By: Devin Perno
My post might not be as much policy related but I found this information to be extremely interesting as well as comical.
I'm not sure how many of you are familiar with the “stumble upon” application but basically it is a toolbar application on your web browser that seriously consumes your life. With every click it will take you to a random website on the internet. Recently stumbled upon this site
This site shows the political state of facial hair around the world. From these pie charts, one can see that the world defiantly favors clean shaven men. There are few women that have power as well. What can we get from this? And what does this show us about the political state of the world?
12 comments:
does this show women in power? or only women in power with facail har?
Interesting site. I'll be sure to "like" it. Personally I prefer my leaders to have the long handlebar mustache.
This doesn't have much to do with facial hair but its pretty amazing when you visualize it on the pie charts, how few women are involved in politics both in developed areas such as Europe and N. America, as well as worldwide.
I wonder if these are just random findings, or if there really is some sort of human preference for leaders without facial hair. Although, Africa, Oceania, and North America does have a relatively high number of leaders with moustaches. In one of the comments under the link you provided, someone stated that people don't trust those with a beard, and that they don't even trust women. I don't think the prevalence of facial hair is linked to how much people can be trusted, do you?
Some political anthropologist or public opinion researcher could probably generate a really interesting study on the way facial hair is perceived by different populations and why--consider Fidel Castro, for example, for whom the beard is a symbol of the revolution (all the Cuban revolutionaries grew beards while fighting in the Cuban jungle) and beards are a symbol of religious fidelity to conservative Muslims and Ultra-Orthodox Jews.
On a side note, I am often compared (usually by complete strangers on the street) to various hirsute historical figures--which figures depends on where I am at the moment. Here in Colorado, I get a lot of "Doc Holliday," but I've also often been compared to Peruvian war heroes Miguel Grau and Francisco Bolognesi (by Peruvians), and Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata (by Mexicans).
I look forward to the day when I will be compared to Victor Emmanuel, former King of Sardinia.
I think it would be interesting to compare pie charts of the facial hair of the entire population (or samples done using random selection) with the facial hair of those in power. I wonder if the two would be proportionate to each other (discluding women from the statistic). If so, it could show that there is a certain rate of social acceptance of facial hair within each country. I think if the two statistics were drastically different though, it would make it way more interesting!
Mikaela, that's what I would call good social scientific thinking!
much like shaving away our natural facial hair, society is constantly striving to "de-naturalize" us.
Personally I think wearing ties and shaving is like wearing a collar. Where's the leash?
We spend so much time and energy on useless things like facial razors!
Although, I have to admit, I still prefer that women shave...
Shaving is another way we [as men] become emasculated... no thanks to the metro look for me!
I am deeply afraid of wading into the gender issues related to this.
However, I have to confess that my own theory is that the trend away from facial hair since about the beginning of the 20th century is a result of economic incentives.
My theory: discouraging facial hair is the fashion industry's way of taking away the only relatively inexpensive way men have of expressing their creativity, thus channeling them into buying clothes, paying for haircuts, etc.
Fight the power. Grow a moustache.
I definitely agree with your theory Glenn. It is a great way to show personal expression, but most mainstream trends seem to be clean shaved. As someone with a moustache (although it doesn't compare) I always get comments about it being a "dad 'stache". I find it pretty funny especially since my Dad has had a 'stache since he was 18! I don't really like to see a trend away from facial hair, but that's why im doing my part.
This is awesome. I bet most politicians are told to be clean shaven, because a beard could seem sloppy or lazy to some, so this could account for why most leaders don't have have mustaches or beards.
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