Society has many expectations for both men and women. Men are supposed to be strong, unemotional and brazen figures, while women are supposed to be submissive, sensitive and proper. Many of these expectations stem from hegemonic patriarchal ideals, ones that place men above women and enforce rules to keep this system in place.
Generally these expectations fall upon women who must commit themselves fully to these rules in order to be appealing and appropriate for men. These gender norms which are tethered into our culture are outdated and medieval, forcing women to live in a world where the patriarchy is almighty and in charge. Despite the women’s suffrage and feminist movements, women are still controlled by the oppressive hand of the patriarchy. It is my hope that by breaking gender norms, we women can expedite the feminist movement and slowly break down the hegemonic patriarchal ideals that still encapsulate our society.
My experience with breaking gender norms starts with my legs. It’s been over a month now, and I’ve still avoided bringing a razor to the hair thats begun amounting on them. Normally the expectation is for women to shave their legs often. This norm is consistently seen in advertisements which are abundant with women’s shaving campaigns. To further emphasize this distaste for women’s leg hair, these advertisements often avoid even showing any leg hair, thereby showing a model shaving a bare leg. Society has such a fear of women’s leg hair that commercials for shaving products for women can’t even properly show the product in action. Honestly it is completely ridiculous how women’s leg hair is so disliked.
The reaction of people toward women’s leg hair is even worse. Men see leg hair as unnatural and disgusting. This is ridiculous and idiotic, because well guess what, the growth of leg hair is a completely natural process. For some reason though, men insist on completely shaven women except for maybe a little hair on the genitals, but even then most men desire a completely shaven pubic area. In order for a woman to be desirable to men she must remove any trace of hair from her entire body, hair that naturally grows for many reasons.
Pubic hair helps to provide a cushion against friction which can cause abrasions and injuries. It also helps protect against bacteria and pathogens. Shaving pubic hair and other areas (legs, armpits, etc.) can have many undesired results. Shaving can lead to injuries and potential infections. The pubic area is especially sensitive to shaving as the resulting hair follicles are irritated and inflamed by the shaving process. I personally have experienced this, having shaved my pubic area, and soon after having an inflamed lymph node. I had to go to the doctor and receive antibiotics in order to reduce the inflammation. Now I often avoid shaving my pubic area and when I do I use an alcohol rub after I shave to reduce inflammation and irritation. Most of the time though I just completely avoid shaving the pubic area and choose instead to just trim the area.
Initially my leg hair growth began with my abundant laziness. I just did not feel like shaving because it was too much effort. The razors I used were expensive, my showers would take longer, I would have to contort my body in strange positions just to be able to shave, and in the end the results wouldn’t even be worth it because I’d have to redo the process all over again just a few days later. So to avoid all of that annoying and tedious work, I decided not to shave. This went on for a week, and then another week, and then another. Nothing in my life was really affected except for the fact that when I put leggings on there was a slight bit of resistance because of my newly hairy legs. This was not a problem for me really and so I continued leaving my leg hair to grow.
As it got warmer I started wearing dresses and shorts, exposing my unshaven legs and this is when I began to experience society’s dislike for women’s hairy legs. Although I never received any comments about my legs, I definitely received many a look. I’ve seen people staring at my legs, making disgusted faces, looking surprised and confused, and overall just being shocked by my natural legs. Even though my avoidance of shaving began with just pure laziness, these reactions made me think deeper about what I was really doing. So many people were so shocked by my hairy legs, something that was so natural to me, and these reactions propelled me to avoid shaving my legs for an entirely different reason.
My hair legs are no longer the result of my laziness. They are the result of my breaking of societal gender norms. They are the image of my resistance to the hegemonic patriarchal ideals of our culture. My hairy legs are my way of saying, “I am independent. I am in charge. I can do what I want with my body.” There are many times that I have considered shaving, wanting that lovely, smooth feel that I always loved. Yet now my hairy legs mean more to me and shaving them would be like knocking down a protest sign. I feel the need now to keep my legs hairy which of course I don’t mind because of the hassle of shaving. This summer I will be spending with my hairy legs to show my resistance to gender norms. Hopefully others will read this and join me in my movement.
