Abearded lady (orbearded woman) is a woman with a naturally occurringbeard normally due to the condition known ashirsutism orhypertrichosis. Hypertrichosis causes people of either sex to develop excess hair over their entire body (including the face), while hirsutism is restricted to females and only causes excessive hair growth in the nine body areas mentioned byFerriman and Gallwey.
A relatively small number ofwomen are able to grow enough facial hair to have a distinct beard. The condition is called hirsutism. It is usually the result ofpolycystic ovary syndrome which causes excess 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 (usuallyandrogen 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, andWilliam Shakespeare also mentioned them inMacbeth:
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 ofMacbeth included bearded witches.[3]
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 a woman of color challenged her species.[2]
Some famous bearded women wereKrao Farini[2] andJulia Pastrana.[4]
Notable examples were the famous bearded ladies of thecircus sideshows of the 19th and early 20th centuries, such asBarnum'sJosephine Clofullia andRingling Bros.'Jane Barnell, whose anomalies were celebrated.[citation needed] Sometimescircus and carnival freak shows presented bearded ladies who were actually women with facialhairpieces or beardedmen dressed as women, both practices beinglampooned by comedian and former circus performerW.C. Fields in the 1939 film,You Can't Cheat an Honest Man.[5]
.. I made all Elbonians look identical, even the women, with long black beards ...
