Godless Mom in the Bible Belt

I have never thought about this question in these terms. To me, it had more to do with aesthetic value. Same is true regarding men, except with a different explanation. Clean shaven men are thought to be more attractive (to many women) than men with facial hair. Somehow, at least in this culture, body hair covers and hides. In other societies, body hair is considered a form of beauty.

Interesting quesiton, and I am going to think more about it today.

I hear ya. All the things we women do are a pain in the ass. But I do them anyway because I have been brought up in this culture and I can't really separate myself from it.

Uhhhh....actually the trend is that women only have hair on their head.

I will have to ask a buddy of mine how they manage to keep "the area" shaven. He is a DJ at a strip club, and as a consequence he knows a lot of strippers. Maybe I will have to go to a club and conduct a survey, you know for research purposes.

And without getting too graphic, there are some acts that are better done when hair is at a minimum. And many ladies expect men to at least make an effort about hair. You know, trim it or something.

I guess I'm old fashioned, I miss pubic hair. But in the realm of "fair is fair" men are now expected to do "Manscaping".

I wear a neat full beard and in a move toward body acceptance, I have stopped shaving my back. I am one of those men with a built-in sweater and am always checking to see if I have become a silverback.

Chemical burns? Ewwww.

I've been married for 19 years and we've never discussed this issue.

Thank goodness I'm blogging; I'm actually learning about women.

snap! i could have blogged this!

i wandered past the hair removal section of a drugstore today and sighed when i realised how grim all the pubic hair removal options are (stinky chemicals, stubbling shaving, painful waxing/sugaring)

but somehow i just can't have it hanging out, so to speak (this disappoints my feminist credentials no end)

SO i am going to buy one of those swimsuits with the tank leg looks (know the ones?) - they were fashionable in both (a) the victorian era and (b) three years ago, but heck, it beats all of the above

Yeah. Well, many of my lesbian friends DON'T buy into the hairless woman thing, but sadly I do. Well, I try. I'm pretty hairy, naturally, but I do shave and all that.

Luckily for me, I'm a bit of a cross dresser. I decided about 8 years ago that I'd never wear a women's bathing suit again. I usually wear men's trunks (it honestly doesn't look THAT weird) and an Everlast style top (like a boxing bra, basically). That takes care of the pubes. I highly recommend it. Oh, and it's MUCH more comfortable!

You'll excuse me if I reserve all comment on this subject.

I hate shaving, etc. But there is no way I could go to the beach, etc., with any hair on my legs, underarms, or "you-know-where," showing.

Hi there!

Yes...I do the hair removal thing too!
Don`t like it of course...but there`s a sort of social stigma there, if you opt for being furry or fluffy!
I think it`s a shame to see men buying into the concept too.
Women like male attributes, one of which is body hair...obviously, we`re not talking werewolves here !....but male body hair is nice.
Urban chick...the `tank leg` swimsuits are back in ...so you should look pretty cool!

All during my teens and most of my twenties I shaved every bit of hair on my body (except my head) because I *honestly* thought body hair was evil. Then I got lazy and stopped shaving--let me tell you about the critism I recieved, mostly from other womyn.

I stopped shaving my pits about...7 years ago or so. I wear tank tops and other sleeveless garments and don't think anything of it. Even at my wedding I wore a sleeveless dress. More than once I've been asked by friends to shave them for "formal" events--I even had one friend "unask" me to be in her wedding when I refused to and another who wanted us to wear long sleeve dresses in August--and I've been flat out insulted for going to said events with my underarm hair showing.

When Wolf and I started seeing each other I told him not to ask me to shave my pits because I wouldn't. By that time I was getting really stubborn about it due to the amount of critizm I was recieving. However, he did ask me to start shaving my legs which I did only as a comprimise: as long as he kept facial hair I would shave my legs. (I'm a womyn who likes her men to have some sort of facial hair. I find it dark and myterious, sexy and suave.) I get pretty lazy about my legs and shave them when they start to itch.

My pubic region is a whole 'nother story. As I said, I shaved it bald for years--as soon as I got it when I was 13 I started shaving it. But over the years I've let it go back to it's wild nature. Every summer I have this internal struggle about whether or not I should shave for the week that I spend at the beach, and every year I do and regret it after due to the razor burn and itch when it comes back in.

One thing you never specifically spoke about, Godless, was female facial hair. I have a moustache and beard starting--stray hairs really--and I don't know what to do about it. I don't want to shave because then I'll end up with a 5 o'clock shadow but at the same time I'm really self conscious of it. Bitch has a great article about this in the last issue which I highly recommend.

I don't want to shave, I hate it. It's time consuming and painfully itchy at times. And while I thumb my nose at some female beauty myths I adhere to others to satisfy someone else and society as a whole. More and more womyn need to stop shaving and tell the men in our lives to live with who we are but it's unfortunte that men are beginning to feel the pressure to conform to a hairless society and are putting themselves through the same routine as we are. I hear radio ads all the time for laser hair removal of the back, chest, face, etc. and I thinks it's tragic. We are who we are and there's no real reason to change it.

Iguna:

In order to get the nice smooth look down below, I had a whole routine I went through:

First, you cannot shave everyday, you'll rip yourself to bits. Second, you must use a brand new razor everytime. Third, you must have been up and around for a few hours before you can shave (same with legs actually) because your blood is close to the surface of the skin when you first wake up in the AM allowing for more knicks. Fourth, wash the area well to get rid of all the oil from your day.
Fifth, you must do it just before you go out for the night or you'll be stubbly by the time you go out.

PS: I now shave the back of my head too.

Wonderful post! I too have a peeve with the unaceptability of body hair in our culture. Sad childhood memory time: I was a pretty hairy kid and in 8th grade had really hairy pits and legs. My feminist mom didn't shave and refused to let me. I remember being so embarrased by my hairyness and wearing hot jeans the one day that our school had a special event where we were outside all day, and it was the one day we could wear shorts. I was so embarrased by my leg hair that I was the only kid in jeans (drawing even more attention to myself than if I had worn shorts and bared my legs.)

Now I do shave my legs sometimes in the summer, but mostly because like
NOBIUM I got so much flack when I didn't. In the winter I don't. Really though it wouldn't bother me not too ever. Right now I'm pretty hairy on the legs. As far as pubes, forget it, my husband talked me into doing that once and ouch!! it was sooo rashy and painful. I'm au natural as far as that goes! He doesn't care one way or another so I guess I'm lucky!
Interesting topic. And I just saw that article in Bitch too about the facial hair on women, I say go for it!