Beards in 19th century America

Historian Sean Trainor talks about beards in the 8996acd769c3d48b22a580fb5bb9bfb0 19th century on the NPR show “Backstory” . The distinction between beards and “whiskers” is new to me. And I wonder too if the popularity of beards now has similar roots to the popularity of beards in the 19th century — a response to an increasingly effiminiate culture and an emphasis on equality that undermines mens’ sense of their unique masculinity.

Click here to find the episode. Listen to the whole show (“American Apparel: A History of Fashion”) or down below you can just listen to the segment on beards.

Author: Kleiner

Associate Vice Provost and Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Utah State University. I teach across the curriculum, but am most interested in continental philosophy, ancient and medieval philosophy as well as Catholic thought, all of which might be summed up as an interest in the ressourcement tradition (returning in order to make progress). I also enjoy spending time thinking about liberal education and its ends. View all posts by Kleiner

2 thoughts on “Beards in 19th century America”

Interesting segment. The quotes that are read from the mid-19th century make me think that Neal Stephenson was not being entirely facetious when, in Cryptonomicon, he has a (ridiculous) character claim that beards are the white man’s way of flaunting privilege: “The ability to grow heavy, full beards as a matter of choice appears to be a privilege accorded by nature solely to white males [….] The boundary between Self and Environment is a social con[struct]. In Western cultures this boundary is supposed to be sharp and distinct. The beard is an outward symbol of that boundary, a distancing technique. To shave off the beard (or any body hair) is to symbolically annihilate the (essentially specious) boundary separating Self from Other….”

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