Negative Buoyancy

Why I wouldn’t want my woman waxed

Today I’d like to share my thoughts on hair removal in women. This is a practice resulting from a cultural norm that has actually saddened me a little recently:

I’m sure we can all agree that men have been attracted to women, in some capacity, since the beginning of humanity. I’m touching upon the idea that even before the existence of make-up, toothpaste and deodorant; men were able to find something worth pursuing in the opposite sex. Here we are millions of years later, and that attraction does not seem to have faltered. Why is it then, that given how much simpler the requirements for attraction once were, the modern definition of ‘attractiveness’ seems to be so convoluted? For instance, we currently have a concept of beauty which dictates that women should remove hair from certain parts of their bodies, as female body hair is seen as too masculine. However, this idea only originated in the early 20^th Century, and is practised in a way that doesn’t even begin to make sense. After only a few decades of advertising and marketing, women now find themselves in a bizarre situation where the removal of body hair seems to go up in importance, the further down the body the offending growth occurs.

Imagine a conversation between an early man and the modern woman on the ‘rules’ concerning hair removal. I can only imagine his confused responses during such an exchange:

“So you like long hair on your head? Alright, but not the eyebrows, you like to pluck those. Does one pluck eyelashes? No? Fine. Long eyelashes. Do you like long hair anywhere else? Sure. Gotcha. No leg hair, no armpit hair. But arm hair and facial hair are OK…sometimes? Ah! It’s stomach hair that is unacceptable. I’m guessing the same would apply to pubic hair then? Oh, only when in a relationship. Bravo, how considerate of you…”

Dear reader, let me ask you a question: if women truly aren’t supposed to have body hair, then why does it seem to grow on almost all of them? As a young teenager, for me the very first signs of hair on my body were something to be embraced and celebrated - it was symbolic of the fact that I was on my way to becoming a man. It saddens me to think that had I been born with female sex organs, I would have resented its appearance, and probably would have been encouraged by those around me to hide/get rid of it. If we lived in a world which was honest and fair about the way people looked, we would accept women for who they were, and define feminine beauty so as to be compatible with natural human development. To any females who may be reading this, your womanhood need not be purchased from a laser, razor or waxing company. Anyone who attempts to convince you otherwise is either trying to control you, profit from your insecurities, or both. I do recognise though, that in the real world, some aren’t as accepting of uniqueness as they profess to be and others just aren’t accepting at all. Sometimes it’s simply easier for us to conform in our own special way.

When I was in secondary school I remember having a conversation with three other girls, in which I told them that: “the only place a woman should have hair is on her head”. Not only am I ashamed of the fact that I could ever say something like that, but I am also slightly disturbed. As I mentioned in a previous post, smooth, hairless skin is typically found in infants and prepubescent children. There are schools of thought that allude to the idea that the practice of body hair removal in women developed as a way for them to appear more youthful and attractive to men. I do not see a need for females to have to drastically alter their physical appearance in order to appeal to anyone, and a change of perspective is definitely in order. I am not trying to advocate a widespread celebration of female body hair, but more an indifference to its existence. Therefore, should a woman want to remove it for the purposes of hygiene, or to change her appearance according to her own personal preferences, I see no reason why she shouldn’t. However, suffering financially, risking being cut, burnt or experiencing pain in order to comply with a nonsensical societal norm isn’t okay. It also happens to make a handful of people on this planet very rich.

I am a guy who doesn’t mind if a girl chooses not to shave her legs, underarms or pluck her eyebrows. Some may find this unusual, maybe even abhorrent, but I happen to think it is fair. Ultimately, the reason why I wouldn’t want my woman waxed is because I know how ridiculous I would find it, if it were asked of me.

Thanks for reading folks. If you enjoyed reading this, you’ll probably enjoy reading: ‘On the subject of breasts…’ too. I would be more than happy to hear from anyone who shares the sentiments expressed in this post. Also: 50 likes on the Facebook page, yay!

Next week’s post : ‘Obviously, manly affection is always gay’
Last week’s post: ‘I wish life was like a videogame’