by Serena H.
Recently, I came across this topic in conversation with my family. My Aunt Sondra (we call her Aunt Sossy) had hurt her ankle and sent the family chat a picture. My uncle made mention of her not having shaved and the girls in my family went on a spree about how awful shaving is. My Aunt Jenni’s immediate reaction was “It's cold. Shaving is optional. And by optional I mean it ain't happenin....Dude I got a million excuses to not shave,” which I feel is the immediate reaction of most women I know when winter rolls around. Both Jenni and Sossy mentioned how expensive shaving is that is a fair point always! Monica’s comment was by far my favourite “Men don't know how much a back can hurt after bending over to shave for 10+ minutes. Certain areas of the leg it's like we're doing yoga poses.” The one that shocked me the most was when Jenni informed us that my cousin, Leigha, caught criticism from her PHYSICAL THERAPIST for not shaving! During this conversation, my uncles just kind of agreed with the whole rant from the women. This made me think of how the expectations are different not only in my family but in our society.
To women, men are lucky. They don’t have the high expectation to shave on an almost daily basis. Men’s shaving habits revolve around a personal preference. Men can grow a beard at any time and any length and it's hardly criticized. The prime example is No-Shave November. Men also have the grace to be lazy. If they miss a day or two of shaving, its okay. They may receive a comment or a few but it's no big deal. On the other hand, women not shaving is gross. Women having body hair is gross. We are expected to shave our armpits, legs, cooch and even contain our facial hair (eyebrows mainly) on a regular basis. Shaving everyday isn’t ‘expected’ per say because when said out loud it seems completely inconvenient, but if you don’t shave and people can tell, you're bound to catch a comment or two as a woman. I cannot count how many comments I have received from male individuals about not shaving my legs specifically.
In my personal experience, I only shave when I want to. I have no drive to meet that kind of smooth skinned, hairless expectation from society. I have a couple of opinions that may or may not settle with everyone but here they are. Women are GROWN! Having body hair shouldn’t be gross. It is expected with physical maturity, yet it is so frowned upon. The only ‘hairless’ human is a child, and grown women should not have expectations to be childlike to be sexy. In my opinion, mind your own! It’s not anyone’s place to tell a someone how to handle their body. If they want to shave, more power to them! If they don't, more power to them!
All in all, it’s your body and your choice. It shouldn’t be gross for women to not shave for any period of time. And they shouldn't be so harshly judged for it when men’s expectations are so much lower!
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