http://gendersex.net/docuwiki/f10projects/5d-public/paige
Women shaving their legs has become an everday facet of life. Is shaving a practical body practice? Most logical people would argue "No." Our bodies grow hair in certain areas for certain reasons: to maintain warmth, for sensory movement, etc. Hair removal is purely a means of what is considered normal grooming. A shaven and smooth-legged woman fits a certain docile body type, women have come to think it is supposed to be a hygeine necessity just like shampooing your hair or brushing your teeth, and therefore subconsciously go along with it. Spending money on shaving cream and razors and spending an extra 5-10 minutes in the shower, which really adds up! "Almost all women want and need shaving products to groom themselves," says S. Paige on Rhetoric of Gender and Sexuality. When razor companies advertise slogans like: "Bring the goddess out in you," or advertise it as a necessity for delaing with close encounters with a male, then we perceive it as a social product as well, and one that affects our love lives, self-esteem and appearance. It has now become a sign of beauty to have shaven legs in our culture, whereas 50 years ago perhaps it was unheardof, or even today in Africa it is thought to be ridiculous. There is no shame in hairy legs until we, as a culture, define it as unattractive and give it shame. Man invented razors, unintentially(maybe) adding another aspect on which to critique womens' appearance. To add to this, if men decide to shave their legs it is instantly "uncool" and emasculating. This plays into how we read bodies as feminine and masculine figures. However, it was never set in stone that women would shave their leges and grow long hair on their heads and mean would shave their faces and grow short hair on their heads, but we have shaped the image of man and woman to look as such.
Very true. Every heard of "No Shave November", we'll it's not just for men. I ski in the winter so my friend from my ski team decided that sense no one was going to see our legs for the month of November, we might as well stop shaving. We hardly told anyone because it we would have been shamed or get comments like "that's disgusting!". As you said, in other countries this would be normal. Besides, we could use the extra leg hair during the brutal Minnesota winters.
ReplyDeleteI like this topic a lot! I actually was born in Africa but moved to the United states with my mom when I was three so I was basically raised here. I will say this-my mom thinks it's borderline crazy to shave your legs because she was born and raised in Sudan where things like that just don't need to happen. I on the other hand-after having grown up in a place where "looking" like a girl was crucial in the pursuit of attracting the opposite gender-shave my legs every so often and think nothing of it. Good point on how we as a culture define what is shameful by the practices we view as appropriate for individuals! It's so very true!!
ReplyDeleteI think it's interesting, in lieu of managing one's hair, that no matter where you shave/wax your hair off there is always a new place that needs to be managed and tended to. Shave your legs. Now shave your bikini area. Now wax your upper lip. Oh wait, now pluck your eyebrows. Now wax off your pubic hair entirely. Did you forget your armpits, there too. And now it' s not only women, it is becoming a new trend for guys to have their pubic hair tended too as well as their eyebrows occasionally. In the history of our culture, hair has been very important. Long hair to revolt, cover the hair to respect your religious views. Long hair is erotic, short hair is butch. Shave the head for feminism. Going bald, try hair plugs. Want to be blonde, now you can get it in a bottle. So many different ways of looking at hair but always all-important and everyone's business.
ReplyDeleteDaring topic! But I think every woman can agree, this it the ultimate pursuit without a terminus; hair always grows back!! It's a perpetual struggle to bring out bodies away from what is natural and toward what is acceptable.
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