FAQs

Lady Beard FAQs

Why the hell are you doing this?

Well I'm not sporty enough to put myself through any feat of physical endurance, nor do the ovaries to do a bungee jump. What I am good at is attention seeking daftness.

Why the beard?

Sometimes when one moans about body hair prejudice men respond with the utterly helpful 'but men face beard prejudice'. I don't think this is really true, but I have always wondered what it would be like to have a beard.
I get little bits of hair on my face, but it has never occoured to me that I could actually cover them up with more hair.
I also wanted to talk to people about Reclaim the night more in my day to day life, what better way to tell people about it than them saying 'why the hell are you wearing a fake beard'. It is also a silly way of drawing attention to the fact that women are not allowed to be hairy.

What is 'Reclaim the night?' and why should I give you money for it? Didn't you hear there is a recession?

For more information about Reclaim the night http://reclaimthenightedinburgh.wordpress.com/

The media seem to think that the way to sort out a recession is to go out and waste our money on pic 'n mix, but its at times like this when women's causes need more money than ever.
Around 1 in 5 women are survivors of sexual assault in the UK, and all women are affected by the threat of violence in some way - even if it is just worrying about going to certain places at night.
I will be splitting the money between Reclaim the night and Zero Tolerance, an Edinburgh based charity which campaigns against mens violence towards women.
Learn more about Zero Tolerance here http://www.zerotolerance.org.uk/

So what are you actually going to do?

I am going to wear a fake beard for a working week - between 9 and 5, monday to friday from the 23rd to the 28th of february. I may wear it out of hours when out and about, I will take a collection tin if anybody wants to give any loose change, and I will have flyers about reclaim the night.

On Wednesday the 18th I am doing some stand up comedy at the Bowery, with some fantabulous musicians so feel free to come and sponsor me then :)

I will also be keeping a daily blog about my experiences at this site - which promises to be a gripping read. How will I eat soup? What will strangers say to me on the bus? How will I prepare for this well meaning stunt?

Can I sponsor you online ?

Not yet, but I am in the process of sorting this out!

Introducing

I wrote this press release about the beard wearing :-

In order to raise money for causes to end violence and the fear of violence towards women, Comedienne and Activist Liz Ely is being sponsored to wear a beard for a week.

Motivated by the lack of funding for womens organisation, Liz came up with wearing a beard as way to gain publicity for Reclaim the night and to raise money.

'I'm too lazy to run a marathon, and too much of a wimp to throw myself out of a plane. What I am good at is getting attention, and I have a very high embarressment threshold'

The week of beard wearing will commence on the 20th of february, and Liz will keep a blog of her experiences.

'I am passionately committed to the fight against mens violence towards women, hopefully when people ask me why the hell I have a fake beard on, I can tell them a bit about Reclaim the night'