'I'd always hated my facial hair'

[Butterfly]

'I'd always hated my facial hair'
Guardian UK
By Juliet Jacques
08 September, 2010


http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/sep/08/transgender-journey-facial-hair 🔗


I'd always hated my facial hair, even though it functioned as a status symbol in my youth. I entered puberty before secondary school: my height, broken voice and stubble meant that nobody picked a fight with me, no matter how often I admitted to liking poetry. But it also meant spending my teens at war with my body, painfully aware that I'd already lost. I was so resentful that I refused to shave until I was 13, developing a moustache that would have shamed Gary Neville. When I hit the lowest points of my adult male life, I often went days without shaving – undermining my attempts not to be viewed as masculine, as facial hair is one of the most powerful signifiers of maleness. More insecure about its visibility with each passing hour, surgically removing my facial hair soon felt a matter of urgency.