Do you think if I identified as non binary I could not shave my legs/bits to take the kids swimming?

[ABitCrapper]

Or is non binary restricted to the under-40yos with blue hair?

Because I already genuinely always wear trousers, never wear make up, have a boy leg swimming costume, do DIY, have a stem degree, don't watch love island etc

I don't feel feminine
I am a woman who hates having periods and having social pressure to conform to female stereotypes.
However I enjoyed birthing, breastfeeding, and being the main carer for my children.

So I reckon I'm non binary?

But really, the only social pressure I bow to is hair removal. Not sure why?

You don’t need to shave your legs to go swimming, if you wanna be hairy be hairy. No need to label yourself as anything other than human ☺️

^^This. Just do what you like. You're a person, not a gender.

Or is non binary restricted to the under-40yos with blue hair?

lol

What is it with shaving? I can quite happily wear scruffs and no make up but the pressure to be hairless (visibly) in a swimming costume is one I can’t get past either.

I have really no idea what that’s about 🤔

If you don't want to shave, then don't shave. You could clain to be Francophile for all anyone else.

tsonlyme me too! I have no idea why. Maybe we have suppressed some awful teenage memory.

I was being a bit tongue in cheek, but genuinely the pressure to be hairless in a swimming costume is too big for me to resist. And I wonder how many of the young "non binary" brigade are actually just finding a way out of this sort of pressure.

You don't need to change your gender identity before you stop conforming to the last vestiges of misogynistic oppression by stopping shaving. I haven't dehaired anywhere for about 4 years now, swim regularly, and I have never heard a single comment or seen so much as a raised eyebrow. I have a boy leg costume now but at least 3 or those years included swimming in a normal shaped costume and if someone had focused closely on my crotch they might have seen a few pubic hairs, but no one was ever so rude as to scrutinise that area. Just go for it. Be a woman who accepts her body as one which grows hair in natural places and doesn't need shaving, plucking etc.

I go swimming and don’t shave that much. I never look at or notice others and just assume people don’t notice me.

Yip, I don’t shave my legs for the gym, but swimming. It may be the pubic hair visibility that makes me feel awkward?

You know how beards all of a sudden became trendy and hip? Maybe we could get leg beards popular as well

I haven't shaved since school, and go swimming with leg hair. I don't give a fuck what people think. No one has ever, ever raised an eyebrow, looked pointedly or commented. I'm dark haired and white skinned.

Free yourself.

Yep. Not shaving is my nemesis too. I don't understand but it's so ingrained. I think the nastiest bit of bullying I was subjected to at school was due to having hairy legs in Year8 and I think it stuck really deep.

I think that's totally U! Every female should shave before going swimming! Who do you think you are to inflict that on the swimming public? They would be quite right to complain!

I never shave, and wear shorts if I go swimming. I actually really hate the description 'boy leg' for a swimsuit - as if it's somehow unwomanly to not want your pubes potentially on show (see also 'boyfriend jeans' for the comfortable ones...) It's a weird social norm that women are expected to show off so much skin - if you want to, no problem, but it shouldn't feel compulsory.

I don't. I fell into it by laziness. Some people might judge but honestly who gives a fuck.

I'm a woman and I've never shaved my legs. Not gonna start now. But I think you have a point in that some women might lean towards labeling themselves "non-binary" in order to give themselves license to not conform to feminine stereotypes.

I find it interesting how our perceptions are (often subconsciously) shaped by trends which we fully recognise are social constructs.

I think most people would be repulsed if I left the house with a baked bean visibly nested in my beard but it's purely social conditioning on our part and expectations of perceived hygiene.

We have it on good authority from a prominent transwoman that if women don't shave their legs it's "dirty".

You know the FU fours, we’ll embrace the FU forties. It’s just like being non-binary because you just don’t care about leg hair and makeup. You have some combination of job, kids, pets, spouse, home, school, aging parents to take care of. You know, real life. You realize dealing with all that and carving out a little time for yourself is more important. That doesn’t mean you can’t shave or wear makeup or buy a cute outfit, just do those things for you, not the rest of the world.

I don't shave. Pale skin and a vast amount of black hair. I did once go unshaven when the kids were little and just didn't have time. No one else seemed to notice so now I don't bother to shave anymore. I still do my armpits for some reason...

Scott are you equating old (food poisoning risk) food in a beard, to clean female leg hair?!

I don't mind doing my pits. I find I smell less with less hair there, and I tend not to use deodorant instead just wiping a flannel around if I've got sweaty in the day.

Tbf it does sound like you might be non-binary. There are a lot of labels now on feelings people had in the past and I think we shouldn’t be afraid to use them.