My friend Annie commented on my latest post: I say this out of sincere obligation. This is your conscience. Are you dilapidating out of expectations from the opposite sex? I don't mean to glorify keeping one's hair because that too is often an expectation of men, but, seriously. Isn't hairy you a sexy you? Have you seen _Volver_? Plus, I think Nair is evil, too. Wear the hair, babe.
When I was a little girl one of my obsessions was to be a big girl. To do all the things big girls do.: make-up, earrings (pierced of course) tampons, pads pantie liners and shaving. Oh boy did I want to shave. I have NO idea why I was like that but I was. When I was 9 I took my moms disposable razor and shaved one of my arms... How very grown up (eye roll).
Neither of my parents were very hairy. My mom never wore make-up nor did she have pierced ears. I came from good stock of New England ladies who believed "if its not useful for something then its just getting in the way."
So over the years I shaved and Naired. When I was 17 my friend plucked my eyebrows for the first time. And when I was in my mid twenties I accompanied a friend to the salon where I was witness to her bikini being waxed. My education was complete.
At some point during all this I learned why American women shave and European women didn't.
Why Women Shave Their Legs and Underarms: We all know the power of advertising. At the turn of the century, for example, the South African Diamond company, DeBeers, created the image that the diamond was forever and therefore would make an excellent wedding ring.
Another marketing campaign around this time convinced the women of North America to shave their body hair. Notably, women in the other parts of the world do not engage on masse in this ritual. Even in French Canada, the habit is not largely undertaken.
It all began with the May, 1915 edition of Harper's Bazaar magazine that featured a model sporting the latest fashion. She wore a sleeveless evening gown that exposed, for the first time in fashion, her bare shoulders, and her armpits.
A young marketing executive with the Wilkinson Sword Company, who also made razor blades for men, designed a campaign to convince the women of North America that:
(a) Underarm hair was unhygienic (b) It was unfeminine.
In two years, the sales of razor blades doubled as our grandmothers and great grandmothers made themselves conform to this socially constructed gender stereotype. This norm for North American women has been reinforced by several generations of daughters who role-modeled their mothers.
After college I decided that I was done with being preppy (high school) or grunge(1992 -1994) or a Raver(if you have to ask, then you don't want to know) and decided I was going to be a Hippy. What that really meant was, that I listened to Joni Mitchell, went to Earth Day festivals and I stopped shaving. I tried not wearing bra too, but that was short lived. How wonderfully different I felt. Hey, look at me I am not going to conform to the worlds way of thinking MAN... I am my own person man! I'm edgy! You can tell because I don't shave.
Now I am 32 years old. I have friends that NEVER shave.... I have friends that would die before they left the house without shaving and I have settled somewhere in between. I finally like my legs (after 3 years of Danny Thall calling me chicken legs) I realize that I am lucky to have my legs. Besides my hair (on my head) its the one thing that I receive the most compliments about. In the winter when I am wearing jeans and long pants I don't worry to much about my leg hair OR under arm hair... and even during the summer months I have been known to be Shaggy next to a bunch of Daphnes...I get teased from both sides. If I have hair or if I don't. Its like my clothes or jewelry. It all depends on my mood, what I am feeling inside, WHO I want to project on the outside. I love the statement it makes when you don't and LOVE the look when you do.
What about Mason? you might ask. Well, he has been around me since the dawn of time (1991) and I am happy to report that he seems to be very satisfied with all the versions of me. Young, old, bouncy, saggy, smooth, stretch marks, painted, plain, hairy or smooth...
When I was a little girl one of my obsessions was to be a big girl. To do all the things big girls do.: make-up, earrings (pierced of course) tampons, pads pantie liners and shaving. Oh boy did I want to shave. I have NO idea why I was like that but I was. When I was 9 I took my moms disposable razor and shaved one of my arms... How very grown up (eye roll).
Neither of my parents were very hairy. My mom never wore make-up nor did she have pierced ears. I came from good stock of New England ladies who believed "if its not useful for something then its just getting in the way."
So over the years I shaved and Naired. When I was 17 my friend plucked my eyebrows for the first time. And when I was in my mid twenties I accompanied a friend to the salon where I was witness to her bikini being waxed. My education was complete.
At some point during all this I learned why American women shave and European women didn't.
Why Women Shave Their Legs and Underarms: We all know the power of advertising. At the turn of the century, for example, the South African Diamond company, DeBeers, created the image that the diamond was forever and therefore would make an excellent wedding ring.
Another marketing campaign around this time convinced the women of North America to shave their body hair. Notably, women in the other parts of the world do not engage on masse in this ritual. Even in French Canada, the habit is not largely undertaken.
It all began with the May, 1915 edition of Harper's Bazaar magazine that featured a model sporting the latest fashion. She wore a sleeveless evening gown that exposed, for the first time in fashion, her bare shoulders, and her armpits.
A young marketing executive with the Wilkinson Sword Company, who also made razor blades for men, designed a campaign to convince the women of North America that:
(a) Underarm hair was unhygienic (b) It was unfeminine.
In two years, the sales of razor blades doubled as our grandmothers and great grandmothers made themselves conform to this socially constructed gender stereotype. This norm for North American women has been reinforced by several generations of daughters who role-modeled their mothers.
After college I decided that I was done with being preppy (high school) or grunge(1992 -1994) or a Raver(if you have to ask, then you don't want to know) and decided I was going to be a Hippy. What that really meant was, that I listened to Joni Mitchell, went to Earth Day festivals and I stopped shaving. I tried not wearing bra too, but that was short lived. How wonderfully different I felt. Hey, look at me I am not going to conform to the worlds way of thinking MAN... I am my own person man! I'm edgy! You can tell because I don't shave.
Now I am 32 years old. I have friends that NEVER shave.... I have friends that would die before they left the house without shaving and I have settled somewhere in between. I finally like my legs (after 3 years of Danny Thall calling me chicken legs) I realize that I am lucky to have my legs. Besides my hair (on my head) its the one thing that I receive the most compliments about. In the winter when I am wearing jeans and long pants I don't worry to much about my leg hair OR under arm hair... and even during the summer months I have been known to be Shaggy next to a bunch of Daphnes...I get teased from both sides. If I have hair or if I don't. Its like my clothes or jewelry. It all depends on my mood, what I am feeling inside, WHO I want to project on the outside. I love the statement it makes when you don't and LOVE the look when you do.
What about Mason? you might ask. Well, he has been around me since the dawn of time (1991) and I am happy to report that he seems to be very satisfied with all the versions of me. Young, old, bouncy, saggy, smooth, stretch marks, painted, plain, hairy or smooth...
1 comment:
I am very satisfied with Julia as well. ;) Go Julia! Way to be your own woman.
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