Image: By Benreis (Own work)
Some time back, I was participating in an online discussion about various methods of hair removal and what I found to be most effective. This is a topic I know a lot about. (As someone with pale skin and dark hair living in a society that’s increasingly obsessed with removing it from nearly every part of the female body, it’s been part of my consciousness for as long as I can remember.)
I do find it amazing that something that grows so naturally, something that is so normal, has the ability to provoke such strong reactions in people. You only have to visit the very awesome Hairy Legs Club Tumblr blog to see just how many women are struggling to gain acceptance when they don’t conform to the hairless standard.
Family members telling girls that their body hair is ‘unsanitary’ and ‘unclean’ and forcing them to remove it.
Teasing by classmates.
Women who have been walked out on when they have taken off their clothes to have sex and revealed their un-depilated bodies.
Sadly, I can relate all too well to many of the scenarios described in the various Hairy Legs Club entries. I have a vivid childhood memory of standing up in front of the class, age seven, to deliver my ‘news’ for the day and the entire front row of girls on the mat being fascinated by the fuzz on my legs (that was back in the 80s) and another of being mortified beyond all belief when a boy sitting next to me in assembly (aged ten) looked down at my exposed shins and calves and said “F*ck, you need to shave”.
The message was very clear: your hair is unacceptable. Get rid of it.
I must confess at this point that, these days, I do prefer my skin hair free – I love the feeling of sheets sliding over newly waxed legs and the way a tongue feels on my bare vulva – and that I’d be lying if I said that I would ever be confident enough to bare myself to anyone other than M if I was particularly unkempt. Am I a product of all the hair criticism I’ve received and observed over the years? Undoubtedly. But personal grooming preferences aside, I’d also like to think that I would never ever judge someone who chose not to court a razor or a tub of hot wax.
I am not pro-hair or anti-hair: rather pro-choice.
What are your thoughts on female body hair? Have you visited the Hairy Legs Club blog and, if so, what do you think of the images on it? Do you find them confrontational? Normal? Heartening? And, if you’re a woman, would you consider posting to it?
I am very pro-hair-choice. These days I shave my legs (by choice), leave my bush natural (by choice), leave my armpits natural (by choice) and am attempting yet again to gain comfort with my chin hair. Which means it’s present and obvious, although I tweeze errant ones to keep the hair there shapely. It’s all by choice – and interestingly, as I wear my hair with confidence, no one has bothered me about it – even the chin hair. It’s been as interesting as a social experiment as it has a personal one.
xx Dee
Seriously, at the age of 8 and 10. That is totally incredible that it started so soon. I only started shaving when I was about 15 and I was never bothered by anyone before that. Today I prefer to be hairless – my legs, armpits and my genital area. But, I feel everyone should be able to make this choice themselves and no one has the right to shame anyone who chooses to have body hair. It will be interesting to read more views on this.
Rebel xox
I agree with you on being pro-choice . . . on EVERYTHING . . . and I’d like to think that all sex-positive people would, by their nature, agree as well.
Xxx – K
I checked out the Tumblr blog. Love! I have no idea why some feel entitled enough to judge others. Hair is a personal decision. It’s hair!
Great post. Totally agree with Sin Doll here.
In my personal experience, it’s women who are most judgmental about hair, especially pubic hair. I’ll get messaged by pervy females and they seem obsessed with it.
They equate pubes with uncleanliness, which is plain insulting, and says a lot about how effective advertising and social conditioning are. There’s also the impression that they seem to regard ‘pube-free’ as the same as ‘disease-free’, which makes me wonder about their attitude towards safe sex.
Guys, on the other hand, don’t seem to care either way. If uninhibited bedroom action is on the agenda, they’re game – and a lady’s pube status is completely irrelevent!
I’ve blogged in the past about diva kinky women and their crazy pube demands. It drives me nuts! http://wp.me/p4gIAl-o6
I believe it’s a matter of personal choice. I am dark skinned with black hair. I have been shaving my legs since I was 13 yrs old, because my best friend at the time said that I needed to. I was told to stop at the knee (by my grandmother). That looked silly. I shaved ALL the way. I shave EVERY time I take a shower. It’s just habit. When it comes to my face, UGH. I have what i think is a hairy face. On the sides hair grows down my cheeks, even hair by my eyes now. It’s disgusting (to me). My hubby said he said “No, you can’t and shouldn’t wax that. Because I like it and it is who you are.” That doesn’t mean I like it any better. I just ignore it as best that I can.
It’s all a matter of how a person feels in their own skin whether they decide to remove or keep body hair.
Choice is what it is all about. I have been body hairless as well as natural over the years and for me either way does not matter to me, however, my man prefers me to be clean shaven (although right now there is two weeks worth of growth in the pube area and he will just have to put up with that for the next few days until I get around to shaving again ha ha!).
Whatever feels right do it, sod what anyone else thinks!!!
~Mia~ xx
Definitely personal choice; I am half-caveman and would love not to be. Alas, I am too lazy to keep on top of its removal. But I’m also acomoclitic and the only reason my wife is shaved bare is because it’s one of my weekly duties!