Woman with facial hair responds super graciously to online attention

[Liberal_in_LA]

Photo of woman with facial hair leads to conversation, understanding

A 20-year old college student, who asked to remain anonymous, says one of his friends took the photo at a library at The Ohio State University.

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For several days after it was posted, the picture elicited responses from those who teased to those who were disgusted with the post.

Some blasted the person who posted it online, defending the unnamed woman.

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"What you should conclude from this is that it's not ok to take photos of strangers and post them on the internet without permission," said another.

"Don't do this. Don't take pictures of people you think look weird and post them online," another chimed in.

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The woman in the photo is Balpreet Kaur, a neuroscience and psychology student at Ohio State. After a friend contacted her on Facebook and told her about the picture, she responded to the post on Reddit.

"If the OP wanted a picture, they could have just asked and I could have smiled," she wrote.

"Yes, I'm a baptized Sikh woman with facial hair," she wrote. "Yes, I realize that my gender is often confused and I look different than most women. However, baptized Sikhs believe in the sacredness of this body - it is a gift that has been given to us by the Divine Being."

Kaur said her religion believes in focusing on actions instead of the physical beauty.

"I'm not embarrassed or even humiliated by the attention [negative and positive] that this picture is getting because it's who I am," she wrote.

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/09/27/photo-of-woman-with-facial-hair-leads-to-conversation-understanding/?hpt=hp_c2

[seabeyond]

1. i read this yesterday. love this woman. good for her. so much better than every nasty. nt

[Fawke Em]

2. And, yet, some Faux News brainwashed viewer would shoot this woman in a mistaken

identity of "the Muslin." (Or Mooslum... how do they say it now?).

[Melinda]

3. I was on reddit when "european_douche" actually posted the photo and thread.

*On edit: Speelchex is hour freind.

I was appalled. Never saw a thread move faster than that one. The subject of the horrific attack responded quickly as she was recognized by her Ohio U club tee (I think) and alerted to the thread. I am here to testify to y'all that Ms. Kaur could not have been more kind, patient, generous, caring, accepting, and downright loving and forgiving toward total strangers who were beyond mean and cruel to her. She impressed so many... I've never in almost 20 years of online discussion boards from Usenet to the present day, never come across someone as authentically kind, self aware, and spiritually grounded as Ms. Kaur. Amazing woman, wonderful end to a horrid story, and hopefully a lesson learned and shared not only on reddit, but across the inner-tubes.

Share this one with your children, peeps.

[Liberal_in_LA]

4. Thanks for the additional info. She seems like an amazing young woman.

[Melinda]

5. I agree. Check out this thread on reddit wherein european_douche appologizes.

His apology is pretty amazing:

http://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/10gr4s/i_posted_the_picture_of_a_sikh_woman_on_here_and/

[MadrasT]

8. Wow, that is really unexpected.

That is nice to see, thanks.

[frogmarch]

9. I was glad to read it. If the

assholes who post pictures of Walmart shoppers for ridicule would apologize also, the world would be a teensy bit better yet.

[Judi Lynn]

37. Your post is very helpful for people who see others as human beings.

It was good to see the original poster was somehow led to rethink his nastiness in posting the photo in the first place.

Shallow, dirty behavior toward an innocent human being was briefly halted long enough for him to admit:

Just because you're anonymous doesn't mean you can be an asshole.

I felt sickened seeing the title, believing it was loathesome someone had been opportunistic enough and cold enough to want to make a public display of some woman they want to hold up to ridicule for a detail which doesn't concern them, in the first place.

[Drahthaardogs]

6. What a great person

she sounds like she really has her stuff together.

[Skittles]

7. she is wonderful

[Barack_America]

10. She is really inspiring.

I don't know what else to say.

[Comrade_McKenzie]

11. Sorry to ruin the party, but this is ridiculous...

Mainly because of the religious reason behind it.

Full disclosure: I am an atheist.

[undeterred]

12. Well maybe your atheism is bigoted.

[Jennicut]

17. It's her choice.

And it is her choice to be Sikh. We are allowed in this country to practice a religion or to not.

[eShirl]

18. It's no more ridiculous than arbitrary societal norms

[backscatter712]

21. Full disclosure: I'm an atheist, and fully support this woman.

After meeting a few transgendered people (nicest people in the world, I might add!), I realized that gender and the customs associated with gender are taken faaaaaaaar too seriously.

If a woman is capable of growing facial hair and chooses to grow facial hair, THAT'S COOL!

If a man wants to wear dresses, that's cool!

If a woman wants to engage in body-building until she has more muscles than the Incredible Hulk, that's cool!

Why do people reflexively shun, reject and ridicule people for falling outside the conventional gender roles? I'm at the point where I no longer have the need to do such things, and have the absolute need to defend the freedom of people to be themselves!

[LeftyMom]

36. As religious teachings go, loving your body is pretty innocuous.

I'm an atheist too. With so many religious teachings keeping women down, I sure have better things to complain about than a teaching that helps a woman to keep her head up and be strong.

[blueamy66]

13. YUCK

Shave your face for cripes's sake!

[eShirl]

14. That's an example of an ugly attitude. n/t

[MNBrewer]

15. Why do that? to make YOU happy?

[blueamy66]

32. to make me happy? yeah, cause I'll ever meet this person

it's just ugly...shave it

[Change has come]

16. How mature!

Your post sticks out like a sore thumb.

[fizzgig]

35. since when are you the arbiter of other people's genders?

she says she's a woman, then she's a woman. you're pretty ugly in this thread.

[tammywammy]

19. Your response is predictable. n/t

[rateyes]

20. She is not shaving for religious reasons.

Dumbass.

[Luminous Animal]

24. And she could choose to not shave for any other reason and there would be no problem.

[rateyes]

41. true that

[backscatter712]

22. Idiot!

See my previous post.

[fizzgig]

28. the only thing to say yuck about is you

disgusting attitude

[jmowreader]

45. She's a Sikh

Sikh men do not shave or cut their hair, and they wear turbans. There is no reason why a Sikh woman whose hormones cause her to grow facial hair should be asked to violate the tenets of her religion.

[bhikkhu]

23. That's very cool

...and to read her mature response to the attention - I admire her.

I'm an atheist myself so have no particular feelings about the religious aspect, but having two teenage daughters who agonize over every little detail of their own surface appearance, and over the appearances of people they go to school with, and of the appearances of anyone they might see on youtube or movies...well, Kaur's lack of concern for superficiality is refreshing.

[Posteritatis]

26. You may be on the wrong site. (nt)

[Posteritatis]

31. Oy, spare me. Go away. (nt)

[iemitsu]

27. wonderful response.

people are beautiful when they smile.

[Kalidurga]

29. She has it together...

she will go far in life.

[longship]

34. I am beginning to love Sikh's.

I am a lifelong atheist, but the Sikh community almost never fails to inspire.

Bully for Ms. Kaur. And a pox on all those who would malign her merely because of her appearance.

[Zorra]

38. She's just fuckin' perfect.

"I'm not embarrassed or even humiliated by the attention that this picture is getting because it's who I am," she wrote.

[Raine]

39. Good for her if she can deal with the stares, laughs and critism, that takes confidence. I know

I couldn't. I'd go to an electrologist and get rid of the hair forever.

[Liberal_in_LA]

43. Sikhs don't remove their hair, so however hairy they might be, the are stuck with it.

[JI7]

47. most Sikh women certainly do remove their facial/body hair, and they get hair cuts

for the woman in the OP i noticed she seems to be wearing a turban like many sikh men do. most sikh women do not wear that. i think she is just practicing her religion in a way she wants where she isn't concerned about physical appearance as much as just improving her inner being .

[Festivito]

40. So strongly confident she separates adulthood from childishness while not even here.

Right here in this DU thread.

[Liberal_in_LA]

44. yep. n/t

[Le Taz Hot]

42. I was talking with a lady

yesterday while I was standing in line who had this condition (?). It's not all that unusual to see a menopausal woman with some facial hair but this was a young woman -- maybe early 30's. She had shaved but the stubble was still there.

[siouxsiecreamcheese]

46. Probably has PCOS..

I have it, and yes we grow facial hair more than the average woman. We usually shave, depilatory, laser, wax, etc to get rid of it. This lady probably has something like this to grow so much. I wish I didn't have to deal with it, and it grows every day like a man's that it end up with a 5 o'clock shadow later in the day. I just wish people were more aware of the condition.

[Le Taz Hot]

49. I have to tell you,

I LOVE your screen name but I always was a big Zappa fan.

[HiPointDem]

48. Her response is a corrective to some of the one-sided views of religious people I just read in

another thread.