Yeah, I’ve noticed that. They have more underarm odor than was acceptable in my day, too.
Anyhow, I am generally pro-hair. I like long hair and beards on men. I like long flowing hair on women. I think a hairless crotch looks weird and disconcerting in an adult – yeah, sort of an uncanny vally effect. I don’t think underarm hair actively looks good, but esthetically, I can take it or leave it in both men and women. I LOVE a hairy chest on a guy. I think a hairy back is kind cute, although, again, take it or leave it.
But somehow, those photos of women with hairy legs just looked strange to me. Maybe it’s because I don’t grow much hair on my legs. It looked oddly masculine to my eyes.
Sorry, if that’s your thing, fine. But I’m not going to stop shaving. Hairy legs and pits just feel icky to me. I’ve been shaving since I was eleven, and I ain’t stopping any time soon!
I’m being descriptive, not proscriptive. The fact of the matter, whether you or anyone else likes it or not, is that the vast majority of men think armpit hair on a woman is just flat-out gross. If a woman doesn’t care about that and wants to grow it and flaunt it, fine. More power to her. But if she does care about what men think of her appearance, it would behoove her not to wander around looking like she’s got Don King in a headlock.
It’s like if I, as a single guy, decided that I’d look good with a really, really hairy back. I can have one, sure. But, since I know most women find that disgusting, I’d have to accept I’d be staying single for longer than I would otherwise.
Actually, the point is that a lot of chicks ARE hairy, society just likes to pretend they aren’t.
I’m in the “it’s your body, do what you want” camp.
I have issues with shaving/depilitating due to on-going skin sensitivities, but I’ve always preferred to keep the pit hair under control if nothing else. And leg shaving for women is pretty much still required by society.
Not even a vast majority of men in this Thread think that. A majority, maybe, but certainly not a vast majority- especially considering that some who have said that they have a preference against armpit hair still said that they don’t consider it gross. So your “vast majority” claim is pretty weak.
You might be able to say a majority of men if you specify a particular culture and age range, but you’d have to get extremely age range and subculture specific before saying a “vast majority”- something like “a vast majority of me and my bro-dudes splitting a plate of wings at Hooters think armpit hair on a woman is just flat-out gross.”
As has been mentioned elsewhere upThread, forgoing shaving (armpits in particular) is becoming more and more common for women in their teens and early twenties in North America. So, if young men want to get laid it would behoove them not to wander around with overly restrictive dealbreakers regarding women’s personal grooming.
Look, I have no problem with anyone having a personal aesthetic preference for anything. But the whole “I must reassure myself that my preferences are the norm!” thing is just desperate.
This stuff comes in waves. The vast majority of college age woman still shave their legs and arm pits. I don’t think I’ve seen one in real life that hasn’t. Personally I don’t care, but I’m definitely in the minority there. I’d say it’s more of a sub culture those who don’t.
Maybe it’s regional. I live in a pretty big metropolitan city. I don’t know allot of hippie types though. I don’t doubt they get dates, just it’s probably a subculture thing, I imagine maybe artist types, hippies, hipsters etc…
hetero 51 year old here. I don’t have a problem with it at all. It’s certainly not the norm I’ve grown up and old with, but I don’t find those pics unattractive because of parts being unshaven.
This. And the rest of the post. And Bienville’s other post upthread, too.
Basically, it’s totally okay to have preferences and, if you want, share your bed with someone who shares those preferences or who is happy to adapt for you. No problemo. Just do not call other people “gross”, “disgusting”, an “ape” etc, because their body does not conform to what you like.
I am fascinated with people’s take on body hair. It is natural so what’s the big ewwww about. Get over your unnatural concerns all you shavers.
Okay. I confess that I shave most of my body hair (female). I had to when I was modeling to earn $$ and kept it up because, I didn’t have the guts some of my friends did. I rather regret that. I don’t shave now because I don’t need to. Something about menopause…
I hate it when one woman says of another “Oh, she could be so pretty if she shaved her legs.” She is pretty whether or not she shaves her legs. She also saves time and money not buying the image and products the fashion industry shove her way.
Want to shave? Go ahead. Don’t want to shave? That’s fine too. You look great.
If you look at pictures of two silhouettes, one of a girl & one of a woman, I’d bet you could get them right every single time no matter what angle you viewed them from, front, back, or side since the woman has the curves of hips & breasts. Presence/absence of pubic hair is not what makes a woman look like an adult to me.
As for unshaved legs & pits, I’m not going to be politically correct about it, I think it falls on the Rule 43 spectrum (meaning there’s lots of non-mainstream stuff out there that someone will get excited over that I don’t want to even look at), so, yeah - “ewww, gross”
