Jennifer Miller Influence On Samson

God had given Samson, an Israelite hero, phenomenal strength to protect his people of Nazareth with one condition: to never cut his hair. One night, Samson’s lover, Delilah, had betrayed him by calling a man over to cut Samson’s seven locks, in which the Philistine enemies easily captured and imprisoned Samson, whose power was lost with his hair. Hair, especially facial and body hair, is perceived as a masculine trait that signifies dominance and maturity. As the industry of modern sanitation evolved and as the fashionable clothing businesses exposed more skin, women began a shaving trend in which the absence of hair, like the loss of Samson’s locks, began widening the inequality gap that presumed women to be submissive. Although society views …show more content…
Bearded ladies are automatically classified as “freaks of nature” by society because of their lack of adherence to one gender binary. Gender is a concept that has been perpetuated for centuries in which it has distorted one’s opinion of social norms. One who views Jennifer Miller, who has a natural beard and a high pitched voice, is confronted with the social construction ideologies of how “beauty, sexuality, gender identity, and erotism,” are all intersected through gender role. (McDonald, 50) Because it is normative to remove facial hair, the concept seems too trivial and monstrous, paradoxically, to discuss as it promotes the belief that natural is unacceptable. However, Miller proudly crosses the lines between the stereotypical attributes of men and women by acknowledging her natural beard. She felt the stigmatization of her beard and was often confronted with doubts of keeping it because even in daily aspects, such as walking into a restroom, other women would freak out by mistaking Miller as a man. However, the beard had inspired a second-wave feminism movement, which empowered her to not be afraid of what other’s thought. Even though she currently believes that her beard is normal, she still actively chooses to perform on a stage for “freaks,” because her claim is that, “Ten times a day, I address in the strongest, most forthright terms feminist issues of appearance and dress. I use the platform of the sideshow to defreakify. " (Miller,