Since both places are pretty plastic and image driven, I decided to get a bikini wax. Definitely not on my "Top 10 Most Enjoyable Experiences Ever".
ouch.
At the spa, I started thinking about where this aversion to hairy ladies comes from.
Then I talked about it with Brittany, my very bubbly and nice and gentle aesthetician (I'm not sure that that's her official title).
I was saying something along the lines of: isn't it just another way of getting women to feel bad about themselves and spend money on themselves, for a false sense of belonging?
right.
She also told me to NEVER get anything waxed on my period or right before my period because it would hurt like nothing has hurt before.
duly noted.
After a pretty painful (and unnecessary?) experience, where a complete stranger is plucking away at my crotch after applying hot wax and literally ripping it off, REPEATEDLY, I thought that maybe this whole hairlessness for women is kind of like the success by zeroes in a man's bank account.
Sometimes it's hard to realise that this drive to make money isn't completely related to being successful just like not having an ounce of hair on your legs, doesn't equate being beautiful.
We don't really realise how pervasive these thoughts are, though.
I know that this obsession with hairless women is not a new phenomenon. I think I remember hearing that in Ancient Greece, Rome & Egypt they had different ways of getting rid of unwanted hairs, they tweezed their eyebrows and other facial hair. If we are to judge paintings from the Renaissance, women are not very bushy, and there are even recipes on how to get rid of body hair. Yuck.
Do we do this as a way to separate the two sexes even more? Since men are naturally hairier, do we shave, pluck, tweeze, bleach, dye and wax ours to draw a thicker line between us?
So, I've gotta be honest: I wasn't sure where you were going with this story when you started off by telling us about getting a bikini wax
ReplyDeleteBut I think you make a good point. Traditionally in society, part of a woman's supposed "value" was based upon how attractive she is. Women shave/wax to look more attractive. What is considered conventionally attractive for women is a standard set by straight men. As you said, men are naturally harier than women, and when straight men are looking for a partner, they generally don't want someone who physically resembles men, even in the slightest way possible.
I've never really given much thought to why I shave my legs (I was told it was unattractive to have hairy legs as a girl, so I just went along with it), but it sounds like you're onto something. Maybe hair removal is just another way to further divide the sexes.
Okay so, first of all I am going to be a little regressive and say that, as a guy, I find hairless or less hairy women to be more attractive.
ReplyDeleteBut I definitely understand where you are coming from, and once you step back and think about why women shave themselves hairless and why they have done so for so long, the question of "why am I doing this?" does come up.
I agree that shaving ones self may be another way society is trying to make a fine line between "masculine" and "feminine". It is interesting how women are expected to shave while men are not, or not nearly as much.
This post! I'm dying! THE GIFS! I've done this before a big vacation too - and you're right. It was NOT pleasant.
ReplyDeleteI definitely think you're right though. As if blue & pink wasn't enough to separate gender status... Hairless, porcelain, plastic - all things that women are expected to be. Meanwhile, men can go days without a shower, grow a beard (why is scruff so hot?) and not have to brush their hair. Ever, if its short enough. These are things that frustrate me!!