The bearded lady
I know of a beautiful lady, her picture should be framed and put in a national museum! Why? She has a flawless fair skin, shiny dark pupils, glossy lips and a chunk of beard on her chin. Her moustache is no little wonder and she effortlessly looks like a perfect work of art…
"Jesus, you look like a man!", "Is that a beard on your chin? Bearded women are wicked!", "Why are you so hairy, you look weird", "You'd have been a beautiful girl if not for these beards that makes you look like a male princess"...Of insults, critiques, myths, fame, mockery, face-shaming, isolation—She has had her fair share.
Her childhood would have been miserable if the beards were visible then, but I can't tell. There's so much loneliness, anger, frustration and self-pity in her eyes that one can hardly tell if she has had any drop of happiness in her previous years. Perhaps her parents had left her to her fate.
Just two months back, there was a riot in my neighborhood. "You're a witch and you must leave our community" one of the women holding planks shouted, "The other day, my husband was coming from work and bumped into her, that night he started feeling weird—he fell sick out of the blues", another woman narrated her story as she tightens her loosed wrapper. "You're not a woman, you're not a man, you can only be a witch and you're the cause of our problems"... They kept on screaming at the top of their voices, insisting that she opens the door. For a moment, I thought I was in a village because hell! Who carries plank and gathers a troop to go oust somebody for very silly reasons.
This experience was one out of the many mobs I've helped chase away, beg and convinced to let the bearded lady be. I know the bearded lady and I am most likely the only friend she has, her name is Chioma, she lives in my neighborhood.
Interestingly, Chioma is just one of the bearded ladies in this town. Behind the beauty trips and body spas, some have a little hair growth on the chin, some have mustaches, most of them shave often, some hold a pair of tweezers to pluck any hair out. Maybe, she is a little more hairy than they are, shaving would leave dark patches on her fair skin and it obviously wouldn't save her from being called a bearded lady.
Chioma is forcefully an introvert, it's sad how I don't get to see her shiny dark pupil, full and perfectly curved brows, long dark hair complementing her flawless fair skin and that outgrowth that makes her a worthy artwork for a museum. She's an inspiration for my drawings and paintings.
Asides the mob and chaos, some good came out of Chioma being weird. She was no more than a lab rat though but she was always paid handsomely to be investigated and almost every researcher in the town was interested in her gene. Her beards were unlike the rest, they were thick and much similar to a man's. So many researchers have been to our neighborhood to seek her hand in marriage, oh sorry! to seek her sample for a test.
What would you call Chioma? A witch, a lab rat, a weird lady, a cursed lady or a perfect work of art?
Well, research shows that having beards as a lady can be as a result of many things; Hirsutism—It is the outcome of polycystic ovary syndrome which results in over-sensitivity to testosterone, thereby causing a male pattern hair growth, as one of its symptoms. It can also be as a result of hormonal imbalance, excess androgen in relation to oestrogen level. Lastly, growing a little beard could be simply hereditary with no medical condition i.e purely physiological or a result of anabolic steroids. Ladies with small beards are common and this might just be an heretary indication but if it is a case of thick long beards, small breasts, deep voice—do well to see a doctor.
Out of the numerous investigations and tests she did. The test result showed that she had excess androgen. Ain't she evolution proved true, that we evolved from apes? The single clichè of being "higher animals", but what does Chioma know about the single act of the universe's complexities. I know that beauty to me is anything worth drawing or painting to express deeper meaning, but I think society has embraced so much abnormality that nature can barely be read and appreciated.
"Why do you look like a man?"He asked hysterically. "Well, when you get home, tell mum you saw a great wonder that a woman took the resemblance of a man"... He smiled at Chioma, for a moment he stared at her in admiration. Imagining the great wonder she'd indeed do to his fashion industry as a model. He hired her, society accepted her, my paintings of her made an explosive reel. Chioma became the star of the city, all she does while walking on the streets is to take a pose, the camera men are always tailing.
We made a toast to uniqueness and I watched her lips curve into a beautiful smile, it was the perfect look for my painting because the world need to know that you're a beautiful bearded lady…
you should be Women,
And yet your beards forbid me to interpret,
That you are so.
— 138–46; William Shakespeare.
Writer Details:Elizabeth Adeji✍️
Location:University of Jos,Plateau State,Nigeria🇳🇬
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