When I was still in the closet, I grew and maintained a big beard as part of my attempts at performative masculinity.
Not saying that this is what’s happening with most men who’re growing 'em out, but sometimes I see a bloke with a well maintained set of facial hair looking absolutely miserable and my egg radar starts shrieking.
Though over the winter it was decidedly not well maintained, longest its ever been, etc. I kind of get weirdly less dysphoric about just letting things go vs. actively cultivating something I don’t necessarily want or like.
In the US they were definitely out of fashion in the '80s and '90s. They were fashion statement that said "I'm a gross hippie" or worse, a BeeGee.
I was a teen at the time and the consensus among teen girls was that a beard was the ultimate dealbreaker of a physical attribute. Makes sense, really, because most guys our age couldn't grow a nice one if they wanted to. (And also - hippies are gross). I always respectfully disagreed, and would point to our classmate, Murad. He had pretty well grown facial hair by junior year and he looked fiiiinne.
The exception that proved the rule? Luckily (for Murad) my classmates generally agreed, but refused to back down from their opinion in general.
That attitude persisted, with the occasional appearance of a goatee or soul patch in the late '90s, both of which proved to be a gateway drug that led to the appearance of proper beards. I think a lot of guys would have liked to have beards, but realized that they were driving away potential partners. But they were pretty normal by 2010.
I'll drop this line from wikipedia, which should illustrate just how boringly mainstream beards have become in the US.
Since 2015 a growing number of male political figures have worn beards in office, including Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, and Senators Ted Cruz and Tom Cotton.
My wife and I both grew up in the eighties/nineties and this was exactly her attitude for years. It was only when I went ahead and grew one anyway - despite her reservations - and she decided she actually likes the way I look with it and now won’t let me shave it off!
Regretfully, I don’t think changing Israel’s course is as simple as pulling a lever. Antisemitic, or not. Though I get the general gist. Maybe we could improve the meme if we label the lever something. BDS, maybe. And the lever is rusted through so you really need to put your back into it.
Right. I fully agree that nobody is going to fix this probably during our lifetimes, but there’s a big difference between that and actively making things worse.
By the same people who think Trump can singlehandely start marching liberals of to camps the second he’s elected. They bit right into the media rage bait sensationalism and think with their emotions. Dude couldn’t even build a damn wall.
It’s a tired tale, someone throws a few rusty old rockets towards Israel that land in a cow field, so it gives carte banche to level everything withing a couple hundred miles for ‘defensive purposes’.
Personally I’ve always found most men look more attractive with beards (I’m a straight dude) so I grew one as soon as I could.
After having it for a while I decided to shave as I hadn’t seen my actual face in a few years. After I shaved I realized that I have very chubby cheeks that make me look like a literal child.
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