the question. This is why forums exist to have a discussion.
I’ve seen a few homosexual women who grew beards and/or mustaches, as the could, they were fairly skimpy. I assumed they were making a statement, I didn’t get the impression this was part of a trans-gender process, more like being a ‘manly woman’ kind of thing. I’ve seen other women with facial hair when I did not know what their sexual orientation was, yet in some cases they seemed to have heterosexual relationships with men.
Anyway, I’m sure the woman was aware she had a beard, and would have removed it if she wanted to. I don’t really why it should be anyone else’s business, except of course it’s the kind of thing people like to talk about because it’s not like everyone else.
Wow! That’s actually a distinctive look. It isn’t off-putting, at least from my perspective. I wonder how many women could grow something similar if they tried.
The reason why we react to your question the way we do is because the answer is so obvious, and the question so biased, that it’s easy to assume it wasn’t made innocently.
Why does anybody look the way they do? Because they chose to, they were born that way, or they have a health condition. This is the answer to every single “Why does this person look like…?” ever. Sure, stuff out of the norm is easy to notice. But the answer is just as easy to discern. So asking that question is almost always just a feint for the belief, “They should look the way society tells them they should look, and I’m here to single them out for not looking that way.” Hence, our reactions.
