Originally Posted by
morno
I think the biggest issue here is more the double standard with cabin crew and other parts of the business being able to express themselves by bearded dress wearing "thems/theys", but male pilots not being allowed to express themselves by having a beard, when there's no clearly proven safety benefit in banning it.
They spend so much time on ensuring we don't dare speak ill of the minority groups, but when someone who is a white male wants to grow a beard, OH GOD NO! Quick, let's find some outdated research papers put together with an agenda already written that supposedly spruiks safety as being compromised, so we can get rid of that idea.
I think this is 100% why you are seeing opposition and push back. Yes theres the likes of old Autobrakes sending people home, I get his/her/him/thems opinion but the reality is when you have males dressing like females and holding a medical, male flight attendants wearing high heels and dresses and evrything else thats going on. Telling blokes who want a beard to shave it off seems a little hipocritical, especially when the evidence leans in the direction that its ok (up to a certain length). I personally don't have skin in the game but it bugs me that QF seems to be making an issue of a non issue for no reason.
Disclaimer: I have a short beard, have done for over a decade and worked all over the globe without a single issue (even with the O2 on).