Female body hair.

Sometimes shave, sometimes not. Aesthetically I prefer shaved legs, but I am painfully aware that that preference does not arise spontaneously but is a product of cultural conditioning, and also that it require effort (and I am deeply lazy).

Re. the smell thing - I actually find (personally - others appear to have different experiences) that I sweat less when I have hairy pits - hairy pits plus deodorant works for me.

I have a young DS and try to vary things partly for his sake. It is amazing how early messages from TV ads for razors/wax/veet get internalised as "the state of nature". He actually said recently "why have you got hairy armpits mummy? Girls don't have hairy armpits." So I explained that all grown up women grow hair, just some choose to shave it off - and told him it was a bit like grown up men deciding whether or not to have a beard. Of course it isn't... it should be but it isn't... but I'm not going to go into that level of detail about sociological pressures this early in life (though having said that, his personal preference is to have his hair longish, and we've spent a lot of time talking about strategies to help him resist peer pressure on this one, and googling male footballers with long hair - the thing that eventually had him asking me to cut his hair was not other children, but adults who kept telling him he looked like a girl ).

Some preferences are cultural/ethic, too.

Many Latino people with a large percentage of Native American heritage have very little body hair, as do plenty of eastern Asians and black people.

My father, for example, has no visible hair on his legs, arms and chest. My younger daughter has nut brown skin and again, no visible hair on her legs and arms.

People's perception of what is a norm or attractive varies across the world.

I shave my legs, have hairy armpits and have my bikini line waxed.

I shave my legs and underarm because I like the look, I have very dark hair and very pale skin so for me I don't like the look, also it's a social norm. I know bad me for following a social norm but I personally could not be arsed with the questioning that would come from not being shaved.

However...down below that's up to me 100% me! Nobody except DP sees that, and it's has it's various hairstyles from clean shaven...I did not like it, then me and DP had a bush growing contest.. we do strange things, oh I won now I just keep it neat, tidy up the edges and give it a trim so it dosnt fluff out my knickers if that makes sense. DP has no say in how I garden and he dosnt care, he just wants sex he does not care how the house is furnished lol

I have intermittently not shaved my armpits, but the legs are a shave-zone.

I have noticed that this Summer a few women who I woukd have thought would paint their toenails have got nude nails.

I had been wondering if this has become more of a thing.

I occasionally have my legs and underarms waxed. When I can afford to. Shaving is too time consuming and grows back too quickly.
As for men....my ex OM had a thing for shaving his chest when I first met him. I told him I really didn't mind either way. He had a hairy back too But the fact he looked so manly fed into the sexual chemistry there was between us.

The obsession with appearance worries me greatly There is another thread running on another board at the moment where an MNer says she tells/shows her DD where she can pinch more than an inch. I asked whether she did the same to her DS. No answer to that one.

Ive NEVER eveb trimmed my pubic hair and I wont. ANY man who makes a comment about it will be shown the door.

On a thread on the Relationships board which got zapped an MNer posted that her partner actually SULKED yes SULKED because she had a small amount of hair on her face. And didn't stop sulking until she removed it.

I also remember another thread where an MNer posted that she had a Bartholins cyst and her H told her it was her fault for not shaving. I wouldn't be able to even bear to look at a man after that let alone get into bed with him.

I have a small amount of hair on my chin. I also occasionally get that waxed. It didn't appear till last year when I turned 40. Unfortunately im dark haired.

That mirror article is just so depressing but it does show that a lot of very beautiful women don't think shaving is necessary. I think that photo of Julia Roberts was so widely publicised that she probably did some good with it. if it's good enough for one of the highest paid actresses to refuse to shave...

We'll know the tide is really beginning to turn when we see photos of celebrities with hairy legs.

As far as the history goes, underarms started to be shaved in the 1920s but legs weren't shaved until the 1940s (despite us having had a few decades of above the knee skirts by that point).

Picklepest, I think that body shaming young women into conforming is sexist. I think that calling other women the horrible names you and others have called women like me, is body shaming.

Public parts of your body will be judged. Hairy legs and pits on a woman will be judged, so many just prefer to shave and escape scrutiny.

What I find rather worrying is the rise in pubic hair removal. It's worrying for the reason that by the time you get so intimate and vulnerable with someone you shouldn't be worrying about judgement, you should be accepted with generosity and warm heartedness. (Sorry for sounding like an ol' Joy Of Sex hippy with that sentence.)

I know many people shave for hygiene reasons etc, that's a different thing.

Well I don't like underarm hair. Even on DH. But I just tolerate it. But I don't mind other body hair. Strange. I agree with people shaving where they want to shave or not shaving at all or shaving everything.

Ha! :)

I posted that Hairy Legs Club Tumblr blog over in the pub, adding that I'm always cheered up when a new partner doesn't shave places that patriarchy/porn society dictate they should.

You ought to see my DS and his mates, they take 'unkempt' to a new level. :o I'm actually a bit jealous that he's able to grow a better beard than me.

Archery, of course. But the point is very few people seem to want to unlearn because they like the new normal. They are actively investing in it and improving the industries supporting beauty/media/fashion.

Captchaos, yes that dh mentioned does have people telling him that. Male dysmorphia is on rise, make anorexia, male addiction to fitness, male issues with body shape. Much media driven much peer driven much women driven as women are only attracted to stripper style physics aren't they?

Tbh I think by making this solely a female issue you devalue young women. You infer them stupid. You also devalue young men as it's only an issue for women. I don't think this is a feminist issue it is a societal one. It's not straight cut anymore.

When I see a woman with hairy legs and armpits, or a man with a furry back or hairy nostrils or ears, then I think that they have generally unsavoury personal habits. I imagine that they probably don't floss their teeth, clean their nails properly and have slovenly homes.
For me it is not a feminist thing at all. Just a self-care and cleanliness thing.
I am not saying that this is right at all. But it's my instinctual reaction.

It isn't at all an instinctual thing, tak1ingchances, it's a learned thing. And one that be unlearned.

I'm quite hairy - dark hair on legs and arms. I do my pits, but nothing else. I get tutted at by aunties at weddings for not having done my arms, but eh, really don't care. My legs are always covered in trousers so won't scare the likes of Pickle.

I'd seriously side-eye any bloke that could only find hairless fanjos attractive, as there's something disturbingly pre-pubescent about them (the hairless fanjos, not the men).

I will also say, and I never say this about anyone, that I am 99% convinced you are here from another site to make goady remarks, MontyGlee, because every thread I see you on you are making goady remarks about working mums, women's appearance or something else negative about women.

'Women will always be judged on appearance unless the obsession with it ends. Every extra bit of attention on hair, make up, clothes etc adds to the general objectification. Be a show-pony, be judged as a show-pony. Pretty obvious'

No, it isn't obvious at all. Women are objectified regardless of how much time they spend on their appearance. And most people are too mature to judge others based on appearance or compare women to animals.

I agree that body hair is a feminist issue up to a point, but men with hairy backs, hairy ears or nostrils are ridiculed.

EBearHug why does it matter that your cyclist friend looks like he is wearing hairy shorts when he has no trousers on?

"d it seems to me that they care to an extent that's begining to exceed what's healthy. "

As much as women, I wonder?

But, yes, I agree: more products can be sold by pressuring men as well as women to remove hair, lift weights etc.

I have no idea. I do know that he work in a profession that would take a grim view if her turned up for work unshaven and woolly eyebrows.

Really? Poor him. DH was in the army and had to be clean shaven and have short hair, but I can't think of any other profession which would do the same. It's still not sexism though.

I never really got how terrifying my choices about my body were to people. So terrifying in fact that on this and other threads, women like myself who have chosen for whatever reason not to conform to male gaze have been insulted in a way that wouldn't be tolerated otherwise.

Dirty
Smelly
Slovenly
Unsavoury
Unclean
Skanky
Lazy
Unhealthy

I am old, and know that none of these things are true of me, I also have the self confidence to know exactly what I think of people who use such revolting insults. No wonder young women are removing all body hair now though, if people who should know better are giving them messages like that about the alternatives. Part of feminism should be about loving women, all women. In what way is insulting some women in this way loving?

I can't tell you how sad and worried this thread has made me for my DGD's ability to make choices for her own body.