# 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:** 4
**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, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-american-female-customs/170486/61 "2003-04-25T11:29:25Z")
Ooooh, as well as the above mentioned re-bore, y’all can also choose from this delightful menu: "Dr Matlock is also able to reshape the outer labia and the mons pubis using liposuction. He is even performing an operation that effectively reinserts the hymen, and says that it’s now possible to enhance and change just about anything.” - I suspect it’d probably reshape the bank account of the guy in the waiting room more than anything else … ---
**Author:** ![Gumbercules](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gumbercules](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gumbercules)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-american-female-customs/170486/62 "2003-04-25T12:53:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Gaspode \* > \*\*European women shave their armpits. Prolly American influence, but the cliché about the hairy European woman is all a myth, at least when we’re talking women under age of 50. \*\* That may be true in Sweden (and Spain from your other post) but as for Germany and France… Not so much. I lived there and saw plenty of otherwise attractive young women walking around who looked like they had Buckwheat in a headlock. And they would tease us Americans because of our obsession with things like shaving and um, deodorant. ---
**Author:** ![Sock\_Munkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Sock\_Munkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sock_Munkey)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-american-female-customs/170486/63 "2003-04-25T13:28:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Goo \* > \*\*My cooter isn’t supposed to smell like lavendar. It’s supposed to smell like clean healthy cooter. \*\* Now THAT’S a sig line! ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-american-female-customs/170486/64 "2003-04-25T13:36:23Z")
Speaking for my own tastes, the current wave of tattooing and piercing everything is not attractive. But I’ve never really cared for tattooing. Which isn’t to say a small, tasteful design in one place would be too off-putting, but it quickly gets out of hand. Also, I’ve seen the eyebrow shaping gone way overboard. I can understand neatening the edges and fixing the unibrow, trying not to look like a Neanderthal, but I’ve seen girls with almost no eyebrow, or just a thin line arching a half inch (over a centimeter, for you metric folk) above the brow line. I find it distracting in a “ew, what happened to you?” way, and not attractive. **Dogface** said: > [@](#): > > 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. I thought there was a column on this, but apparently I’m wrong. I know I saw a thread on it, but don’t feel like searching for it. Hair tends to become thicker with age during puberty, about the time we start shaving it. As it grows in again, it no longer comes out with the soft pointy ends, but rather grows the existing hairs that are cut off, which come out with a thicker diameter edge. This causes the stubblyness that is felt. After it grows out a bit, it will be less stiff. However, different people have different levels of hairiness, and some women can have soft, downy hair that does not get stiffer. I knew a woman who shaved her calves, but not her thighs. Her leg hair was blond and soft and not very noticable. Other women grow dark hairs just like men. I did find this column related to shaving: [Who decided women should shave their legs and underarms?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_012.html) **Ethilrist** said: > [@](#): > > My son (age 15) shaves his arms. He thinks girls will get grossed out by arm hair, so he shaves his forearms. I knew a guy in college who shaved his legs, because he liked the feel of it. **TGWATY** said: > [@](#): > > I’m worried that he’s right. Is there a trend now against male body hair? You don’t see anyone on TV nowadays showing off there manly chest hair like Lee Majors and Tom Selleck used to. Yeah, I noticed that. I recall growing up all the stories about tough guys sitting around with a youngster, and bragging about how doing something or drinking something would “put hair on your chest”. Nature took care of that pretty well for me. Then chest hair went out of style. I know why body builders shave their chests - the muscles are more visible (especially after being oiled) when shaved. Plus no hairs pulled pumping iron. But Magnum, PI went off the air and so did all the chest hair. **Sunspace** said: > [@](#): > > 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? I don’t think it’s intentional to be loud. Rather, it is a side effect of the way women walk in heels. _You_ walk around on the balls of your feet only, not putting your heel down, to get a feel for what it does to your stride and pace. Add short tight skirts just to add authenticity. The heel clacking on the ground as they step, the grit sound as the foot shifts on the ball. **Phantomkat** said: > [@](#): > > 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!! I don’t follow you. Hairiness is seen as a sign of masculinity. See chest hair on men and not women. Ergo, women should be bare to be more feminine, whereas men can be furry. ---
**Author:** ![galen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecc23a/32.png) [@galen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-american-female-customs/170486/65 "2003-04-25T13:51:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Gaspode \* > \*\*European women shave their armpits. Prolly American influence, but the cliché about the hairy European woman is all a myth, at least when we’re talking women under age of 50. \*\* No! God; please, say it isn’t so! ---
**Author:** ![LanceUSMC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/0ea827/32.png) [@LanceUSMC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LanceUSMC)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-american-female-customs/170486/66 "2003-04-25T14:14:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Aspidistra \* > \*\*I remember one Doper 'fessing up to shaving her arms. It would never have occurred to me that somebody might do that. Is it common in the US? \*\* I had a girlfriend who used to do this. She shave her arms, really she shaved everywhere from the neck down. EVERYWHERE, which is alright. She plucked her eyebrows a lot, but had really, really long hair. At first I thought the arm shaving was weird, but got used to it. 95% of the women I have been with in the past few years have shaved their ‘down under’ area. I think it is kind of a fad started in adult magazines that never died. No complaints here. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-american-female-customs/170486/67 "2003-04-25T17:03:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Walloon \* > \*\*American media _are_ so ubiquitous. \*\* [Will you please stop doing this?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=179772) ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-american-female-customs/170486/68 "2003-04-25T17:08:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Gaspode \* > \*\*European women shave their armpits. Prolly American influence, but the cliché about the hairy European woman is all a myth, at least when we’re talking women under age of 50. \*\* Whew, that’s a relief. I guess all the unshaven young women I see here every day in Budapest are just a figment of my imagination. ---
**Author:** ![FyreFiend](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/919ad9/32.png) [@FyreFiend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FyreFiend)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-american-female-customs/170486/69 "2003-04-25T17:16:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mimi McQueeny \* > \*\*I have known women who do this. But I do not believe it is common. The women who are most likely to do it are those with very long, black hair on their arms. Funny, isn’t it, the taboos we have about body hair?😉 \*\* I’ve meet 4 women that shaved their arms. All 4 of them were from NJ so I assumed it was some kind of S NJ thing. Please tell me that it’s not more wide spread. ---
**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, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-american-female-customs/170486/70 "2003-04-25T17:17:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by elfkin477 \* > \*\*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. \*\* _Deliberately_ buying ugly shoes isn’t a weird American female custom,elfkin477. My point was, that women resort to [surgical means of breast augmentation](http://breastimplants411.com/ba_photos.htm) to make their breasts bigger and more youthful for largely cosmetic purposes remains primarily an American phenomenon. Women in other cultures don’t do this. (Well, maybe [Europe](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1123839.stm) and the Pacific Rim Countries.) I submit that, to my American sensibilities, stuffing saline gel packs inside your breasts to attain DD sizes or larger is at LEAST as bizarre as [Thai neck stretching](http://www.gluckman.com/LongNk.jpg) and lip and ear plugs worn in Central Africa. The ethnic breakdown in my earlier post further demonstrates this is mostly done by white American women. But in my experiences, women go up from a size C to a size larger often (not always) work in industries where they cater to men. I’ve known a few black women who have had breast implants, but I don’t know any who didn’t do it without regard for how much more money they would subsequently earn. (Frankly, the only boob jobs I’ve seen on sisters are on strippers and women who’ve been in rap videos. But then, I don’t get out to L.A. much.) I realize there are some flat-chested women out there who do this to feel better about themselves – but dag – it can be done to the extreme. Besides, how many Maxim models, female mud wrestlers and Vegas strippers does America need? ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-american-female-customs/170486/71 "2003-04-25T17:33:13Z")
Once upon a time, I was in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, looking at an exhibit showing various forms of body modification around the world, from the Ubangi lips to the Burmese next extension, to nose and earlobe plugs, to chiseled teeth, tattoing, scarification, etc., etc., etc. A couple with a maybe six or seven year old daughter was looking at the same exhibit, and the girl said “I don’t understand. Why would they want to _change_ themselves like that?” She had pierced ears. ---
**Author:** ![Sauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Sauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sauron)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-american-female-customs/170486/72 "2003-04-25T17:52:41Z")
To digress a bit from physical appearance … what is the deal with women going to the bathroom in packs? ---
**Author:** ![Sauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Sauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sauron)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-american-female-customs/170486/73 "2003-04-25T17:56:53Z")
Oh, and the loud shoes thing – that’s not a result of stiletto heels (which, by necessity, force a person to walk rather quietly, in my experience). It’s a result of sandal-type shoes that dangle from the foot in mid-stride, causing a clopping sound when the heel strikes the sidewalk/floor/whatever. Locally, the trend has been to feminine shoes of this type with massive heels – on the order of three to four inches thick. Women walking in the hall at work here sound like a bunch of horses. ---
**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 25, 2003, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-american-female-customs/170486/74 "2003-04-25T19:36:52Z")
> [@](#): > > 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. Yup. If I remember correctly, it was in Heian Japan, oh, 10th century or so. Painted their teeth black, they did. No one’s commented on the back piercing yet. 😃 Oh, **Sunspace** , that reminds me, we have a mentally ill woman living in our apartment building. Last week she woke us up at 5:00 a. m. stomping up and down the walkway outside in high heels. Mr. Lissar went out to talk to her. Turns out she wanted to wake everyone up, and was being deliberately noisy. The “loud shoes” comment reminded me of it. Sorry. [Sauron\*\*, Women go to the bathroom in packs to chat and gossip, in my experience. Sometimes we do it just to primp together, too. It’s a weirdly good place to get to know other women. Reshaping one’s vagina to make it prettier seems really scary to me. ---
**Author:** ![cagiva650](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cagiva650](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cagiva650)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-american-female-customs/170486/75 "2003-04-25T19:42:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*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… \*\* thank you thank you! ---
**Author:** ![jack\_ss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c77e96/32.png) [@jack\_ss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jack_ss)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-american-female-customs/170486/76 "2003-04-25T20:53:44Z")
Well, I shave my head and have trimmed/shaved my chest/arms/legs/pubes, but doubt that I ever will again. Seeing a 40 year old man on TV with no chest hair really bothers me, especially if women think that that’s how a man looks. Maybe an asian man, but your average white or black man is gonna have some to lots of body hair. I think the tattoos & piercings trend has peaked & is now in decline. Seven years ago I was seeing young people with multiple facial piercings at least twice a week. Today it happens less than monthly. I don’t see many people getting their tenth tattoo anymore. I am seeing a woman who has had her breasts augmented. I wouldn’t have known it if she hadn’t told me as they look very natural (for a 21 year old, not for a 37 year old woman). It’s making me wonder if I have been with women who have had their breasts done before that I never noticed? About the shaving: I appreciate a woman keeping her bush trimmed neatly. As for if she _needs_ to trim/shave herself, it depends on how hairy she is in the first place. (actually, no woman _needs_ to trim shave her body hair, I’m just address ing what I prefer). ---
**Author:** ![T.Slothrop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3e96dc/32.png) [@T.Slothrop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/T.Slothrop)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-american-female-customs/170486/77 "2003-04-25T23:20:24Z")
> [@](#): > > 1. The pierced men/women of today are going to have children. > 2. These children will have to adopt “unusual behaviors” to disturb their parents. > > 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. C) duck’s ass haircuts ---
**Author:** ![irae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f0a364/32.png) [@irae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irae)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2003, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-american-female-customs/170486/78 "2003-04-26T00:25:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by London\_Calling \* > \*\*[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. \*\* Not “Only in America”. Hymen replacement is, IIRC, the most popular voluntary procedure in NE Asia. ---
**Author:** ![Susanann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@Susanann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susanann)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2003, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-american-female-customs/170486/79 "2003-04-26T00:48:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Irishman \* > \*\* I did find this column related to shaving: [Who decided women should shave their legs and underarms?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_012.html) > > \*\* Thanks for the link, that was interesting. As far as loud clapping shoes, that is the way most high heel shoes are made out of necessity. The heel if very hard, if not metal. I dont think the intention of loud shoes is to notify potential muggers of approaching women. Some of my shoes are not loud, these shoes are actually quiet if the heels are soft, but that is a small percentage. The reason that most high heel shoes are loud, is because the heel is so small and narrow, it has to be hard, or have a metal cleat, else it would wear out very fast. The diameter of some high heel shoes is less than the size of a dime, so if the heel was not hard, it would wear out in a week. High heel shoes with very wide heels(more in style now) are quieter because they dont need to be as hard, and very narrow small diameter heels of high heel shoes, are strong, hard(metal), and loud. As far as tatooes, I dont think the trend is going away, I think it is increasing. Most young women I see, either have a tatoo, or are planning on getting one. Tatoos are very popular in high school. One small pretty tatoo is cute on some women, more than one is overdoing it. ---
**Author:** ![Auntie\_Social](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@Auntie\_Social](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Auntie_Social)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2003, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-american-female-customs/170486/80 "2003-04-26T00:56:38Z")
Re: Shaving arms I have a male friend who shaves his arms. He’s got big ol’ tattoos on his forearms and wants to show 'em off. His dark hair would get in the way. Or maybe he uses Nair. Anyway, that’s the only person I’ve ever known to shave his/her arms. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-american-female-customs/170486.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-american-female-customs/170486.md?page=5)