Scruff.com founder Johnny Skandros recently shared with HuffPost Live his thoughts on why beards and scruffy facial hair have become popular among gay men. According to Skandros, it's partly a reaction to the clean-cut look of many gay men, at least as they were represented in popular culture.
"In the '90s, gay mainstream visibility was really like Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and Will and Grace, and it was images of men who were very clean-shaven, very coiffed and very tan," he said. "I think gay men, especially, said, 'This isn't me.'"
Of course, it isn't just gay men who are bringing facial hair back into the mainstream, Skandros added.
"I think within the straight community as well, the metrosexual movement started to wear off after a couple years of 'Queer Eye,'" he said.
Other commentators have also been recently talking about male facial hair. Following is a sampling of what they have to say, along with a number of images. Enjoy!
Writes Dan Lambden in his article "The Science Behind Beards" . . .
The fascination for facial hair in gay subculture has a huge following. . . . However a new study finds that when it comes to beards, it turns out not everyone has a penchant.
A study into women's attraction to bearded men versus clean-shaven men by Canada’s University of Lethbridge in Canada and New Zealand’s Victoria University of Wellington revealed that typically women did not rate the men with bearded faces as attractive as the clean-shaven faces.
The research results suggested that men with beards tended to look older and more aggressive that they did when shaven and were more attractive smooth faced. However when bearded, the men did give the studies female participants the impression of having a higher social status.
Perhaps the reasons for why men with beards aren’t as attractive to women, could be the very reason which makes them more attractive to gay men. It’s believed that beards evolved through natural selection as hairier men were more successful at conveying maturity, aggression, physical attractiveness and securing loftier social status. These traits can be seen as striking qualities for many gay men, plus the illusion of appearing more masculine and successful could help suggest why gay and straight men alike so often grow beards.
Meanwhile over at the blogsite From Gay to December, the question "Does the Beard Make the Man?" is addressed . . .
It is interesting the significance beards can have on social interaction. There is certainly a wide spread perception that men with beards are more masculine. A few years ago a gay friend of mine grew a full one and found that people in the workplace questioned his suggestions less frequently. He also told me that other gay men perceived that he would take a dominant sexual role more frequently than they did before he grew out his beard. He also noted that he received fewer snide remarks from straight men regarding his sexuality. Certainly, this is just one anecdotal account, but from observation it is pretty clear that, in general, society treats men with beards differently.
Sean M. Johnson, creator of the "Beard Love" series of videos, notes the following:
Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve loved a man with a beard. To me, they meant strength, power, MANLINESS. Someone who could protect me. Unfortunately, you guys have turned it into a fashion statement. The beard has turned into the padded bra of masculinity. Sure it looks sexy, but whatcha got under there? There’s a whole generation running around looking like lumberjacks, and most of you can’t change a fucking tire.
. . . You’re confusing me. It’s now on me to suss out who is the real man and who is the poseur. Sadly, I fear most of you are the latter. Before this explosion of whiskers on trendy men everywhere, if I saw a bearded man it was safe to assume certain things about him. Like, he probably owned a hammer. Or washed his hair with a bar of Irish Spring. His beard was probably scented with motor oil and probably had remnants of last night’s chili in it.
But you vegan nancyboys are a different breed altogether. You have your mountain man scruff, but you maintain it. You groom it. With products. . . . Look, I know I sound harsh, but I’m actually trying to rein myself in. A beard is meant to keep your face warm. Seriously, that’s it.
• Beauty and the Beard
• Bel Homme VIII
• Bel Homme XIX
• Bel Homme XXIV
• Bel Homme XXVII
• Morning Light VII
• Morning Light XVII
• Morning Light XLVI
Related Off-site Links:
Bearded Bands and Facial Hair Appreciation Clubs: The Hairy-faced Trend is Back – Monique Schafter (ABC News, March 26, 2014).
Are Dudes with Beards Really More Attractive? – Chris Gayomali (The Week, August 30, 2013).
What a Man's Facial Hair Says About Him, According to a Beard Scholar – Dana Oliver (The Huffington Post, November 7, 2013).
The Rise and Fall – and Rise – of Facial Hair – Olga Khazan (Atlantic, January 9, 2014).
Prince William's Beard: Love It or Leave It – The Huffington Post (December 26, 2008).
Hirsute – Hairy Blokes and Beards
Wise Gay Men
There are two equinoxes every year – in March and September – when the sun shines directly on the equator and the length of day and night is nearly equal. Seasons are opposite on either side of the equator, so the equinox in March is also known as the "spring equinox" in the northern hemisphere. However, in the southern hemisphere, it's known as the "autumnal (fall) equinox". The word "equinox" is derived from Latin, meaning "equal night."
See also the previous posts:
• Eostre at Spring Equinox
• Eostre: Goddess of New Life Beginnings
• Autumnal Equinox
• A Solstice Approaches Unnoticed
Image: Artist unknown.
Image: Subject and photographer unknown.
The following is an excerpt from The Leaping Hare by George Ewart Evans and David Thomson.
When he lived in Nairn as a boy, Norman Halkett used to borrow his uncle's field glasses and bicycle out to the moors, usually alone, but sometimes with a friend, and lie down to watch birds and animals. He remembers two with the greatest pleasure: the capercailye, a bird now rare which haunted the woods about Cawdor, and the white hare on the moors above. The capercailye is something like a grouse, but almost as large as a turkey and the sudden flapping of its wings when it took flight among the tress as he crouched watching in the shadows where all had been silent was to him like the Angel of Death.
The mystery of the white hare sometimes frightened him too. He says that when it was sitting or lying down it looked as if it had been frozen to death or stuffed in a hunched up position like a cat that is feeling the cold. Its staring eyes were like glass eyes. Then watching through the field glasses he would ask his friend to clap hands or bang two stones together. The hare would crouch even lower in its form. They would approach it cautiously. It would watch them stilly until they were very near. The friend would run on towards it, and he would see through his field glasses how it leapt from the form with a twist of its hindquarters and land about ten feet away in order to leave no scent from its paws. Then it would bound in an easy regular gait, a series of smooth unhurried jumps that reminded him of a horse gently cantering, to the summit of the nearest ridge usually less than a hundred yards away. It would sit up there with its ears erect and look back to survey the danger. Sometimes when it ran on more level ground it would seem like a puff of smoke rising and falling, blown by the wind. It would often vanish suddenly near a rock or a high clump of heather.
When he tried to imagine the Holy Ghost he thought of the white hare. The mysterious sin against the Holy Ghost was to kill a white hare.
See also the previous posts:
• The White Hare
• The Ghostly Mountain Hare
• Inspiring and Intriguing
• White Hare Over Water
• Mountain and Moorland
• Winter Hare
• Tragedy and Retribution
Image 1: Amanda Clark.
Image 2: Catherine Hyde.
