What's wrong with shaving/hair removal?
In theory, nothing. There are times where it makes sense for people to shave, such as swimmers reducing drag in the pool or surgeons preparing to make an incision. Culturally, men and women have shaved different parts of the body for different reasons, including ancient Egyptians and Greeks preferring total removal of body hair (seemingly) for both men and women, until men got tired of undergoing the expensive, painful, and time-consuming process, but still expected it of women, who of course had nothing else to do (/sarcasm).
Some cultures shave certain parts as a ritual purification, such as the heads of newborns, although that is sometimes fraught with misogyny (e.g. the hair is dirty because it touched the mother's genitals during birth, for example).
So what's our objection?
- We object to the natural body hair of women being demonized and called "unfeminine" or "unhygienic" while men, who typically have far more body hair, can show theirs, as is, with no problem. That's misogyny--treating the same human trait as disgusting only when modeled by women. (Note: if something occurs naturally in women, such as body hair, it is feminine or neutral. There is nothing about a normal female body that can be "unfeminine." If you think so, consider whether you are confusing "feminine performance" with actual femininity.)
- Expecting adult women to have the bare skin of a prepubescent child is pedophiliac. It normalizes adolescent/adult males being attracted to child-like traits on adolescent/adult females. It normalizes male disgust at natural female bodies, which is obviously disordered.
- It disproportionately harms women of certain ethnicities where body hair is copious/curly/thick/fast-growing and removing it takes a lot of time, money, pain, and energy.
- It is an exorbitant demand to place on girls and women throughout most of the world, making the price of admission to existing in public a time-consuming and often painful and expensive ritual, one which must be repeated frequently/daily.
- It can result in permanent damage, such as the women who have permanent scars all over their legs/bodies from being burned by laser hair removal, or from ingrown hairs that become infected and leave scars. People have had their skin ripped off by waxing/sugaring, often leaving major scars on their faces/legs/arms/etc. It can lead to infections, some of which are quite serious.
What do you think? Did you always accept that women had to remove "unsightly hair" or did you react to the expectation with some level of disagreement? What has your experience been?