Beard Liberation Front
5th April
Campaigners say J K Rowling’s dislike of beards is a matter of her personal choice
The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said the author J K Rowling’s dislike of at least some beards is a matter of her personal choice, and beard wearers may take a view of the matter likewise.
The campaigners say that while people do wear beards for cultural and religious reasons, and discrimination in these areas may be illegal, for most wearing a beard or not is a matter of personal choice.
J K Rowling, whose views have been amplified in an opinion column in the Daily Telegraph, has a perspective which seems to be that there are ‘woke’ beard wearers who she regards as ‘beardsplainers’ and who spend their time being sexist towards women.
The Beard Liberation Front says that it is a well-known stereotype that all men with beards are boring self-obsessed pedants. By definition stereotypes don’t work if they are not rooted in an element of reality but people wear beards for many different reasons and most don’t fit the caricature that Ms Rowling seems to have created.
BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, one of our founding principles is that all people should be able to dress and appear as they want. That goes for beard wearers as much as J K Rowling. She may well be right that some beard wearers are at best tiresome individuals but such people can be found in every walk of life including of course authors.
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