# Are men with facial hair discriminated against?



## upstarter (Dec 3, 2005)

I was studying for a history test last weekend and started to think about who was our last president with facial hair. I went back and back in time and realized that it was President Taft who last wore a mustahce. Does it say something about our culture/ideals that we don't allow our leader to have facial hair?

Why is this the case? Do we discriminate against men with facial hair? I'm sure in many of your offices, beards/moustaches are frowned upon. Are there any leaders of western nations that have facial hair?

Does anyone remember when Gore grew a beard a couple years back, and it was front page news (not suprising in our day and age)? Why?

I just wanted to know your opinions. Perhaps some of our older members can give us anecdotes of corporate tolerance of facial hair over thier years. 

What do you think

Upstarter


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## 14395 (Mar 10, 2004)

Can't think of any western head of state unless you
include Cuba. 

Oh...forgot Vincente Fox, President of Mexico



I don't think we discriminate. Facial hair is more accepted in
academia than in the corporate or political arena, but there
are exceptions.

Former Secretary of Labor Reich



UN Ambassador Bolton










_____________


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## Trenditional (Feb 15, 2006)

I honestly believe facial hair on a public offical is significantly affected by the persons looks. Gore's beard looked bad because since he was already overweight, the beard made his face seem fuller and thus made it seem like he was more overweight than he was.

Additionally, I think politics are still controlled by the "good ol boys" and facial hair just isn't acceptable in their circles.

_Deny Guilt, Demand Proof and Never Speak Without an Attorney!_​


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## jeansguy (Jul 29, 2003)

www.thegenuineman.com


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## Srynerson (Aug 26, 2005)

> quote:_Originally posted by EP_
> 
> I don't think we discriminate. Facial hair is more accepted in
> academia than in the corporate or political arena, but there
> ...


Except that Reich and Bolton were both appointees, rather than elected. []


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## 16128 (Feb 8, 2005)

There was a story in the NYT this week about beards coming back into vogue.
https://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/23/fashion/thursdaystyles/23BEARDS.html

A lot of people probably think a beard doesn't look "presidential", unless you're Arafat, and that was one of the worst beards ever sported in public.

I think they're kind of cool. If beards become popular again, it won't seem unusual to see a politician with a beard, I'm thinking. Perhaps not a presidential candidate.

Moustaches seem to be dead in the water.


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## Fogey (Aug 27, 2005)

> quote:Are men with facial hair discriminated against?


At least one perhaps thinks so:


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## shoefetish (Jan 15, 2006)

I think it's the overall package that matters - not discrimination per se. Some men look good with facial hair, some just don't but will insist on growing them anyway.
Tom Selleck is very dashing with his moustache as is Vincente Fox (a modern day Clark Gable?). Salvador Dali with his trademark moustache.
Reich looks like he just got up. 

In some cultures it is taken for granted that men have facial hair - Middle Eastern, Indian, Italian perhaps?

Of course if someone looks like ZZ Top people may take exception


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## pendennis (Oct 6, 2005)

> quote:_Originally posted by upstarter_
> 
> I was studying for a history test last weekend and started to think about who was our last president with facial hair. I went back and back in time and realized that it was President Taft who last wore a mustahce. Does it say something about our culture/ideals that we don't allow our leader to have facial hair?
> 
> ...


Being in the business world for the past forty years, I can second your observation. I believe that World War I started the trend of men being clean shaven. For the most part, facial hair was not tolerated in the military at the time. It had a lot to do with hygiene, and the fact that gas masks would not seal effectively, if a soldier had a beard. Hair cuts got closer, and didn't get longer until the late 1960's. In the 60's, the "long haired hippy type" was born, and presented a rebellious look. Look at most of the top corporate board members, and they do not represent an advertisement for mustache cups.

Many of our twentieth century presidents had military backgrounds, especially as officers. You find very few commissioned officers with any facial hair at all.

Dennis
If you wish to control the future, then create it.
Est unusquisque faber ipsae suae fortunae


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## Patrick06790 (Apr 10, 2005)

> quote:_Originally posted by VS_
> 
> There was a story in the NYT this week about beards coming back into vogue.
> https://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/23/fashion/thursdaystyles/23BEARDS.html
> ...


_*Whenever a countercultural trend becomes a mainstream one, there is a natural tendency to look for deeper meaning.* Do beards that call to mind Charles Manson suggest dissatisfaction with "the system"? Are broody beards, like the dark and somber mood of the fall fashion collections, physical manifestations of a melancholia in the air? Are they a reflection of the stylistic impact on mainstream fashion of the subculture of gay men known as bears, who embrace natural body hair? _

Especially if you work for the aggressively middlebrow New York Times.


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## FlatSix (Feb 23, 2005)

I've had facial hair for about eight years now. Two important things happened to get me started: I read _Iron John_ and I was briefly a guest of the State because the State and I had to agree to disagree about how badly you are allowed to injure someone who offends you. After a few days in the ol' hoosegow without shaving, it seemed silly to start again. Somehow I had become Bly's _Wild Man_ or something.

Our American culture suggest that men with beards are not entirely _dependable_. We might have some kind of odd ideas bubbling under the surface. The bearded man - whether he is a biker, or a professor, or a rural recluse - has not completely agreed to play society's game.

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"When you wear something like spats, I think you might as well wear your favorite players jersey bc what youre saying is I want to be powerful like the bear and Im wearing its hide to tap into its power." - Film Noir Buff

"First sense of what "normal" good clothes looked like came from my dad, of course, and from Babar books." - Concordia

" I have a related problem in that I often have to chase people. Leather soles are no good for this kind of work." - Patrick06790


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