Female body hair / husband- help?

And in those jobs, if a woman had visible leg hair through nude tights, or visible armpit hair in a short sleeved blouse, would she be more judged or less than Ethan from marketing with a beard?

Are there? Do women working in those environments have to wear make up and heels, perchance?

No, they don't. They'll probably do better if they do though.

In conservative work environments, men are much more explicitly constrained than women. Suits, ties, shaven, you name it.

Women are just told they have to 'look smart' and have to read between the lines to guess exactly what that entails. The interpretations vary considerably.

"Op's son is pretty unlikely to find neck lengthening cropping up in his day to day life

No, that's the point, isn't it?"

Is it? The point sounded like "don't worth about leg hair because worse stuff is happening elsewhere"

If that wasn't the point, could you clarify? Thanks

Are there? Do women working in those environments have to wear make up and heels, perchance?

Which bits upset you? I'm fastidious about underarm shaving as I just hate it. Appreciate hair can be clean but personally I hate a hairy pit. I'm careful about lower legs in summer but not nearly as much as underarms. I'm a bit "is it likely I'm going swimming this week?" about my bits. But more 1970's at home and current in a pool as I hate hair curling round clothes.

Thighs well depends on my outfit frankly.

Unsure if that's feminist. Amongst friends that's fairly normal though. I think there's levels. Fixated, half hearted, ambivalent, 'feminist' (in quotes as I'm a bit unclear how much much of that group cares about it but it gets a lot of press), those that ignores all of it. Irritates me mildly hair gets more interest than other aspects.

buffy you could collect it from puberty for future children. like your trousseau in your bottom drawer

There are many environments, including many jobs, where facial hair is considered unacceptable. More, I daresay, than jobs where women are required to shave their body hair.

Men in all walks of life wear beards and nothing is said- in fact many consider it attractive. Women are so seldom seen with body hair that when they are ( like Julia Roberts) a massive fuss is made. That's the difference. A man can turn up on a red carpet with a hairy face with no controversy but a woman with hairy legs would be the talk of the tabloids for days (with plenty of references to "disgusting" no doubt).

Op's son is pretty unlikely to find neck lengthening cropping up in his day to day life

No, that's the point, isn't it?

mybuffycockhead

I made a little arse hair nest for ds just now, but dh wasn't very impressed.

A lot of people do find male facial hair 'disgusting' and talk about it being unkempt/scruffy etc.

Op's son is pretty unlikely to find neck lengthening cropping up in his day to day life..

Agree with the other poster who said that your DH is allowed to find this unattractive as he can't help this. Obviously he loves you just the same. None of my boyfriends have batted an eyelid if I left myself unshaven - despite the fact that society in general promotes the hair-free beauty ideal for women.

Personally, I don't find body hair on men attractive at all even though most people consider it acceptable and even desirable. My first boyfriend actually shaved his arms and legs and he was lovely (however, that's a whole other thread......!)

If men decide not to remove their facial hair, does society deem that disgusting in some way?

ive always been a bit lazy about shaving (and to be honest, not very hairy) and met DP in winter when I would be very irregular about it. So the first time he saw my bare legs in daylight, he remarked he was glad I didnt shave. So, for years, I tried to be hairy for him.

But in the end, that didnt seem very feminist. So I went back to shaving when I felt like it. If I do happen to reach a very hairy stage, I make sure he knows !

Do what YOU want, including doing what he likes now and again if it suits you.

So you show your son that it is perfectly normal for a woman to have body hair....

It doesn't actually amount to much in terms of gender equality does it?

s'ok

I don't think 'doubling the problem' by holding men to similar standards of personal grooming is necessarily a great move in terms of equality but it's interesting nonetheless.

Men do routinely remove facial hair, and it can be quite uncomfortable for them if they have sensitive skin, etc.

I don't think that dealing just with body hair is going to do it, I think you both need to spend a lot more time talking about how society's expectations shape what we find attractive, and whether or not that is something that is desirable, and that we would willingly submit to if it were done consciously.

It can be hair or anything else. Feet size/footbinding springs to mind as a very obvious example, as does the lengthening of the neck using rings. Where do you draw the line?

These are the examples that dh usually churns out when dc ask about my body hair removal (I do do it, I have tried not and frankly just found it itchy), to show them that our ideas of beauty are very conditioned by our society and that they frequently and easily slip into forms of restricting women's ability to function normally or at least consuming vast amounts of their time which could be spent on more productive stuff.

I perhaps confused your response with someone else's, apologies.

I don't think I offered much of an opinion either way blueberry, lots more women than men currently feel the need to remove their body hair for reasons we can confidently attribute to societal pressures. Those same or similar forces are beginning to exert themselves on men, just an observation.

I don't care much either way and pretty much conform but am under no illusions as to why.

Milmingebag couldn't agree more

Most women expect their male partners to remove facial hair on a daily basis.