Transcript

Voice 1  

Welcome to Spotlight. I’m Megan Nollet.

Voice 2  

And I’m Bruce Gulland. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is
easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.

Voice 1  

Sam Weiner wanted to have a face full of thick hair. He wanted to grow a beard. He felt
it was something he should be able to do. But he never could. So he decided that he
would not shave off the hair on his face until he had a beautiful beard. He wrote about
this for Vice.com,

Voice 3  

“After a few days all I get are a few thin hairs, mostly on my neck. My facial hair is
both like wires and sadly thin. I look like a cross between a magic wizard and a sad
teenager. I do not like how beards look. But I hate that I cannot grow one!”

Voice 2  

Men have been growing hair on their faces for thousands of years. Some men can grow
large beards. Some men cannot grow any beard. But beards are more than just hair.
They have religious, social, cultural, and even political meaning. Today’s Spotlight is
on beards.

Voice 1

On the most basic level, beards can be helpful. If a man works outside, a beard is a way
to keep warm in cold weather. But what is the purpose of a beard in warm weather? Or
when a man works inside all day? Beards must be more than just a way to keep warm.

Voice 2  

Beards have been popular in different times and places. Beards often become popular
because the leader of a country has a beard. In ancient Egypt, men would remove all
their hair. Egyptians thought hair made humans more like animals. They would even
remove their eye lashes - the small hairs over their eyes! In ancient Greek culture,
beards were a sign of power, wisdom, and being a real man. Some Greek men would cut
their beard off as a sign of mourning. Or they had to cut it off as a punishment. On the
other side of the world, the ruler Genghis Khan had long hair and a beard. This style
became popular across what is now China.

Voice 1  
Growing a beard can be a way to connect to the past. It can also be a way to reject the
past. If an old leader has a beard, the next leader may not. If the old leader does not have
a beard, the next may grow one. Christopher Oldstone-Moore wrote a book about the
history of beards. It is called Of Beards and Men. He spoke to Esquire magazine.

Voice 4  

“Growing a beard is about reacting to the cultural meaning of facial hair. It is an attempt
to define what it means to be a man in a different way than the generations before.
There are particular times in history when men have decided to throw off that normal
habit of shaving. They began a different way to express being a man.”

Voice 2  

Beards are also deeply connected to religion. Around the world, people live their
religion in many different ways. But at different times, there have been commands to
grow beards in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Sikhism. Religious commands to grow
a beard begin with what it means to be a man. But they often become signs of religious
devotion.

Voice 1

Growing a beard can also be a sign of becoming an adult. Men cannot grow beards until
they become an adult. Then their bodies produce a chemical called testosterone. This
chemical causes the hair on the face to grow. This is why it can be difficult for men who
cannot grow a beard. They may feel like they are not a full adult.

Voice 2  

However, being unable to grow a beard does not make you less of a man. A person can
have the necessary chemical testosterone. But the hair on the face does not react. Men
who cannot grow a beard usually have normal levels of testosterone. They simply have
genes that make it difficult to grow a beard. And yet, many people continue to think that
a beard shows that a man is strong, able to have children, and would make a good mate.
This leads to the other reason men grow beards. Many men grow beards for women.

Voice 1  

In 2016, the University of Queensland in Australia did a study. They showed thousands
of women pictures of men. The men had either no beard, a short beard, or a big beard.
Women said that the men with a short beard or no beard were the most sexually good-
looking. But the womens’ answers were different when asked who they would marry.
Lesley Alderman wrote about the study for the New York Times.

Voice 5  

“When it came to choosing a partner, or a man whom a woman could have babies with,
the more facial hair the better. Men with full beards were the clear winners on this
question. This suggests that men who are ready to marry may do better if they shave
less.”
Voice 2  

Science shows that men who cannot grow beards are still able to have children and be
strong. But this study confirms that many people still connect a beard with what it
means to be a man. So should all men try to grow a beard? Oldstone-Moore says no. It
depends on what you think it means to be a man.

Voice 4  

“I think men are thinking about what it is to be a man and how to represent that. And
people are more divided than in the past. And what it means to be a man or woman is
changing in lots of ways. It makes sense that men would consider a beard as a way to
think about being a man. It is a move toward the natural. I think that for a lot of men,
that has got to be an important piece of what it means to be a man today - or maybe just
a human being. One of the ways to show you have choice is to choose to have a beard.”

Voice 1  

What do you think of beards? Do they look good? Do you wish you had a beard? Tell
us what you think. You can leave a comment on our website. Or email us at
radio@radioenglish.net. You can also comment on Facebook at
Facebook.com/spotlightradio.

Voice 2  

The writer of this program was Adam Navis. The producer was Michio Ozaki. The
voices you heard were from the United States and the United Kingdom. All quotes were
adapted for this program and voiced by Spotlight. You can listen to this program again,
and read it, on the internet at www.radioenglish.net. This program is called, ‘Does a
Beard Make You a Man?’.

Voice 1  

Visit our website to download our free official app for Android and Apple devices. We
hope you can join us again for the next Spotlight program. Goodbye.

Question:
Do you think beards look good? Do you wish you had a beard?