Resisting femininity experiment - who's in?

[sethstarkaddersmackerel]

I was thought-provoked by the 'I'm a feminist but....' thread, particularly Dittany's posts, in which she talked about women who choose not to 'perform femininity'.

I posted on the other thread that I hugely object to all that bikini-line business but do still shave my legs. Am not sure why I do this, so I think I'm going to stop and see how it feels. It felt like a major issue when I was 20 or so but I actually suspect not shaving them now would make me feel more, rather than less, confident.

So I wondered if anyone else was thinking about giving up any beauty practices or other elements of compulsory femininity and would like to do it together and see how it feels.

this is not a competition - if you decide after a day you hate it and can't live without it, fine, but it would be really interesting to hear about, and I think it could advance our understanding of how this all works.

anyone else in?

btw, I am in a vile mood today so if anyone wants to come along to the thread and tell us we are just falling into the trap of thinking all feminists have to have hairy legs, or that actually they wax everything and are a still better feminist than meeeee, I will tell them to fuck off because if you don't 'get' this I can't be bothered explaining, either you get it or you don't

You're not having my cup so ner.

Interesting aside.

My mother has never worn her wedding ring as she claims she is treated with more respect as an individual and not asked to seek permission from her husband. Have always been doubtful of her explanation but perhaps she is onto something...

I got treated much worse when thought to be a "Sonny," with suspicion by shopkeepers, disapproval from police, general dislike from the public.

Lenin - did you ever go to that hardcore Lezzer pub in the Angel? Packed to the gunnels with the docs, shaved heads and checked shirts, always felt like the Timotei woman in there, no matter what I wore. And no one ever smiled.

That probably was the case back then, MBJ. I have to say I've never been treated like my husband's property, though. If anything, I've almost felt more respected as a married woman, which is also not good, but at least it's not like I've been absorbed into my husband.

I must have looked like a horrid shifty boy.

Have you ever considered that grooming might just be about good manners rather than part of a more widely spread misogynistic campaign??

As Nicky Haslam said, it's vain not to be groomed-assaulting folk with your natural unloveliness-man or woman.

Eh? How on earth is shaving your legs good manners?

Are men with beards being rude? Women who don't wear make-up?

I'm not partial to a hairy calf-neither are most folk.

Same with other stuff-can't come at people who are overweight or unexercised.
It's called pride in one's appearence.

But hey!! Good luck to you with your hirsute limbs and facial features!!
Let us know how you get on.

Same with other stuff-can't come at people who are overweight or unexercised

What does that mean?

Oooh, this is interesting. I'm going to have to have a think about whether/how much I can do this.

I do tend to be a bit lax on the hair-removal front anyway, although that's down to laziness rather than principles. But the thought of deliberately growing my leg hair or whatever is a bit scary. At the moment I shave my legs about once a week purely because otherwise they get caught in my tights which is quite uncomfortable, but I might consider doing it otherwise. Maybe I'll start with my armpits and see how it goes...

What's a disability got to do with this?

What do I mean?
Why, what I say!
Back later-orf to the gym.

I think the whole point is that people shouldn't be offended by hairy calves, surely? Why is it so repulsive?

I spent most of my adult life thinking I was a feminist until I recently started to read posts in this section. I have now decided that I am going to give up and just be a girly girl, having my hair coloured, removing my body hair and wearing nice dresses. Of course I still expect equal treatment at work and equal pay and all the other important things - but they don't seem to be feminist issues anymore.

moondog, washing and having clean clothes are good manners, but I don't see that anything beyond that is.

Watching this thread with interest, but I don't think there's a lot I can do - I don't wear makeup, I don't wear skirts, I already have short hair. I do shave my armpits but that's because if I let the hair grow they get unbelievably itchy, and I need to wash two or three times a day or it does become anti-social.

Most men I know have hairy legs, which are shamelessly displayed in the warm weather - no one seems to be offended by that or say they have bad manners. It's just hair.

Personally though I don't feel I can have hairy legs in public, it's something I'm extremely self-conscious about, and my hair is very thick and dark and noticeable. I know it's silly to feel this way, and I have no problem at all with anyone else being hairy (in fact I like to see it!), but it would be a very difficult thing for me to overcome :(