Believe
it or not, it was in fourth grade when I learned that hairy legs for girls were
socially unacceptable. I had been
playing outside on the jungle gym during recess, when one of the boys in my
class told me that I needed to shave my legs.
I
was completely confused! Why on
earth would someone want to do that?
My questions were never answered, but I knew that my hairy legs were
shameful in some way.
After
that day, I begged my mother to let me shave my legs. She just laughed and said that I was much too young, and
told me stories of the taunting she had to endure in grade school as well.
It was not until the beginning of sixth grade that I
was allowed to shave, which I thought was completely unfair since plenty of the
other girls had already begun shaving.
Being a silly sixth grader, I thought shaving would bring me eternal
happiness, but it brought razor burn and ingrown hairs instead!
Soon after starting to
shave my legs, I found out that it wasnıt only legs that needed hair
removal. Eyebrows, underarms, and
upper lip need maintenance, too!
After the shaving, plucking, waxing, bleaching, and other inventive hair
removal techniques, one question remains in my mind: why?
Why
are we all (men included) completely obsessed with the hair on our body? If it is growing there, is it not
supposed to? After asking many
people this (and receiving some very shocked and disgusted responses such as,
³How long has it been since youıve shaved?²), I gathered that some people
consider it good hygiene; others said they just like the smoothness.
Being
female, I understand that smooth skin is quite nice, but when your hair starts
growing the moment you take a step out of the shower, shaving becomes somewhat
tedious and futile. Luckily, I
live in the Midwest, where winter is the norm and so are pants. I only have to shave religiously for
approximately half of a year.
I
have come to the conclusion that we live in a society with a hair fetish. I am not planning to rebel against society
by not shaving every day, but I am trying to accept my predestined appearance:
short, dark, and hairy.