Why does society dislike female body hair so much? Do you care about it?

Question

I dont know if men also get hate for it but some women with body hair I know get treated bad by some people or how female celebrities get hate for having body hair. I also dont understand some guys who want women to shave themself but they dont even want shave their pubic hair or any body hair for their gfs/wifes. Anyway do you care about it? Maybe i am wrong and i hope i am wrong and I wish that the majority of people dont care about it. It is not about dating preferences, I mean it in general by the way

Laura_Marx · Accepted Answer

A girl w/ a lot of body hair is the hottest thing to me >.>
but I think its only because its so tabooed that I like it the way I do; my lesbian desire is inflamed the most by disobedient bodies... Taboo is, of itself, what gives things erotic meaning, so that without taboos about body hair no one could think to like it or dislike it.

Interestingly, the taboo on female body hair is actually something pretty recent. It wasn't very common until the 80s (theres a humorous scene about this in the 'Wolf of Wallstreet' where he describes it to his father, 'Women now... its like theyre completely shaven from the eyebrows down'), but this trend very quickly became mandatory in polite society, and most people now regard female body hair as disgusting. I don't think most of our discussions about it really grapple with how *new* it is. It only reached its current ubiquity in the 21st century, but now 99.7% of women shave their bodies (Smelik, 2015 pg 2). It perhaps connects to a more general cultural shift that began in the 1980s; in '87 Baudrillard described how "fitness" replaced "health" as the ideal state. While health is "a state of organic equilibrium", fitness is an "ephemeral, hygienic, promotional radiance of the body", not health but a performance of health (Baudrillard, 2002 pg. 18). You can see this play out here in the advice that men give to each other when they're looking for success in love: working out surely numbers among the top (this was perhaps more true a few years ago). Women shave and do cardio, men build muscle and swallow raw eggs; everyone searches for the haircut that best frames their face shape and works out which makeup best complements their skin tone... The body undergoes non-stop alteration, improvement, enhancement; as Smelik writes, "the body has become a project," and the most important virtues today are self-control, self-discipline and self-mastery. "Everyone becomes the impresario of his/her own appearance," as Baudrillard writes. Failing to take control of one's body - being 'overweight', not exercising regularly, not shaving one's underarms, not having a skincare routine - is seen as unhygenic, unhealthy and indicative of laziness, selfishness and immaturity.

Something interesting about the taboo on female body hair is that the accompanying ideal - the hairless body - is not really considered attractive. Unlike working out or deting, which produced an eroticized ideal body (abs and biceps; a flat tummy and, when it was a fad, a thigh gap), the hairless body is a simple effacement. The armpits, calves and forearms are not erogenous zones and are not generally sexualized. Body hair is purely and exclusively a signal of disobedience, a lack of body hair indicates an obedient body. I think we have to see this taboo as a kind of rejection of female sexuality - all of her body hair becomes contaminated with the sexuality of the pubic hair and is made symbolically equivalent with 'bush', its eradication is almost seen as a public decency; it's in this way that my fetish for female body hair is eroticized - its almost like exhibitionism!

SueShe · Accepted Answer

I fail to see what is so attractive or even healthier about the removal of pubic hair or any other hair for that matter.

You know that nature and evolution put hair on those places for very specific reasons. Those are:

1. protection against dust
2. protection against bacteria
3. sunscreen
4. body temperature regulation

Why would a normal human want to remove a natural protection? This is a a new type of fashion that did not exist in the time when humans were making decisions with their brain and not their genitals.

There is strictly no medical need whatsoever to remove any type of hair, whether it is on the arms/legs, armpits and even less on the genital area. It goes to show that people nowadays are not thinking further than their noses and just follow a trend like a herd of sheep that follows the alpha animal jumping off a cliff.

Those people that shave their body hair are the first ones to apply sunscreen to protect themselves from the sun. They remove a natural protection to replace it with a chemical one. Go figure the reasoning of our totally screwed up society.

abc3643 · Accepted Answer

It has to do with testosterone.
Testosterone, an androgen, is a predominantly male hormone. Males have a lot more of it than females. Testosterone helps drive the development of males from boys for men with increased muscle mass, and, among other things, hair growth. Furthermore, testosterone affects sex drive and teen boys have large amounts of testosterone and so are horny all the time.

Now, males are attracted to females by their femininity. The way males define femininity is simply less masculine - "less like us". So, the more a female doesn't look like a male, the more attractive she becomes. Well, males are hairy - hairier than females. So, when we see hair on females other than the head or pubic area, it triggers us subconsciously that she is more like us - and less feminine.

It's all bullshit in a way, but it's true.

That said, I've noticed women who are a little hairier than normal for women are usually the ones who are hornier. So, if your a guy and you want to get laid, don't be bothered by the girl who needs to Nair her upper lip and consider going after her. She may by a nymphomaniac.

Love2Jackit · Accepted Answer

I choose C meaning all women should shave. Reason being it's good hygiene. Another is it shows they are not lazy. I know some people would say I am full of bs. Cause i think women should shave. Well I got a question for everybody who thinks different. Why do they shave a person before they are 2 have surgery. That's simple cause of being cleaner and easier 2 heal. 2 much hair can hold heat. Which in turns helps bacteria grow and survive. With out hair thier is nothing 2 trap the heat or bacteria. That the point of good hygiene. By the way for all Na Sayer. I shave down thier all bald. It makes it easier 2 stay clean. Along with a sense of feeling better about ur self.

Why does society dislike female body hair so much? Do you care about it?

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