texasfeminista

I have tweezed, plucked, trimmed, and stroked myself with a razor. I have fought an unwinnable war, again and again, with the hair on my body. But for the first time this summer I asked myself the big question: “Why do I shave? Is it really a personal choice or a post-puberty expectation?”

It started out with a trip to the doctor’s office. I had some random pesky bumps on my leg that had multiplied due to shaving (warts are disgusting). The doctor gave me one order upon leaving, “Don’t shave your legs for a few months!” I was immediately upset. I had been shaving my legs since I was 13. It is the puberty rite of passage in the Western world, transitioning girls from young ladies into womanhood. For eight years I had been shaving my legs and my armpits, but it was not until I was forced to stop when I really, really thought about my reasoning for shaving and do some research on the history of shaving.

First and foremost body modification has been around since the beginning of humankind. Shaving practices have faded in and out throughout history. But it was not until the early 1900s that a hairless body expectation was created for women.