Women and Body Hair

Body hair on women is just as natural as body hair on men, yet somehow in America it is stigmatized as the most unsightly and disgusting of things.  The craziest part of this strong stigma? It's only been around for less than 100 years! The need for women to shave their underarms didn't start until 1915, and it was a result of an ad claiming that to wear a dress without sleeves, you must "first move any objectionable hair."  By 1992, women's razors were being sold in the Sears Roebuck Catalog.  Advertisers no longer had to justify their products any more, essentially meaning that women had been convinced that it was not only trendy, but necessary.  Women didn't start shaving their legs until the 1940s, even though during the 20s the flappers had short hem lines that displayed their legs and knees, without bothering to shave.
Now, women are instilled with such an intense standard of being hairless, that even girls as young as nine, in the case of Ellen Friedrichs, feel ugly and humiliated by their own bodies.  Here are four reasons that women should stop stigmatizing body hair:

1. Children are Very Impressionable, and This Stigma Sets a Precedent for Young Girls

2.  It Plays into a Gender Binary, and the Violence That Comes With It 

3.  It's Not Just for Lesbians

4. It contributes to Othering

Not to mention, women pay the "pink razor tax" when they buy razors "made for women."

What?? What is this crazy double standard.  

Don't get me wrong, I am not shaming the bodies of women who DO shave.  That isn't my point.  My point is that if you want to shave, you should.  If you don't want to shave, you shouldn't.  If you want to shave sometimes and not shave other times, hey go for it! My point is this;

Women should do what is most comfortable for their body, and not face discrimination or harassment for having body hair.  

Source Article: Quick History of Women's Shaving 

Four Reasons Not to Stigmatize Body Hair

The History of Shaving for Women

The Pink Tax