Typically, the protest against women shaving has been thought to come from a particular group of feminists shouting against the evils of double standards, while waving their burning bras like flags in the wind. There are times when this has been true, but what it is unfortunate that non-feminist—particularly Christian—voices have failed to stand up against the morally questionable practice of women shaving their bodies. Rather than being willing to critique the culture when necessary, Christian women have adopted its practices, particularly in the realm of shaving, and have actually compromised their modesty.

Hair removal may seem simple to most people—it is a way of feeling more feminine, beautiful and acceptable. That's it.

Except it's not.

It is a tool the Enemy has used in order that women might forfeit their modesty and true femininity. This is something that can be easily seen when one researches the history of hair removal, or simply reads the Bible.

Hair removal is not a new idea. Some of the earliest examples of it are found with the ancient Egyptians, and even the Greeks and Romans used pumice stones for that purpose.

Today, however, it is massively marketed all over the world and the cultural reasons had for shaving have more questionable origins.

For American women, hair removal and shaving in particular, was seldom done prior to the early twentieth century. Chicago Tribune writer Lauren R. Harrison gives the reason for this: "sleeveless dresses and sheerer fabrics became fashionable and hemlines rose."

Women did not simply decide to start shaving one day because they personally liked how it looked. Without the increasingly immodest hemlines and dresses, shaving likely never would have become a cultural norm. It was only because new areas of a woman's body were beginning to be displayed that there was any incentive for women to shave.

Harrison continues in her article:

"You see this kind of transformation of the female body — that women are increasingly to be looked at," Scanlon said of advertisements at the time. "There's sort of the promise that more and more women can gain access to beauty if they engage in these practices (like) shaving their armpits."

Again, it is clear that the purpose of shaving was not for personal gratification, but to show more skin and more flesh with the goal of being seen by men.

Today, this is still clearly the purpose of hair removal. As no shortage of memes suggests, when there is no fear of the area in question being seen, women quickly revert to not shaving.

The only purpose of women shaving is for those areas to be seen, otherwise, a particular area would not be exposed or groomed for viewing. This gets particularly concerning when women shave such areas as their upper thighs or higher. Even the armpit has historically sexual connotations. When painters have created works showing women with an exposed armpit, it is generally to have expressed sexual desire or themes. This is why so many Venuses and Aphrodites are shown with exposed armpits.A second main reason why shaving should trouble Christians is because of what the Bible says about a woman's hair. 1 Corinthians 11:15 clearly states, "But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering."

Now, it is true that this passage is referring to the hair on a woman's head. However, biology shows us that all of a woman's hair is a unique, beautiful covering.

In comparison to men, women have a faster rate of hair growth on their heads, more thin hair covering their bodies and less hair growth in certain regions. Occasionally, this is disrupted by a hormonal imbalance, which is not to be overlooked. However, the feminine estrogen hormone does leave a profound difference in the quantity and quality of male and female hair.

Shaving this is removing the covering and glory that body hair gives to women uniquely. It erases a difference between the sexes, thus actually striving for androgyny.

For Christian women, the issue of shaving thus becomes an essential one to their modesty, faith and roles. The abomination of hair removal cannot be assimilated into the Church. It must be addressed and women must be educated, lest they become as unbelievers through their beauty habits.

The End.

Not really.

So, the above piece is entirely satirical.

I decided to write my piece this way because one of the things I have noticed in our culture regarding satire is how incredibly obvious it is. This is not a bad thing in and of itself. Satire certainly can be blatantly obvious and get its point across. However, in the past, satire has not only been obvious. Sometimes, it has required reading the work before one realizes that it is satire—ridiculous titles and excessive hyperbole off the bat is not a given.

This is important, as it has seemed to create a culture unable to see the less obvious forms of satire. Granted, the Internet has introduced new obstacles in discerning the difference with so many people expressing opinions that may or may not be educated, informed, or use even the least bit of logic. However, not nearly as many things we tend to take seriously for what is said on the surface ought to be.

Second, and more importantly, while the article is satirical, I'm sure many readers have noticed that this could easily be put on a particular website for a given niche and be hailed and true, good and serious. This brings me to my other point: we need to argue better.

This article does not present a good argument. I would not even say it is good quality satire, merely another form of it. However, many serious arguments we present do flow like this. I encourage all of you, and myself, to write good arguments, not just belch out words and hot air and say everyone else's opinion is invalid because you clearly have more intelligence and your obviously biased sources are more credible (really, because you agree with them).

All in all, my encouragement in this article is twofold: let us read more and learn to discern what is and is not satire, and let us learn to argue better to avoid the previous confusion.