This is odd because I honestly thought The Beard only applied to fake heterosexual relationships for the explicit purpose of hiding one's true sexuality. The laconic appears to agree with this as it is much more restrictive than the bullet list, although the index entries are broad like the trope description. Also, the rest of the description (aside from the list) only discusses hiding an LGBT+ relationship. I tried looking at the trope history to see when the list was added, but it must've been before 2012.
Looking at the points...
- #1 Is what I understand The Beard to be
- #2 Is covered by Citizenship Marriage
- #4 Is covered by Boyfriend Bluff or Wedding Ring Defense
- #6 Is covered by Operation: Jealousy
#3 and 5 could be folded under Fake Relationship.
Not to get too much into TRS territory, but my proposal would be to remove points 2-6 from The Beard to focus only on LGBT+ relationships and add points 3 and 5 to the description of Fake Relationship since they wouldn't be covered by a subtrope. I would also propose The Beard being removed as a supertrope.
E: Another thing I noticed is that Fake Girlfriend and Pretend Boyfriend are redirects. I'm not sure when they originated, but it seems to me they should be redirects of Fake Relationship and Boyfriend Bluff respectively. Or both for Fake Relationship.
Edited by Hello83433 on May 25th 2023 at 2:44:14 PM
CSP Cleanup Thread | All that I ask for ... is diamonds and dance floors
I think the issue is The Beard was co-opted by the gay community for similar Fake Relationship scenarios (like finding a date for a social function to hide the fact you were having an affair with a married individual at that function), so it has broader connotations.
If there is a dividing line to make both tropes healthy I would argue to make it less about LGBT and more if both parties are aware of the situation. So The Beard is an apparently real relationship marred by a deception, while Fake Relationship is when both are putting on a performance. The reason is a gay man might find another gay man to make a third person jealous, it has nothing to do with hiding their orientation and otherwise plays out like a straight scenario.
Edited by EmeraldSource on May 25th 2023 at 11:59:26 AM
Do you not know that in the service one must always choose the lesser of two weevils!
Welp, Sandbox.The Beard WC is done and it's majorly (62%) the "gay person pretending to be straight" (and variations thereof) meaning. I'll add this to Sandbox.TRS Queue but leave this thread open for more input.
Goku Black
Huh weird. Off Site and on. I've only seen it used for gay person uses a fake straight relationship to hide their sexuality.
I assume that's what most people think it's used as.
Edited by miraculous on May 25th 2023 at 1:59:54 AM
"That's right mortal. By channeling my divine rage into power, I have forged a new instrument in which to destroy you."
Yeah exactly. I suspect the offsite use bled onto the onsite use so it makes most sense to conform to that.
Isn't the name "beard" itself come from the idea that having a fake girlfriend makes the gay man look more gender-conforming, just like an actual beard can make someone look manlier?
So, not only does the bulleted list go back to the oldest copy the Internet Archive has of the page
, the very first example would be an inversion of the LGBT-specific definition, and other examples wouldn't fit it at all.
Just a heads up that the TRS is open now
The Beard is said to be any time people do Fake Relationship to perpetuate a deception...but what Fake Relationship isn't? Is it so common to do it for the lulz?
The page for The Beard dates to 2007 (or earlier), and Fake Relationship to 2018 — but concerns about redundancy have been brought up since the latter's 2012-TLP era [1]
. They don't seem to have been very well-resolved before the trope was launched. .
However, I think there is a good case to make it an LGBT-centric subtrope. Offsite, the term The Beard is most used specifically in LGBT+ context, to hide someone' sexuality (some examples: [2]
[3]
[4]
) and the laconic, quote and image all use this definition. This was also brought up in the discussion page 10+ years ago [5]
.
I'm going to wick check The Beard (Sandbox.The Beard WC so I don't lose it), but as I do so, does anyone have additional insight on the current dividing line between The Beard and Fake Relationship?
Edited by Synchronicity on May 25th 2023 at 1:45:28 PM