# Weird American female customs. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 23, 2003, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-american-female-customs/170486 "2003-04-23T01:46:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![stypticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f05b48/32.png) [@stypticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stypticus)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-american-female-customs/170486/41 "2003-04-24T01:18:58Z")
**Susanann** , you think men can’t dress differently from day to day? Or are you just unable to tell the difference between a man who dresses well and one who doesn’t? I’ve had about eight different hairstyles in the last two years. I wear different outfits for different occasions. I dress up or dress down to suit the event. I can wear formal, semiformal, casual conservative, casual funky, casual sporty, as I please. I can wear different watches, necklaces, hats, belts, shoes flashy or restrained, glasses or contacts. I have variety in my wardrobe and I don’t have a big wardrobe. Nothing boring about it. And when my hair goes grey, I won’t be covering it up with colour. ---
**Author:** ![MusicJunkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@MusicJunkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MusicJunkie)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-american-female-customs/170486/42 "2003-04-24T01:27:37Z")
> [@](#): > > This is on topic. What is a “Brazilian”? I’m a Brazilian! 🙂 Mariemarie is right that we (the female we not we including me that am male) do it. How can a woman wear a bikini without doing it? ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-american-female-customs/170486/43 "2003-04-24T01:42:07Z")
**Susanann** said: > [@](#): > > Binding of the feet in China, was a sign of upper class. Women with bound feet were telling everybody that they were rich enough that they did not have to work. That was also the reason that until the 1920’s women avoided being tan. It was an indicator that you worked outside. I have heard that in Spain people like a woman with a little facial hair over the lips. Is this true? ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-american-female-customs/170486/44 "2003-04-24T01:47:10Z")
Obviously, **Susanann** , you don’t frequent goth clubs. Last Friday, I saw at least five guys wearing skirts, and one in a vinyl catsuit with bondage straps. Actually, both sexes used paint and powder (which usually contained lead!) during the 17th and 18th centuries. Men’s standard suit wasn’t codified until the early-mid Victorian period. Even then, they wore colourful waistcoats for a while after that. ---
**Author:** ![MajorTom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@MajorTom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MajorTom)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-american-female-customs/170486/45 "2003-04-24T01:52:38Z")
I think I visited that weird tribe in Africa. They also had a custom about the father’s word being Law! She needed to be in the house by 7:00 PM. Fortunately with all the lip stretching she was able to slip me kisses under the door. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-american-female-customs/170486/46 "2003-04-24T03:03:25Z")
Okay, so what I wanna know is, what’s up with Loud Shoes? Yesterday I’m walking along, and a woman is walking behind me, and all I can hear is the ‘klek klek klek’ of her shoes hitting the sidewalk, together with that awful _skritching_ noise that sand grains make as they’re caught between sole and pavement. This level of footstep noise seems to be very common among women. Why? Do women _want_ to advertise their positions to the mugger around the corner? ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-american-female-customs/170486/47 "2003-04-24T03:30:42Z")
A stereoscopic photo, circa 1901: [A High-caste Lady’s Dainty “Lily Feet,” Showing Method of Deformity](http://www.boondocksnet.com/china/china_uu100_022.html) ---
**Author:** ![Road\_Rash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a8b319/32.png) [@Road\_Rash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Road_Rash)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-american-female-customs/170486/48 "2003-04-24T03:59:47Z")
Personally, I believe women do all the primping to impress other women more so than men. Look at the fashion magazines. Skinny waif models. Compare them to models in Penthouse or Hustler. Still slim, but definitely curvier. 9 out of 10 guys I know would pick Rachel Hunter, a healthy model over those sticks anytime. So don’t try to convince me that these models are displayed to impress men. Same goes for most of female primping. As far as shaving goes, of course women do more body shaving now than in the past. That’s because swimwear, eveningwear, and casual wear is more revealing. Sure it looks naughty seeing a bush not fully contained in a thong the first time. After that, it just looks nasty. Plus, hair does hold in smells. Luckily, I never did get a hairy back. I am cursed with serious eyebrows. Yes, I do trim them. I shave the middle section to give me two eyebrows. I did not originally do it for vanity. It just irritated me whenever I wore my glasses. As I get older, they get longer and wilder. The ears? They are right next to the face. I might as well give them a shave-over. Of course, I shave my whole head. I am so much more comfortable without that hair. The pubes? No, I do not shave them. I tried it once, and had razor bumps from hell (I know what women go through). In Europe, where man-thongs are more macho, it may be more socially required, but I do not need to do that. If I know I am going to get some that night, I may give them a trim. ---
**Author:** ![Ender\_Will](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Ender\_Will](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ender_Will)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-american-female-customs/170486/49 "2003-04-24T06:15:56Z")
> [@](#): > > Being a man would be very boring to wear nothing but a shirt and pants day after day every day for 80 years, wearing your hair the same way, not wearing any jewelry except a watch, and coloring or painting nothing. If you are having a bad day, or a bad week, men have nothing to do to pick up their moods except get drunk. Speaking as a guy who wears either jeans or shorts and t-shirts nearly every day, I like the ease and simplicity. Same with the hair, cut it short, never have to worry about it. Then of course, if need be, I can get dressed well (suit and tie or whatever the occasion calls for). Regarding there being nothing to “pick up [our] moods except [to] get drunk,” we can do lots of thing other than drinking, some of which are less expensive than buying random clothes. We (or at least I) can go do stuff with friends (always a barrel of laughs with my buddies), watch a movie (usually a funny one, such as The Big Lebowski), play some pool, go for a drive, look at women who do all the crazy stuff mentioned to look good, or do a whole smackload of other things. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-american-female-customs/170486/50 "2003-04-24T07:59:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zoe \* > \*\*I have heard that in Spain people like a woman with a little facial hair over the lips. Is this true? \*\* A very big **NO**. Having lived there for three years, with a Spanish woman sharing my bed, can tell you - when it comes to vanity, the Spanish females match and surpass American. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-american-female-customs/170486/51 "2003-04-24T12:19:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Susanann \* > **Being a man would be very boring to wear nothing but a shirt and pants day after day every day for 80 years, wearing your hair the same way, not wearing any jewelry except a watch, and coloring or painting nothing. If you are having a bad day, or a bad week, men have nothing to do to pick up their moods except get drunk. Men cant buy a new outfit, pretty lingerie, get their nails or hair done, buy a lighted anklet or earrings, try a different colored stocking, get a new purse or pair of shoes to get a quick pick-me-up and feel good.** I honestly can’t say how dismaying I find this paragraph. Has the shallow consumer-culture completed its hegemony? If you get a pick me up in your mood through the acquiring of such things you’re destined to be back down in fairly short order. Am I the only one who sees this as treating symptoms and not diseases? ---
**Author:** ![elfje](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19b73/32.png) [@elfje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfje)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-american-female-customs/170486/52 "2003-04-24T12:28:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dogface \* > \*\*Shaving body hair–not universal to all Western industrial countries. I can speak from experience that a woman who has never shaved is not bristly and unpleasant. Instead, her never-shorn limbs are covered in soft down, very nice in winter. > > Unfortunately, once shaving is started, it looks like the damage is done… \*\* that started out a long time ago. Ancient Greeks preferred their women to have smoothly shaven skin. So did Egyptians. Smooth skin creates the illusion of youth, which is primarily what men look for in a women, subconsciously. The best sons are the ones begot in youth. [http://www.quikshave.com/egypt.htm](http://www.quikshave.com/egypt.htm) [http://www.quikshave.com/timeline.htm](http://www.quikshave.com/timeline.htm) ---
**Author:** ![elfje](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19b73/32.png) [@elfje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfje)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-american-female-customs/170486/53 "2003-04-24T12:31:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jonathan Chance \* > \*\*I honestly can’t say how dismaying I find this paragraph. > > Has the shallow consumer-culture completed its hegemony? If you get a pick me up in your mood through the acquiring of such things you’re destined to be back down in fairly short order. > > Am I the only one who sees this as treating symptoms and not diseases? \*\* nope, you’re not the only one. I go shopping for non-food and non domestic items stuff, twice a year (and yes, I’m a woman). I hate shopping, I hate shopping malls, shopping rarely makes me feel good. It’s a necessity, adn i treat it as one. Unfortunately, the world is ruled by big business, and the only thing BB is interested in, is money. So they tell us what to think, what to like, what to eat, what to wear… everything, really. And very few people realise their whole lives are lived _for_ them, not _by_ them. A pity. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-american-female-customs/170486/54 "2003-04-24T12:32:35Z")
The trend towards females getting tatoos is making me ill. But then, the whole idea of body art makes me ill. Fooit binding is no worse than some of the shoes I’ve seen other women wear. ---
**Author:** ![Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satisfying_Andy_Licious)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-american-female-customs/170486/55 "2003-04-25T05:15:40Z")
After reading this thread, I seem to recall something about it once being fashionable for women to be consumptive – that is, dying from TB. It was supposed to endow the sufferer with a tragic, poetic mystique. I’m thinking this was a 19th-century thing. I also read somewhere that rotting teeth were once considered quite a turn-on in Japan. If anyone can verify or disprove, please do so. I distinctly remember reading this several years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-american-female-customs/170486/56 "2003-04-25T06:21:11Z")
> [@](#): > > Two Possible Outcomes: > A) Clay Plates inserted in the lips might be the fashionable choice for the class of 2020. > B) Bell-bottom pants will come back. Nah. You know how kids of parents with bars through their lips, eyebrows and lips will freak out the old folks? Two words: Country Music. (I’m trying to remember which comedian came up with this. May have been Robin Williams, who also worked in what I thought was a very funny ubangi joke into his last special.) ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-american-female-customs/170486/57 "2003-04-25T06:37:35Z")
Am I going to be the first to mention the use of corsets, bras and breast implants? Or the disporpotionate attention given to breasts in this country, period? Since 1962, two million women in the United States have had their [breasts](http://biomed.brown.edu/Courses/BI108/BI108_2000_Groups/Breast_Implants/pages/stats.htm) enlarged. > [@](#): > > Approximately 8.08% of women in the United States have breast implants: > 94.6% are white women > 4.2% are black women > 0.8% are asian women > 0.8% women of other races/ethnicities > > One out of seven women in 1998 augmented her breasts in California. One out of ten chose a surgeon in Florida and one out of twenty-one went to a New Yorker. Breast implants appear to be VERY much a ‘weird’ American female custom, imitated and duplicated in FAR smaller numbers by women around the world. ---
**Author:** ![Phantomkat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e9a140/32.png) [@Phantomkat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phantomkat)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-american-female-customs/170486/58 "2003-04-25T06:56:37Z")
I have to interject that the shoes we wear today are not as bad as foot-binding. Foot-binding could result in three inch feet that were rotting in their bindings: **By the time a girl turned three years old, all her toes but the first were broken, and her feet were bound tightly with cloth strips to keep her feet from growing larger than 10 cm, about 3.9 inches. The practice would cause the soles of feet to bend in extreme concavity.** [http://www.sfmuseum.org/chin/foot.html](http://www.sfmuseum.org/chin/foot.html) Not exactly your four inch heels of today. Oh, and to the earlier comment about men being able to choose to be hairy or not but no man would want a woman who doesn’t shave because she’s a hairy ape…now that doesn’t even make sense!! ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-american-female-customs/170486/59 "2003-04-25T10:51:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Askia \* > \*\*Am I going to be the first to mention the use of corsets, bras and breast implants? Or the disporpotionate attention given to breasts in this country, period? > > Since 1962, two million women in the United States have had their > [breasts](http://biomed.brown.edu/Courses/BI108/BI108_2000_Groups/Breast_Implants/pages/stats.htm) enlarged. > > Breast implants appear to be VERY much a ‘weird’ American female custom, imitated and duplicated in FAR smaller numbers by women around the world. \*\* There are 282 million people in the US. Only 25 million are under the age of 18. That leaves us with roughly 131 million women in the US over the age of 18. So 2.62 precent of US women have breast implants, or there abouts (since some of those from 62’ on are surely dead). While I find the idea of them silly, it doesn’t look all that common to me. Not nearly as common as say, buying ugly shoes. ---
**Author:** ![London\_Calling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-american-female-customs/170486/60 "2003-04-25T11:12:09Z")
[Only in America !](http://goodmedicine.ninemsn.com.au/goodmedicine/factsheets/db/cosmetic/laser/1052.asp) “Dr David Matlock is an LA surgeon who is leading the way in the brave new world of laser vaginal rejuvenation. An operation originally developed to help incontinent women has been adapted with a laser, with the sole aim of tightening the vagina.” - “vaginal rejuvenation”, my arse. Which is not an offer. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-american-female-customs/170486.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-american-female-customs/170486.md?page=4)