Faces of Masculinity: Shaving Practices and Popular Exhibitions of 'Hairy Wonders' in Early Twentieth-Century Prague
2019
Abstrakt
This chapter examines the historical dynamics of normative hegemonic masculinity in relation to the management of a clean respectable appearance, namely the male beard. The author suggests that the heightened anxiety about beards and shaving in turn-of-the-century Bohemia is to be understood in the three interrelated contexts of the political and national struggles of the time, the gradual medicalization of personal appearance and the emerging market for beauty products.
The figure of 'Lionel', a popular 'hairy freak' in early twentieth-century curiosity exhibitions in Prague, embodied the uncertainties about the normative masculinity of the time and pointed to a general insecurity surrounding male gender performance.