User:Lisa Roggenbuck/sandbox

"Article Evaluation:"Wikipedia article, “The Social Construction of Gender”

In the Wikipedia article on the social construction of gender, everything seemed to be relevant to the topic. However, the writing style and assembly of sentences I think needed to be more declarative. There are also some sentences that are fragmented, like the first sentence in the third paragraph of the section titled “Gender as accomplishment.”

I don’t find the first sentence that sets the tone for the social construction of gender to be clear, nor do I find it to be an accurate definition. While the first sentence is not untrue, as a topic sentence, it doesn't embody the fundamentals of what the social construction of gender is. I think that the sentence is too narrow in its description for a topic sentence, but would work well as a secondary sentence.

The article is generally neutral, but some things seemed off in the section titled, “Gender identity and sexuality/sexual orientation.” In that section of the article, information without citation was given, and words like “appropriate” were used that suggested a bias. In the “Talk” page, un-cited claims and untrue information was noted as being present. There is one source in the footnotes of the article that I found to not have a proper link. All of the sources, from what I could tell, appear to be neutral, academic sources. But there does appear to be topic sentences throughout the article that lack proper citation. It is suggested in the “Talk” page of merging Wikipedia pages to others similar in topic to strengthen the content.

The sources in the article do appear to be up-to-date in information, and represent the topic fairly. This article is apart of the following Wikiprojects on: Feminism, Gender Studies, and LGBT Studies. In the following areas, this article received a C-class rating in all of the areas.

SELECTED ARTICLE: "Bearded Lady"

In this article I want to clarify exactly who the bearded lady was and her history. I want to keep this page focused on the topic and avoid suggesting medically why she had a beard; unless I find relevant information directly addressed to her condition. I will also correct some of the missing links in this article.

SOURCES:

Hamlin, A. K. (2011). The “Case of a Bearded Woman”: Hypertrichosis and the construction of Gender in the Age of Darwin. American Quarterly, vol. 63. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1353/aq.2011.0051

Miles, A. E. W. (1973). Julia Pastrana: The Bearded Lady. ''Proc. roy. Soc. Med. vol. 67''. Retrieved from http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/003591577406700229

CHANGES FOR THE BEARDED LADY ARTICLE:

The first thing that I want to address in improving the article is that women who have the ability to grow a beard do so for many reasons. The article currently addresses that a medical condition can cause a woman to grow a beard. What the article doesn’t mention is that a woman’s ability to grow a beard can be just because of hereditary reasons: that a woman with a beard isn’t an automatic sign there is something wrong with her.

I would like to add a Cultural History section about the attitudes society had towards bearded women in America and how those attitudes evolved. During the time of the first famous bearded lady to tour America (Madam Clofullia), society had no problem accepting her womanhood despite her physical appearance challenging gender norms. In fact, women in general who grew excess facial hair were encouraged to accept their appearance. This changed as beauty standards changed. These changes in beauty standards were promoted referencing Darwin’s theories on sexual selection; although it was a missinterpretion of Darwin’s theories. I think this is important because it helps the reader put the bearded lady into context.

Lastly, I would like to remove the references (like the one to Shakespeare) that don’t seem to clarify what a bearded woman was, and appear to promote a bias that a woman with a beard must be a pariah.

I believe that I will use all three of my scholarly summarized articles to aid me in making these changes for the following reasons according to author:
 * Sean Trainor - Describes the attitudes that society had during the time of the first famous bearded lady, and offers a brief history.
 * Kimberly A. Hamlin - Describes the shift in attitudes towards bearded women that lead society to think there was something wrong with women that could grow beards.
 * Rachel Burgess - It is an example of the attitudes of today towards women that grow beards. Although there are cases were a woman growing a beard is due to a medical condition, it is not always the case.

WIKIPEDIA DRAFT

SENTENCES TO ADD:

* A bearded lady or bearded woman is a woman who has the ability to grow a visible beard.

** In some cases a woman’s ability to grow a beard can just be because of hereditary reasons without anything medically being wrong. 1

*** Krao Farini

SECTIONS TO ADD:

Cultural History

The womanhood of a bearded lady in early nineteenth century America was easily accepted if her behavior consistently demonstrated her perceived gender. How a woman looked was not nearly as influential in defining her sex as much as how she acted. Even though a beard on a woman could challenge the gender norms of a society, if she was performing female gender, her beard was regarded as merely an anomaly to her womanhood. This eventually changed when doctors became determined to solve gender anomalies.2

1 Hamlin, Kimberly A. 2011. “The Case of a Bearded Woman”: Hypertrichosis and the construction of Gender in the Age of Darwin.” American Quarterly #63: p. 955-981. Retrieved Feb. 1, 2018. https:// doi.org/10.1353/aq.2011.0051

2 Trainor., Sean 2014. “Fair Bosom/Black Beard: Facial Hair, Gender Determination, and the Strange Career of Madame Clofullia, “Bearded Lady.” Early American Studies #12 (3): p. 548-575. Retrieved Feb. 12, 2018 ( http://libproxy.boisestate.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest- com.libproxy.boisestate.edu/docview/1553324492?accountid=9649)

In 1877 dermatology was a developing field that indirectly became influenced by Darwin’s theories that contributed to the change in beauty standards. Darwin’s theories on sexual selection concluded that females were more hairless than males because males tended to desire mates with less hair; thus leading to less hairy females. Darwin also noted that hairiness could be different among other races because culturally attractiveness to hair can vary. Darwin noted that there was no “universal standard of beauty” (961), but ideas about beauty still became misconstrued amongst women. 3

In 1831 a journal on women’s health claiming that it was dangerous to remove thick facial hair, and that it was better to live with the “deformity” (959). In 1877 to 1920 dermatologist concluded that women with beards were victims of hypertrichosis: a disease of “superfluous hair” (955). The ideas of Darwin’s sexual selection were used to suggest that these women were at risk for never finding a suitor, and the promoting of removing such excessive facial hair began. The hair removal practices promoted were not only painful, but some where life threatening because of the use of radiation. 4

Race

The ideas of Darwin on sexual selection that influenced the perception of women with excess facial hair were applied differently to women of color. Black women who had excess facial hair were actually perceived as evidence of human’s evolution from apes, whereas white women with excess facial hair were perceived as diseased. A beard on a white woman only

3 Hamlin, Kimberly A. 4 Hamlin, Kimberly A.

challenged her sex, whereas a beard on a black woman challenged her species. Racism made it difficult for society to accept black bearded women as homo sapiens. The humanity of a white bearded women was never questioned. 5

Some famous black bearded women were Krao Farini 6 and Julia Pastrana. 7

WORDS TO LINK TO OTHER WIKIPEDIA PAGES: Krao Farini

Hypertrichosis

Hirsute

Gender Dermatology Charles Darwin Sexual selection Homo sapiens

5 Hamlin, Kimberly A. 6 Hamlin, Kimberly A. 7 Trainor., Sean

SECOND WIKIPEDIA DRAFT

SENTENCES TO ADD:

* A bearded lady or bearded woman is a woman who has the ability to grow a visible beard.

** In some cases a woman’s ability to grow a beard can be due to hereditary reasons without

anything medically being wrong.

*** Krao Farini

SECTIONS TO ADD:

Cultural History

The womanhood of a bearded lady in early nineteenth century America was easily

accepted if her behavior consistently demonstrated her perceived gender. How a woman looked

was not nearly as influential in defining her sex as how she acted. Even though a beard on a

woman could challenge the gender norms of a society, if she was performing female gender, her

beard was regarded as merely an anomaly to her womanhood. This eventually changed when

doctors became determined to solve gender anomalies.

In 1877 the developing field of dermatology became indirectly impacted by the research

of Charles Darwin. Darwin’s theories on sexual selection concluded that females were more

hairless than males because males tended to desire mates with less hair; thus leading to less hairy

females. Darwin also noted that hairiness differed among races because culturally attractiveness

to hair varied. Darwin’s observations about hair and sexual attraction were used by the beauty

industry to promote hairlessness as the new standard. Even though Darwin noted that there was

no “universal standard of beauty” (961), his ideas were still used to encourage this ideology.

In 1831 a journal on women’s health claimed that it was dangerous to remove thick facial

hair, and that it was better to live with the “deformity” (959). In 1877 to 1920 dermatologist

concluded that women with beards were victims of hypertrichosis: a disease of “superfluous

hair” (955). The ideas of Darwin’s sexual selection were used to suggest that these women were

at risk for never finding a suitor, and the promoting of removing such excessive facial hair began.

The hair removal practices promoted were not only painful, but some where life threatening

because of the use of radiation.

Race

Darwin’s ideas on sexual selection that influenced the perception of women with excess

facial hair were applied differently across race. Black women who had excess facial hair were

actually perceived as evidence of human’s evolution from apes, whereas white women with

excess facial hair were perceived as diseased. A beard on a white woman only challenged her

sex, whereas a beard on a black woman challenged her species. Racism made it difficult for

society to accept black bearded women as homo sapiens. The humanity of a white bearded

women was never questioned.

Some famous black bearded women were Krao Farini and Julia Pastrana.

WORDS TO LINK TO OTHER WIKIPEDIA PAGES:

Krao Farini

Hypertrichosis

Hirsute

Gender

Dermatology

Charles Darwin

Sexual selection

Homo sapiens