Why is Smooth shaved skin a sign of being feminine ?

[katie_barns]

I nabbed this off of Yahoo Answers

According to Hope's research, businesses began "encouraging" American women to shave their underarms around 1915, when sleeveless fashions became popular. Harper's Bazaar featured an ad stating: "Summer Dress and Modern Dancing combine to make necessary the removal of objectionable hair."

According to the article the same thing happened to encourage women to shave their legs a few years before that. So apparently pre 1900 smooth shaved skin was not a sign of being feminine. That’s not the first time I heard that Harpers's Bazaar started the whole smooth skin thing for women. So what will change in the next 100 years ?

Just food for thought.

[kimdl93]

I think in modern society, we associate the abscence of hair with youth. That's true with both males and females. And I suspect that the ability to safely get rid of unwanted hair....and to appear more youthful...began with the introduction of safety razors. I can't document this, but I'd speculate the trend first caught on among the more affluent members of society. Not only did females begin to shave legs and armpits, but men soon began to abandon the 19th century burnsides and full facial hair. I suspect that fashion and the ability to shave interacted with each other...soon shorter skirts as well as sleevelesss tops became more common too.

[Beverley Sims]

Probably because, most men are hairy and women are not.:)

[tara t]

lol, sometimes the simplest answers are the best .

[Amy R Lynn]

I don't know that I would be attracted to a woman that had as much hair as me. Less hair is just more feminine.

[Lorileah]

Less hair is just more feminine.


Probably because, most men are hairy and women are not.:)

Except when they aren't. Certain ethnicities value body and even facial hair on a woman. When things like the above are said it shows just how ethnocentric we are. The converse is true also, some ethnic males have little or no body hair.


I think in modern society, we associate the abscence of hair with youth. That's true with both males and females. And I suspect that the ability to safely get rid of unwanted hair....and to appear more youthful...began with the introduction of safety razors. I can't document this, but I'd speculate the trend first caught on among the more affluent members of society. Not only did females begin to shave legs and armpits, but men soon began to abandon the 19th century burnsides and full facial hair. I suspect that fashion and the ability to shave interacted with each other...soon shorter skirts as well as sleevelesss tops became more common too.

This is more true, it is a youth associated thing. Men love younger women. The shaving legs became common in the 20's when Flapper dresses became the rage. (see also that Flapper dresses were strappy). Thinner nylon and silk stockings were also less likely to be ruined by hairless smooth legs and they cost a lot of money. Safety razors were getting popular (and they gave the razor away to sell more blades) and women just "stole" the man's razor. Like they never borrow anything else we own :) Hygiene was becoming more popular also so hairy body parts that held scent were decreased or removed. And the scent was replaced with floral scents or food scents on women. Now putting rouge on your knees has always puzzled me...why would you want to look like you have been kneeling....??

[GeminaRenee]

Probably because, most men are hairy and women are not.:)

But that's not exactly true. Women are hairless (these days) because they make themselves that way. The idea that hairlessness = femininity is a societal construct. I may have misinterpreted, but I believe that's what the OP was getting at: why do we associate hairlessness with being femme, even though we are not that way in nature.

Presently, I think it's because of our willingness to buy what we are being sold. We are convinced by larger entities that something is desirable. Of course, there are money-making benefits to be had by others because of this focusing of thought; think of all the money that we spend on products to remove hair, make it lighter, etc.

Interestingly, the idea of removal of bodily hair has come and gone. IIRC, the Egyptians and Roman aristocracy were also into smooth skin. Although, I also believe that both men and women in these times did remove bodily hair.

In the end, I suppose it boils down to a willingness on our part to buy into ideas about beauty that are legitimized by larger factions of society. I think it's part of human nature.

[cdlovesy]

I personally feel society has trained us to think males are hairy females not hairy. Honestly though any girlfriends I ever had I didn't care if they shaved anywhere and made sure they knew it. As long as its not stubble lol.

[Cheryl T]

All this reminds me of the old joke...PLEASE...no offense to anyone...
How can you tell the bride at an Italian wedding???

She's the one with the braided armpits...

It's just a joke folks...

[Avi]

Another tid bit about shaving. Most men began shaving their faces during WWI because of the gas masks used in the war. They needed to be clean shaven for the mask to seal. Alot of men continued the trend.

[sometimes_miss]

I think in modern society, we associate the abscence of hair with youth. <snip>
As Kim wrote, as women grow older, they usually get hairier. Men are attracted to young women for a reason; they're more fertile and more likely to be disease free, have the energey to keep up with a toddler, etc.. In effect, better able to raise healthy offspring. If you are attracted to 60 year old women, you're dna line will die out. Older women know this, so they do everything they can to appear to be in their late teens to early 20's; that means shaved limbs, dying any facial hair light, dying head hair to get rid of any gray. As far as shaving the pubes, that's simply become more popular as more guys are willing to give oral sex, we just don't like hair in our teeth.

[UNDERDRESSER]

I was comparing myself to my GF last night. I have recently started shaving my arms, to go along with the legs, underarms and belly that I already kept smooth. She shaves her legs, and underarms. While she trims her lower areas, she objects to, and won't, shave it all off there. I don't have a problem with that, and wouldn't ask it, I keep my lower areas neatly trimmmed, but again wouldn't shave it all.

So, she has hairy arms, but the hair is fine, and because she spends a fair bit of time outdoors, faily light coloured. It doesn't look unattractive to me. I shaved mine because i am exploring modifying my appearance, not "feminizing" exactly, but beautifying? My arm hair was heavy enough that I felt it detracted from that.

There are many reasons, and justifications, for shaving, this is mine.

For the record, she has no objections to my shaving experiments, and is fully accepting of my CD tendencies.

[KellyJameson]

I do not associate body hair with being feminine and I find hairy women to be very erotic.

I briefly dated a persian woman who had black hair that fell below her waist line and I asked her to stop getting waxed and let her hair grow out on her arms and legs and everywhere else.

She had a line of hair that went halfway up her spine and on the front well above her navel and I called her my little bear. She reminded me of "thing" from the Adams Family except she did not squeal and shake when she was standing in a upright position.

To bad she was a pathological liar which was surprising considering I met her when she was doing her doctoral work in psychology. Simply one of the most beautiful woman I have ever seen but so unstable that I tired of having to sleep with one eye open.

She asked me to give her a pearl necklace the first night we were together and I was confused because I thought she was asking for jewelry in exchange for sex and I got my feelings hurt that she did not love me for myself until she explained, I should listen to less classical music and more rock and roll.

[Abbygirl]

Kelly, THAT is funny as h*ll!!!
(I think hairless is more a youthful fem thing than just a fem thing.)

[Wildaboutheels]

We Humans are slowly but surely losing our body hair because we simply do not need it anymore.

Touch IS one of our senses. How many people would prefer to stroke someone's head rather than someone's skin? Where would most people prefer to be stroked? Smooth skin IS more sensitive and today there are more ways than ever to get it.

The trouble is most men worry incessantly about what EVERYONE ELSE will say or think if he has smooth skin anywhere beside his face. Skin is skin and is actually our largest organ.

Smooth skin simply FEELS better to most people. Nothing wrong with that. A man does not need to be hairy to be masculine to most "sharp" women.

[Frédérique]

According to the article the same thing happened to encourage women to shave their legs a few years before that. So apparently pre 1900 smooth shaved skin was not a sign of being feminine. That’s not the first time I heard that Harpers's Bazaar started the whole smooth skin thing for women. So what will change in the next 100 years ?

I imagine that before 1900 ALL shaving was accomplished by straight razors, or worse, so smooth skin for women was probably not a big deal. Also, they were covered in clothing from head to toe, thus encouraging (or enabling) males to use their imagination. Remember imagination? I once heard a 100 year-old man (on TV) say that, when he was young, seeing a girl’s ankle was a thrill! These days, I think females are obliged to show as much skin as possible, and shaving is a necessity, especially if the aim is to attract someone. Society demands it. What will change in 100 years? The trend towards hairlessness will continue, I assume, but I would like to see pubic hair make a triumphant comeback someday. Ah, the good old days...
:daydreaming: