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HARNAAM: This is who I am, I'm different and

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I've learnt to accept it fully.

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COMM: Meet the incredible 23-year-old woman,

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Harnaam Kaur who's been growing a beard since
the age of 16. And she says she's never felt

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more feminine.

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HARNAAM: It's the way that God made me and

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I'm happy with it.

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COMM: Harnaam from Slough has polycystic ovary

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syndrome which can cause excessive hair growth.
She was just eleven when it sorted appearing

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on her face.

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HARNAAM: I would hide it by talking to people

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with my hands over my face. I used to wax
it and that became really painful so I would

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just shave it or use different sorts of creams.
Um I used to bleach it too.

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COMM: Harnaam endured bullying at school and

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stares from people on the street.

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00:46
HARNAAM: The names that people would call

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me were things like beardo instead of weirdo,
um she-man, she-male.

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00:54
COMM: She's even received death threats after

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posting videos about female facial hair on
YouTube.

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HARNAAM: I have had people telling me that

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they're gonna burn me and that they're gonna
throw brick at me.

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01:06
COMM: At her lowest point she began self harming,

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and even considered taking her own life.

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HARNAAM: I would lock myself in my room, I

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didn't want people to see me because I knew
that would lead to more stares.

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COMM: At the age of sixteen, everything changed

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for Harnaam, when she took the decision to
be baptised as a Sikh.

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HARNAAM: We need to keep our bodies intact

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the way it was given by God. It was literally
at the point where I had enough of people

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bullying me, me feeling down, me having suicidal
thoughts, me self harming, I just had enough.

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COMM: The decision proves controversial, even

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Harnaam's own family were against it at first.

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HARNAAM: The concerns that my mum and dad

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had were I won't have a normal life "normal
life"I say, as a young girl should have. I

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won't get married, there were concerns about
me getting job, how there was no employers

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out there that will employ a bearded lady
and such.

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02:04
COMM: But she's found support in her 18-year-old

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brother Gurdeep, and friend Surrinder.

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02:09
GURDEEP: She's happy living her life, does

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what she wants to do, so it's really good
for her, as long as she's happy that's all

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I really care about.

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SURRINDER: For me to see her without the beard

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no I think it would be a shock, it would;t
be the same person, I so I think having the

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beard has probably given her a lot of strength
etc. to be who she wants to be, to say what

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she wants to say, and y'know just be happy.

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COMM: Harnaam still has to endure stares in

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the street, and is often mistaken for a man.
But she's learnt to accept it.

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HARNAAM: I do play around with it a little

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bit because sometimes when I go to the public
toilets and someone goes to me um "Oh this

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is the women's" and I actually put on a deep
voice and I say no this is for men's. SO I

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kind of play around with it and it's funny
because we all end up laughing.

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COMM: Today things are looking hop for Harnaam,

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she works as a primary school teaching assistant,
and she's received dozens of messages from

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women and men around the world, who say they
love her beard.

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HARNAAM: One guy saw my picture and he goes

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to me, will you marry me?

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COMM: And she hopes her story will encourage

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other women to be more body confident.

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COMM: This is me, this is who I am, it's my

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inner beauty, it's my outer beauty, it's my
oneness, it's my wholeness. I'm different

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and I've leant to accept it fully.