A woman living with hirsutism, Dora Semanu, has opened up about the stigma and discrimination that comes with excessive facial hair
Voicing out her frustration to BBC Pidgin, Semanu said people can continue to make her a point of their discussion, as she really no longer cares at this point.
By the way Semanu is a Ghanaian. Talk about like Nigerians, like Ghanaians! No wonder they fight all the time. Cho cho cho promax!
Speaking to the media house, Semanu describes how people refer to her when they meet her.
“Anytime people meet me, they will say, ‘Hey, is she a man or a woman?’ And you will see that I have a big breast. Even with all this, I don’t resemble a man,” she said.
According to her, although people frequently mock and judge her, she has chosen not to let their opinions define her.
“I saw many people looking at me. Some people will be talking about me anyhow they like. They look down on me like I’m nothing. But me, I don’t care. I am me. I just want to look natural. That’s all.”
“The first time I saw this hair, only one hair like this. We have this kind of thing in our family. They don’t have plenty. It’s only me who has it like this,” she said.
Rather than continue shaving it off, she decided to embrace her appearance.
“The reason why I stopped shaving it, I just want to look different.
“I want to be like this so that if you don’t have anything to say in your house, when you see me at any place, you will have something to talk about. The two of you can raise my topic.
“I met a lady at this place. Oh, she looks like this. Even when you are not fully happy, so far as you raise some topic about me, you can forget some of your problems.”
Semanu however admitted that some comments have deeply hurt her, especially those questioning whether anyone could love or accept her.
“The most painful thing that somebody has said to me before was that, the way I look, she didn’t think that any man could approach me.
“It doesn’t make me shave. I asked myself, that person is judging me because of this thing. But this thing doesn’t change my lifestyle to be a good person or a bad person.”
Encouraging others living with visible differences to embrace themselves, Semanu said;
“Don’t mind anyone. You are on your own. If you listen to people, you can’t keep it.
“And it’s nothing wrong. We are not thieves, we don’t k!ll, we don’t do anything. We are like you people, so please accept us like this,” she said.
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