by Bluegoat » June 13th, 2009, 1:53 pm
Beards are an interesting topic; we think a lot about women wearing headcoverings, but in some religions and cultures, men are equally expected to grow a beard.
Of course this brings up a number of possible difficulties. Some ethnic groups have no facial hair, and there are lots of men, my husband being one, who would look like a leper if he tried to grow out his beard. A Muslim acquaintance of mine, who lives in a place where beards are expected, has a husband who is unable to grow a full beard due to facial scarring, and he gets comments from those who suppose that he is a "liberal" or not pious, or simply not manly.
I always enjoy Roald Dahls description of beards at the beginning of the book The Twits, though. It's clearly anti-beard, but very amusing.