• Hawke@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      That might be wigs in general, probably not specifically their use in the British legal system.

      • delirious_owl@discuss.online
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        4 months ago

        Wigs began to catch on in the late 16th century when an increasing number of people in Europe were contracting the STI. Without widespread treatment with antibiotics (Sir Alexander Fleming didn’t discover penicillin, the treatment for syphilis until 1928), people with syphilis were plagued by rashes, blindness, dementia, open sores and hair loss. The hair loss was particularly problematic in social circles.

        This fucking culture, man. People getting dimensia and going blind, but if they loose their hair then their friends abandon them.

        • acockworkorange@mander.xyz
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          4 months ago

          To be fair it might have been the fear of catching the disease plus the stigma (it was associated with prostitution and bohemian lifestyle).

    • tehWrapper@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      It was also a thing of class since white powdered wigs where taxed more if remember right. Cant have the poor people looking pimp in white wigs!