Wild.Unfolded

I admit I wouldn’t be able to spot Mo’Nique in a line up, so out of touch am I with anything that’s happening in the world of hollywood, however she seems to have caused a bit of a bruhaha with her choice to not shave her legs.

Commenters on this here internet have branded her “disgusting” “gross” “a pig” “unclean” “lazy”. Wow. Harsh old internet, innit?

So here’s a news flash for everyone, ever: Women do actually grow hair on their legs. And their arms. And their stomachs, chests, chins, upperlips, feet and infact everywhere. Just like men. Some women grow a fine peach fuzz, some women grow a dark forest – amount and type of body hair depends on things like race, colouring and hormonal levels.

There’s a multi-billion dollar industry based on telling women that their body hair is disgusting and needs to be plucked, waxed, shaved, bleached, lasered etc etc. As a result, western society now decides that a woman who dares to have hair anywhere on her body that is not her head is really just lazy and disgusting, and doesn’t choose to attend to personal hygiene.

Let’s back it up a bit. As recently as 100 years ago, it was perfectly normal for a woman to maintain a crop of hair on her legs.  Then magazines started showing shorter hemlines and sleeveless tops and it all went to hell. I know, it’s a shock to hear that fashion mags were telling women they were fuzzy freaks. That would never happen now. Cough.

Here’s a confession for you, I don’t always shave my legs. I don’t always shave my armpits. I do tend to maintain a smooth upperlip, but that is purely because I find it more comfortable to do so.  I rarely do anything with my eyebrows apart from raise them in disbelief. I have hair on my chin, my chest and my stomach as well as my back. I could, it’s true, spend a good chunk of time shaving or waxing it all off, but frankly I have better things to do with my time.

Is it lazy to not remove body hair? No, I don’t think so. It’s certainly tedious (though to be fair some women love doing it, and that’s their choice).  It’s also painful, even shaving can be painful if you happen to sneeze while doing your shins (ask me nicely and I’ll show you the scar).

However, airbrushed perfection as presented to us in magazines and movies dictates that women need to be 100% smooth 100% of the time. And apparently a lot of men are shocked and disgusted by a women who might have something more interesting to do with her time and money than invest a ton of it in hair removal.

For any men reading this who think “God, hair on a woman is so disgusting, I’d leave a woman who didn’t shave” then I want you to do this for at least two months: Make sure there is NO hair on your legs, chest, underarms, pubic area, stomach, back and hands. I mean it. Shave that shit if you hate it so much, if you think it’s disgusting on women then it’s time to see why some women decide not to bother. Keep it shaved. Even if that means doing it every day, do it. You could also go for waxing. But you’ll probably only do it once.  However you decide to do it, keep it up for a couple of months, then figure out that time spent over an adult lifetime.

Boring, isn’t it?

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Body Image