The new trend in beards raises awkward questions

Women don’t like beards, so who are men growing them for – and why? A psychoanalyst investigates

David Beckham; beard

Facial hair is 'in' for men. Designer stubble has grown into the designer beard. The list of men in the limelight who now have full beards has skyrocketed. Top of the list are David Beckham, Brad Pitt, Sting, Johnny Depp and Michael Sheen.

One explanation for the trend is that it is a good way of hiding from the paparazzi. Big bushy beards are best for this purpose but also signify "I don't work in an office" along with a back-to-nature look that appeals to the environmentalists. Whatever it is that motivates men to grow their own, the trend does raise questions about what is happening to men in our culture ­ and why this sudden assertion of masculinity?

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is a Jungian analyst in private practice in London. She is former Chair of the British Psychoanalytic Council and a Training Analyst of the Society of Analytical Psychology, of the British Association of Psychotherapists, and of the London Centre for Psychotherapy. She is co-editor with Barbara Wharton of Sabina Spielrein: Forgotten Pioneer of Psychoanalysis, published by Routledge in 2003 and co-editor with Paul Williams, Jean Arundale and Jean Knox of Terrorism and War: Unconscious Dynamics of Political Violence, published by Karnac in 2002.