HANNA NEUMANN
Special to The Leader
‘Tis the season.
It is the time of the year when large outcry about shaving occurs — when men are praised to grow these rugged, manly beards and mustaches and toss their shaving tools in the garbage. It is also when women are encouraged not to participate; to keep their razors held tight, from a large amount of people who deem it to be disgusting and unnatural for women not to shave.
Go on any social media and trend the discussions on No Shave November, and you will be swarmed with heated discussions and opinions on the topic of this when it comes to women participating. However, you will also find a HUGE support group for men who participate; this support emphasizes manliness and sexiness.
For those of you who may not know, No Shave November is actually a charity, a unique way to raise cancer awareness. According to the No Shave November main website, participants should have the goal to “grow awareness by embracing our hair, which many cancer patients lose, and letting it grow wild and free. Donate the money you usually spend on shaving and grooming for a month to educate about cancer prevention, save lives and aid those fighting the battle.” This seems to be lost often because of the intense focus on who is partaking and why they should or should not partake.
As a woman who participates in No Shave November (and, let’s be real, mostly no shave ever), I, among many others, get a lot of hate for this. Even just on Nov. 1, while talking to people about it, I mentioned that I participate and I got not only dirty, disgusted looks, but responses like, “That is disgusting,” “How can you do that? That is not okay for a girl to do,” and “Ew, good luck getting any with all that hair.” I was in awe of the quick and negative response that I received.
Why is this a taboo for women? What does it derive from? These are questions that are necessary to address because this is a problem.
I want to address just three questions, these questions deriving from the responses that I faced when revealing my participation in not shaving. I will be answering these questions with my opinion in tact.
1.) How is body hair disgusting?
Body hair is natural. EVERYONE grows it. It is fun to play with when you’re bored. You don’t get rashes from shaving. If it were disgusting and dirty, why would our body naturally have it and not stop producing it? Seriously though, if you think body hair is disgusting, I challenge you to really sit down and reevaluate why you deem this to be true and logically think it through.
2.) Why is it not okay for a woman to partake?
This is such an important question. From my take of the issue, I believe that this is absolutely an ideology that is derived from socialization. We are socialized to believe that men and women need to act and perform in a certain role. This role obviously includes what is ‘appropriate’ to do for different genders when it comes to shaving and body hair. If someone deviates from this expected gender role, which is occurring when women partake in not shaving, then this is considered a contradiction and in most cases includes some sort of negative reactions. We can all observe that this is what is happening. It is the perfect example of the fact that how we think is incredibly impacted by socialization and our culture. I challenge you to look at your opinion on this issue and see if it correlates with this socialized gender norm.
3.) Do people really get turned away from “getting any” because they do not shave?
I’m sorry, but I find it very hard to believe that if someone was really into another person and they consented to become intimate with this person that if one of them, in this case a woman, was unshaven then they would refuse to continue. I feel like this response is honestly all talk. I’m sure that it does happen, but really? You’re really going to tell someone that EVERYBODY will not be into you if you do not shave? How do you speak for entire groups of people? I know many people who love body hair and fully accept it. I also do know many people who do not. It is personal preference, but you can’t invade someone’s life by telling them what to do with their body and if they don’t then tell them how it will negatively affect them.
The point of this is not to tell people that they shouldn’t shave and, if they do shave, that it is wrong. That is not the point at all. The point is that, for some reason, people feel the need to tell others what to do with their bodies — and that is not okay. We are all entitled to do whatever need be to our bodies and, in this case, shaving or growing out that bush. You do you. Always do you. But don’t feel entitled or that you have the authority to tell others what they can or cannot do with their own body.
So, I will leave you all with this. All you men growing those sexy man beards: good luck to you! Enjoy that scruff. Embrace it. To all you women who are growing out your hair — more power to you; it is very hard to do in a society that looks down on you for doing so. But regardless, embrace that fuzz, work that bush because lady hair is sexy too! And to all of those who are not participating, prepare yourself for some awesome hair growing entertainment.