Hair There and Everywhere

“OK, I have to go,” said Isabel, looking at her watch. She retied her army boots and scanned the crowded corner of Polk and Sutter for a bus, blinking in the late afternoon sun. “Why did I bother voting for Willie Brown? Muni has never been worse.”

“What’s the rush?” I asked. “I thought we were going to hang out and have a beer, catch some groovy rays.” Isabel had just seen “Austin Powers” and her newfound vernacular had started to grow on me. “Come on, baby. My treat.” I started to pull her down the street.

“No, no, really I can’t,” she said. “I have a waxing appointment at 5 o’clock. Sofia will kill me if I’m late. I’ll never be able to get in to see her again. She says I’m becoming too dependent on her anyway.”

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The hairlessness norm: The removal of body hair in women

The ideal of beauty for women has never been a static one, but rather has changed across time and between cultures. However, as Mazur (1986) points out, the rise of the mass media in the late 20th century is likely to impose more uniform standards of beauty throughout the world than before. Most authors (e.g., Rodin, Silberstein, & Striegel-Moore, 1985; Fallon, 1990; Wolf, 1990) agree that current ideals of beauty emphasize the looks of “youth”: a slim body, high taut breasts, and smooth unwrinkled and hairless skin. Certainly anecdotally many women reportedly lie about or are unwilling to reveal their age (Rodeheaver & Stohs, 1991), and “it makes you look younger” is invariably taken as a compliment. Wolf (1990), among others, argues that this idealization of youth carries the political agenda of powerlessness, and arises at particular times when women become too powerful. The impossible prescription for a “young” beautiful body is a source of great dissatisfaction, and many studies document that women show much greater dissatisfaction with their bodies across the board than do men. Further, physical appearance tends to be much more important for a woman’s global view of her self-worth than is the case for a man (Rodin et al., 1985). Such dissatisfaction, in turn, leads many women to try to alter their bodies to match the ideal, and of course, supports the multi-million dollar diet, cosmetic and cosmetic surgery industries.

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By Mei Yan Leung

July 28, 1999 | After 20 years in America, I still struggle with the question of whether I should shave my armpits when summer comes along.

Shaving was cruelly introduced to me when I arrived in an American college dormitory. As a modest female from humble Hong Kong, I was mystified by the sight of razors hanging out by a row of showers in the women’s bathroom. For a moment I thought I had entered the men’s bathroom. It may sound unbelievable, but for a foreigner who once thought cottage cheese was egg white marinated with mayonnaise, the thought was real.

I quickly learned that American women shave their legs and armpits and pluck their eyebrows. They may also wax their pubic areas and upper lip hair. I understand that some even shave their backs and stomachs. To attain the ultimate smooth look, women in America have committed themselves to constant maintenance and risk. I used to see some bloody messes caused by shaving. I remember my first college roommate telling me that after you start shaving, there is no going back. You just have to keep on going.

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Body Hair, Hirsute Women, and my Mother — by Elaine Miller

I shave my legs. I trim my bikini line when I feel like it. And my armpit hair grows in a luxuriant way, unfettered and unclipped.

I’ve had it for 12 years, that armpit hair. I’ve enjoyed it every step of the way. Sometimes I dye it different colours. It’s soft and fluffy, wavy and friendly. It makes me look balanced when I gaze in the mirror, naked. My lover likes it too.

But I didn’t always have it blowing in the breeze that way. It first sprouted when I was 12 or 13, and I hailed it as a sign of oncoming womanhood, and shaved it off. That’s what women do, They shave it off. And keep shaving. And keep shaving.

Ow.

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The Symbolic Nature of Feminine Body Hair

I remember when I was just a little girl and saw my sister’s roommate’s armpits. Being the free spirit that she was they were hairy and I remember the chaos this caused in my family. It was SO taboo… Now as I grow older and learn more about myself I find her unabashed feminine beauty exhilarating, sexy and admirable…
- Cathy, USA (from Internet: http://www.yoni.com/loverf/armpits.shtml)

It is common practice for women in American society to pluck, shave, wax, or otherwise remove body hair from various parts of their bodies. This paper seeks to investigate why women go through these rituals, how they feel about them, and why they would stop removing body hair from their bodies when it violates the definition of gender that society has written for females. How much does the woman who does not participate in body hair removal practices change her gender-role identity? “Gender-role identity refers to how much a person approves of and participates in feelings and behaviors which are seen as ‘appropriate’ for his/her gender” (Kessler, 10).

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What’s Hair Got To Do With It