"Shaving is just like … showering to me. It's something I don't even think about, and it's natural to me now. I wake up, brush my teeth, shower, shave . . . It's part of my routine and I don't even think about it. Shaving is a completely natural thing for me." This view is a response from a college sophomore, or an explanation offered when asked why she daily makes time to shave her legs. As defended as this ritualistic statement may be for many, the idea of women shaving their legs are a relatively new phenomenon. When one looks at society and it's trends, rather than seeing shaving as a "natural" thing, some see it just as unnatural and, a "pain."

For example, one of my subjects of interview, Sally, remembers only beginning to shave her legs when a female friend in the seventh grade brought the idea to her attention. While Sally had never thought that her legs were especially hairy, or had been bothered by the idea that they were naturally that way, she did not want to go against the norms of her peers or face "possible rejection." At a time when social development, involvement, and acceptance are critical society begins imposing young girls with the rules of womanhood. This period in a young woman's life, most prominently from the sixth to seventh grade, is a time when hair becomes "unnatural," and "dirty," and one begin to define her womanhood. Is an American male-dominated society to blame for the perception of when women's legs are too hairy? As an experiment, I stopped shaving my legs approximately eight weeks ago, and did not hide this from my friends, male and female. I also gathered information from two surveys (one male-oriented, one female-oriented) about personal views and feelings college students have about shaving.

Body hair, and especially leg hair, causes "deep social alarm and insecurity in women, upon whom esthetic tradition imposes a childlike state of hairlessness that is truly the unnatural condition" (Brownmiller 140). In researching this idea, a question posed was how men could claim a woman was being "creepy," "nasty," or "butch" by not shaving, while hair seems to often define when a boy becomes a man. During the impressionable years from eleven to fourteen, a boy is not bombarded with shaving cremes, electric and manual razors, and lotions that will help prevent "dry, scaly legs" (Seventeen Magazine 80). In a boy's magazine aimed at a similar age group, there were very few advertisements directed at this ideal goal of hairlessness. Body hair is considered a rite of passage from boys into men, but the concept of girls sprouting hair as they enter womanhood is primarily seen as "gross" by 43% of men ages 18-24 taking my survey. Has society coined men and women alike to want women to remain smooth and presentable? "Some men . . . take pride in smelliness and hairiness, as part of their virile rejection of prettiness. There is a mean between the charm of the half-cured goatskin and the glabrous odorless body of the feminine toy, which is cared for and kept reasonably clean, the body desirable, whether male or female" (Greer 28).

This idea of the objectification of women, or making them into the favorite of male toys, is evident in the results of my survey. Though several men chose one or more options of the question "Why should girls shave?" the answer fifty percent of college age men gave was, "Because I like how it looks and feels." This outlook makes the woman into a smooth, silky, sexy and therefore a desirable ideal. Susan Brownmiller, author of Femininity, believes the female leg has been turned into an object available for viewing pleasure. "When a leg is shaggy, who can tell if the knee is dimpled, the calf is shapely and the ankle well turned?" (145). Brownmiller reinforces what a new idea shaving is in society, by discussing it's historical roots.

Leg shaving became an issue, surprisingly enough, in a time of views that suggested liberation and letting loose, that being the 1920's. With the changing attitudes "recreation, fashion, and female emancipation" women's legs became available for objectification and critique. This double-edged sword (emancipation, therefore objectification) rapidly transformed the idea of hair on a woman. With the social acceptance of exposure of the legs came the switch to "dainty self-conscious, regarding unsightly hair" (145). Ancient Greek ideals of a smooth, marble, statuesque woman made feminine beauty into a defined and hairless beauty. Since "femininity in all respects" could be considered a matter of "containment, a woman whose hair exceeds the esthetic limits of her culture will probably employ some depilatory procedure to bring her body into line" (142). It was then pressure existed, and a woman was handed her husband's razor and shaving came about. Soon after the openly liberal revolution, women were again "contained." Companies such as Gillette, Bic, and Schtick quickly began offering products women for a woman to use to achieve the hairlessness, and possibly the helplessness, of infancy.

Sometimes, "sexuality is quite falsely thought to be an animal characteristic, despite the obvious fact that man is the most sexually active of the animals, and the only one who has sex independently of the instinctual reproductive drive. In the popular imagination hairiness is like furriness, an index of bestiality, and as such an indication of aggressive sexuality. Men cultivate it, just as they are encouraged to develop competitive and aggressive instincts, women suppress it, just as they suppress all aspects of their vigor and libido" (Greer 28). By surpressing what is completeley natural instincts, the idea of not shaving bothers some women to think about, and it becomes a problem. However, when a man does not shave, is widely accepted as his choice. Society sees that women do not have as much freedom in this sort of choice. While many of the men surveyed mentioned that shaving was "her prerogative," they also mentioned it was still much more attractive to shave and attempt to achieve hairlessness.

Some critics, such as David Lynn, believe that as women age, they do not cling to the standards of perfection society holds for them. "It is predicted that, with increasing age, the female becomes less firmly identified with the female role. Conversely, the prestige and privileges accorded the male, the rewards offered for adopting the masculine role, and the punishment for not doing so are predicted to have a gradual strengthening effect on the boys masculine identification" (92). Almost 48% of the college-age women I surveyed shave two to three times a week, and fifty-eight percent attribute this to their personal feelings (e.g. "I like how it looks and feels"), rather than on the standards society imposes. This raises some questions, for though a majority of women taking this survey cited the answer "I like how it looks and feels", many of the same women said that if they were not to shave, they would feel take on manly qualities. These included "not feminine," "manly," and reinforcing Greer's idea of bestiality, one even claims she would "look like a bear." For the most part, many college age women (among other choices) say they do choose to shave because they like how it makes them feel: beautiful and desirable. The college age woman appears to remain firmly identified with her role as a female, as she yearns not to be identified with the "nasty," "self-conscious," and "lazy" world where men do not shave their legs. Again, many of the men in this age group, whom I informally interviewed, admit that they sometimes revel in the masculine role their body hair plays. Carsten, one male who I interviewed, claims that his hair was light enough that at a younger age, he was teased about having "shaved his legs." Men repeatedly claim they "love those smooth legs" and they think "a woman looks better shaved." Some even take this desire a step further, calling non-shaving women "barbarians," "stupid girls," or even so "creepy" that "dump[ing] her" would be necessary. While many of the men surveyed would remain quiet if they noticed her legs "needed" shaving, many would inquire about the subject in regular conversation, tell her to "lather up" if the relation was of a romantic/sexual nature, or even tell her to "shave, bitch." Eighty-eight percent of the males surveyed expect that their female friends shave, but knowing that they may not only bothered 41% if this was revealed or evident.

Despite the fact that choosing not to shave is looked at by a majority as "disgusting," "unfeminine" and "unpresentable," thirty-two percent had primarily positive things to say about not taking part in regular shaving. Though 98% consider themselves women who shave their legs, those who shaved less frequently said that not shaving makes them feel "no different" or "free, even sexy." Sally, who I introduced at the beginning of the paper talks about choosing not to shave as an indirect form of rebellion. She thinks of the idea of not shaving as a powerful thing she could do to "piss a guy off." Like I, she questions a seeming 'fascination' with the idea of hair on a woman. When Sally thinks about body and facial hair, she does not see it as a turn off. Rather, she thinks she should even try shaving her face someday, because of her personal curiosities about what shaving men go through. Another woman interviewed sees shaving as her "small form of rebellion against the world" and "very American" at that. Other positive comments about the idea of not shaving include feeling "like a warm person" and "nice to touch." However the initial reaction of 39% of the women I surveyed felt hairy legs would be "gross" whereas 15% thought it would be "liberating" and another 15% thought it would also be a good thing to attempt doing. Other negative feelings women cite as reactions to not shaving includes answers such as "awkward and self-conscious," "disgusting," "like I couldn't get clean," "like I needed to hide my legs," and "shaggy and dirty."

Indeed, a double standard exists regarding the shaving habits, and therefore, beauty of women in American culture. Ideal American beauty values long, clean, shiny hair but meanwhile is appalled at the idea of the natural essence of leg hair. "While they [women] built their hair up on their heads and festooned their eyelashes they were resolutely stripping off every blade of hair in their armpits and on their arms and legs" (Greer 27).

Though it would be ideal to say we, as a society, should simply stop placing such emphasis on the smooth, defined woman, we have come to see that the male-dominated advertisers have set a standard. When a woman begins stripping her body of the natural essence of hair on her legs, one can ask if the narrow lines of beauty are drawing things in too closely. One can ask what a woman is to do, and the main answer I propose seems strikingly simple: respect and glorify individual beauty. As adults, we need to realize, and commit to teaching our daughters about the beauty of diversity. In the threshold of the women's movement, many women began to "question [these] standardized visions of female beauty" and looked at the not-so-ideal beauty choices available to them: "whether or not to wear makeup, shave their legs and underarm hair, pluck their eyebrows . . . They compared themselves to the norm set up by the popular culture as women often do, but not to see how they measured up . . . they were looking at how the standard measured up to them and were asking: Why doesn't the image of a desirable woman look more like us?" (DeBold 237). The desired woman has many shapes, forms and ideologies, and whether or not she shaves her legs, she looks more like each and every one of us than society is willing to admit.

Brownmiller, Susan. Femininity. New York: Linden Press/Simon and Schuster, 1984.

Burkholder, Sally. Personal Interview. November 3, 1997.

DeBold, Elizabeth, Idelisse Malave, and Marie Wilson. Mother Daughter Revolution. New York: Bantam Books, 1994.

Duncan, Beverly and Otis Dudley. Sex Typing and Social Roles: A Research Report. New York: Academic Press, 1978.

Greer, Germaine. The Female Eunuch. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1971.

Internet Explorer - http://www.sunsite.berkley.edu/IssuesIndex - Women

Internet Explorer - http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/wlm - Documents from the Women's Liberation Movement: An On-line Archival Collection

Lynn, David B. "Sex Differences in Identification Development." Woman in a Manmade World: A Socioeconomic Handbook. Ed. Nona Glazer-Malbin and Helen Youngelson Waehrer. Chicago: Rand McNally and Company, 1972.

Mayeski, Carsten. Personal Interview. November 16, 1997.

"Seventeen Magazine" July 1997. 'Loves Baby Soft' Shaving Lotion advertisement. 80.

Survey among 90 college students. October - November 1997.