I like shaving my legs. Aside from the occasional cut, I like the soft, foamy shaving cream, I like how smooth they feel when I rub them together in the water, I like how shiny they look in certain lighting after they are shaved. I also like shaving my armpits because my underarms get itchy if the hair there gets too long. I hate, however, shaving my pubic hair.
For a long time I would hop in the shower, start to shave, and at the same time mentally rant about the patriarchy and how annoying the whole process is. But while I was shaving off the hair that I see as a mark of womanhood, I knew that I was not doing it for me. I was doing it because that is what society deemed as correct.
If you are doing something that is altering the way your body looks, there has to be an element that you like. And I didn't. I didn't like how itchy I was, the little red bumps from razor burn on my skin, how raw I felt afterwards. So I started thinking about pubic hair. As one does.
The bush. A phrase that can be interpreted as incredibly sexy or kind of disgusting. In case you are not aware, "a bush" describes pubic hair that grows freely, and usually is not shaved or trimmed in any way. In the 1970's, the bush was all the rage. It was heavily featured in porn magazines and was very fashionable for women because it was a representation of adulthood and mature sexuality. This goes for men as well when we look at chest hair. The 1970's were all about showing off a very furry chest because it was a way to prove masculinity versus today where men are encouraged to shave their chests.
While chest hair today can still be seen as a sign of masculinity, body hair on women is almost never seen as a sign of femininity. But here's the thing: How can something that naturally grows on the female body not be feminine? The most common argument is that it is somehow unclean, but people seem to forget that showering regularly takes care of that potential issue the same way it does for men. Our society has pushed the idea of the naked mole rat woman so hard that it now seems like the only feminine option, but in reality that is simply not true and it took a small escapade for me to figure this out.
Some girlfriend's and I were in New York City and decided that we were going to go the Museum of Sex gift shop. (The actual museum was a little pricey for us). Of course the gift shop has a whole load of paraphernalia pertaining to the subject of the museum, but in the back there were these books that a group of giggly 19 year old girls were obviously going to flip through. And they featured a lot of bush! These beautiful, sexy, feminine women were completely rocking the look that I thought I could not have because it would make me less desirable. But these women were clearly desirable. Their pubic hair almost made them seem more feminine.
Today I am more comfortable and happier because I have realized the control that I have over my razor and where I put it as well as coming to terms with the femininity of my body hair. It is of the utmost importance to do what is best for you and your body, not what society deems acceptable. It's your hair, style it the way YOU want to.
