AIBU to think armpit hair is a moral issue?

[ICBINEG]

How did it come to pass that the natural appearance of an adult woman has become socially unacceptable?

Adult women have hair on their arms, legs, fanjo and (if you can bear the disgustingness of it all) armpits.

In a not at all surprising turn of events the natural appearance of an adult male is still considered attractive including (god forbid) hairy legs, arms, balls and armpits.

Why have we adopted a prepubescent look as the optimum for women but mysteriously not done the same for men?

AIBU to next shave myself when shaving becomes compulsory for EVERYONE and not just those without a Y chromosome?

Observation of my SIL suggests it can take over a year to unlearn the societal conditioning and start seeing your own hairy armpits as attractive....a whole year to stop thinking the natural female form is repulsive....AIBU in thinking that society is totally fucked up?

actually I only have hair on one and a half armpits since I was nuked so that is an odd look anyway!

Yes! Well they can be used as nose hair trimmers.. There's a different attachement.. I think...

Not that I need that one...

jchocchip nuked?!

radiotherapy - it does for hair follicles!

LadyBeagleEyes - have you even read my posts?

I shave, I remove my hair, I tweeze, etc, etc. I don't want to stop you doing anything because I 'disapprove' of it.

I'm just not in denial about why I do it, and the pressures on women to conform - as so many people on this thread seem to be.

jchocchip oh, I hope everything is now well?

I'm fine thanks, just a little lumpectomy last year. The side effect from the tablets I'm taking is menopause symptoms hence the problematic chin hairs. which I am socially conditioned to think look better on men...

I'm part Greek and with pale skin but very dark hairs all over my body (ie very visible against pale skin) I'm definitely at Ulf bottom of the genetic gene pool for modern society's desired look! I even have hairy toes! I spend so much money, time and pain ridding myself of this hair on a daily basis I'd love to go au natural but I'm just not brave enough. My regrowth is visible within a day and I hate it! Very jealous of fair women!

Oh another shaving thread, radical.

OP YANBU.
I'm not too bothered about the copious amount of hair my body seems to produce, but I do shave my pits. Why? I think I do it because I worry that if I don't I'll get BO, I also do it because it is quick and easy to do (unlike my legs which only get done when the sun shines properly - ie not this bloody summer).

To those of you who say you don't want to see underarm hair on other people, well its simple really, look away, but don't judge the person because of it.

I did wax my legs sometime back in May or June and my 3yo DS watched with great interest. I explained what I was doing and he obviously asked "Why?" I said that I wanted my legs to be smooth and he pointed out that my arms were hairy too! Thank god hairy arms are acceptable, imagine if we had to wax/shave them too!

LucieMay, I have hairy toes too and a hairy naval, I also have a slightly hairy upper-lip. A friend of my once bleached it for me - never again! Fortunately I tan easily so a lot of this hairyness is less visible. I just ain't got the time, money or inclination to be forever de-hairing myself.

Yeah, interesting that all of us 'choosing' and 'preferring' to be hair-free, don't remove our arm hairs, or the downy hair on our backs or tummies...!

Interesting that we're all freely choosing to remove the same set of body hair, but deeming the rest acceptable. All of us choosing and preferring just the same way.

Larks I too have a hairynavel and hairy fingers! I have to shave my upper lip every day and pluck my chin so it makes me lol when people say oh well men have to shave their face every day! You can bet their facial stubble is a lot more acceptable than mine!

I shave my arms, tummy, big toes and pluck the odd nipple hair

I don't have much hair on my back though.

Lucie, I feel for you but I realised quite early on that shaving, waxing, plucking etc. were not things I wanted to spend my time doing on a regular basis. Especially as they often just mean more and stronger re-growth! Fuck it, I'm hairy, I live with it so the rest of the world will have to suffer the look of it!

I still do my pits though, might stop for a while just to see what happens.

LST, you really shave your arms and tummy? Why??

In the interest of MN I may shave my goat's pubic hair, feed it free school meals, tut at how my MIL feeds it chocolate and then park it up in a P&C space while I use the nearest disabled toilet to wax my bikini line.

An interesting debate.

Speaking as a bloke, I HATE shaved fanjos and couldn't be with a woman who did that. Ugh.

I also thought Julia Robert's armpit hair was fab and was disturbed that her main critics were female.

Why do you all keep saying that it is a new thing? My mum (in her 70s) shaved her fanjo as did some of my aunts. This was in Spain thu so it might have to do with the weather and lots time in the beach?.

Another question: Do you really think there is no pressure on young men? All the young girls i have talked with said they wouldn't fancy a man with hairy penis and balls. Most young men shave. I think young women are quite demanding when it comes to hygiene and the ones i know are strong, set the rules and far from 'silly' and 'brainwashed', its a bit sad imo to think this way.

Worra

I expect men to keep their pubic hair in good order, it's good manners.

Those of you who insist you remove sections of body hair of your own free will and not to conform at all, oh no, why do you think it's such a big deal that other women don't?

Am quite lazy about hair removal but took me ages to get here. Was also publicly shamed for hairyness at school so was obsessive about plucking and waxing in teens and early twenties.

Will run a razor over legs and pits once or twice a week in high summer. Feel quite aggrieved at having to do even that but am a properly happy hairy hobbit most of the time.

Not had any discernible impact on how others appear to see me.

I get my eyebrows waxed. I shave my armpits, legs and down there every day in the bath.

I have been shaving my fanjo for almost 20 years (long before it became fashionable!).

In my gym in West London, I rarely see a women with body hair.

I'd be mistaken for a gorilla if I didn't shave/wax/tweeze various parts of my anatomy.

Being a fully-functional adult, I thought I got to decide what I look like when I leave the house. Kinda like choosing not to wear a brown anorak. I had no idea some folk read quite so much into it ....