Why Do (Some) Women Shave?

That picture just grosses me out!

5/5...finally a quiz I can master, can't get those celebrity ones at all.

Hey, Tres. I realize you're focusing on American culture in this quiz, but I'm wondering if you've looked into other cultures. In many cultures body hair removal has been very important for a long time, to include removing pubic hair...I wonder if we're just playing catch up?

I think when women started to have to wear pantyhose (damn the man who invented that!), they started to shave. There is nothing more irritable than women having to wear pantyhose with leg hair - it itches terribly!

Yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuukkk!!

I don't think hair removal habits have anything to do with enlightenment

Too lazy to log in on campus. I'd just like to say that I started shaving my legs before I knew women shaved their legs I just thought I was strange and hairy.

I don't shave during the winter since no one will see me, but if I'm going to show leg (and definitely at an awards show), I definitely will pick up a razor.

This is gross. Mo'Nique knew she was going to this event and the paps where going to photograph every inch of her. Anything to get more attention I guess. She won the darn award so why not stop there and continue to look classy.

That photo is not showing a classy woman in my opinion.

Oh my lord I am so grossed out. She looks like a Yeti. Don't shave if you don't want to, but for the love of god keep your dang dress down.

Why does she have to shave just because she's not wearing a long dress? The people on this site are ridiculous. I don't get America's fascination with women being hairless? Why is leg hair on a man fine but gross on a woman? Should men who wear shorts shave their legs too.

I shave because that my choice, its Mo's not to shave, I don't have a problem with it and I don't find it gross.

Whoa, is that photo for real? Could it be photoshopped??

Well, it's fine that Monique wants to show America what HER real legs look like. That's her prerogative. Personally speaking, my real (non-shaved) legs don't look like that because genetically I have less hair on my legs. Not all females have hairy legs like that.

Oh fiddle sticks I missed the last one. I put the 70's, lol

Well good for Monique it's not like she's trying to impress single men. If the love of her life has no problem with it and allows her to feel comfortable in her own skin I say rock on.

I dont shave as much as I should. Maybe like once a week. Unless I know something is gonna go down. lol.

I feel gross if I don't shave and it only takes like two minutes, so I don't see what the big deal is. I'm glad I wasn't born a guy. Hair legs are icky.

Mo'Nique, I love you, but that sh*t's nasty.

In the winter, I will admit, I'm not shaving every day. It's more like every few weeks. I'm too lazy to wake up early enough to have time to do it. But here's the catch - I'm wearing pants and my hair's blond.

Now summertime, when I'm in shorts and dresses, I'm shaving daily.

Mo'Nique!!!! Why??????
Studio 16 ur so correct. ^5

Can you say brain washed? Anyone saying "eww" or "gross" to this is. Women have leg hair. The end. It is not gross at all and there is no reason we have to shave it all off. For the people who think she is extra hairy, she is not. I have more hair on my legs than that and I don't think I'm extra hairy. It's fine if you want to shave too - but do it because you like it not because you feel you have to. I for one always shave if I'm wearing strappy heels as I think it looks better with the shoes to have smooth legs, but I'm certainly not passing judgment on anyone else's choices. As far as having hairy legs and wearing pantyhoes, it's actually not uncomfortable at all. I do it all the time and it has never felt weird in any stage of hair growth (from stubble to fully grown in). There are some cultures that consider it quite sexy to see a woman's leg hair smooshed under pantyhoes. Total turn on like cleavage. So learn a lesson from this survey and realize that this "fad" of women removing hair has only been around for a little while and that you do have a choice.

I have to say as a man I really hate having to shave my face every day. The longest I can go is every other day. I'd love to do the whole five o'clock shadow thing but for some reason the skin on my cheeks breaks out if I don't keep it clean.

When I was a child and my mom would make me wear tights and pantyhose all the time - it itched. I had pretty hairy legs (even if it was white blonde) and it used to find a way to poke through the hose and would pull and pinch. Sorry, but for me it itched like hell. I wasn't able to wear tights or pantyhose comfortably until after I started shaving my legs.

Exactly what Anon17 said (I'd never heard of the pantyhose thing though, ouch!)

I grew up in a country where women don't shave their legs Some women have thicker hair on their legs some have finer hair. And no one fussed over it. Although the only thing I heard in passing was if you have thicker hair, you're usually more sexual/sensual

I didn't realize that shaving culture until I started living here in US. My friend taught me how to shave my legs LOL, and once I started, I just..didn't stop. Some of my friends from my old country who live here still don't shave their legs, btw.

So when I saw Mo'nique didn't shave and proudly showed her legs, I don't find it gross. It's something very natural that I'm so accustomed with.

Gross.

If you're going to be in public posing in front of numerous cameras, then shave your darn legs OR don't show them. You know good and well that it will disgust people when you surprise them with your thick hairy legs.

I just think she totally forgot to shave so instead she's acting like it was on purpose !

Why did she bother putting on fake eye lashes, makeup and a frilly dress is she wants to show what natural is. She went all out to look nice for the awards so why this?

lol. it cracks me up how not constantly removing a natural occuring part of your body, that has nothing to do with hygiene, is automatically disgusting. I shave becuase I like the smooth feeling, but i cant imagine this sort of mind frame.

double standard. i know men who shaves their legs and no one cares.

You bunch of liars. Admit it...you don't shave your legs because its more 'comfortable'; you do it so that you're not the only woman walking down the street in a mini skirt looking like a St. Bernard.

We're all a slave to our Western ideal of beauty, and hair on woman is simply seen as unacceptable, regardless of what individuals think. I hate shaving because for me, it doesn't take 2 minutes to do...it takes a long time, ends up being expensive, and just reminds me of how gross my body is. However, if I want to feel 'normal' in my culture its what I have to do.

As long as we glamorize women like the ones that tread the red carpet, and as long as they all have shaved bodies, we will ALL be doing it.

Every culture has beauty standards and grooming rituals. People freaking out about American women being expected to shave their legs need to just accept that that's what we do here. It's relatively harmless and men are expected to shave their faces or keep their beards well groomed in pretty much any professional context. It's not like it is some weird self-mutilation. It is just hair removal! It's the societal standard for appearing presentable. Not all standards are evil.

This woman was at a professional event and should have been groomed accordingly. It's like when Julia Roberts "forgot" to shave her arm pits one year. I get the impression that it is just for attention. No one is putting on a couture gown and jewels valued at thousands of dollars, about to walk in front of millions of people, and is "forgetting" one of the basic female grooming rituals in this country.

Wow, I got 100% first time!

The only hair on my body is on my head! I don't feel pressured to shave, I do it for me and it's totally what I choose to do. For me it feels cleaner and more hygienic.

Although not particularly hairy anyway, shaving is part of my daily shower routine. Tip; use hair conditioner for a smooth burn free shave.

Most men shave there faces without comment so I don't understand why women shaving should attract negative comments.

5/5, I am a shaving genius.
Funny how grooming rituals evolve. What if our culture decided eyebrows were gross, and armpit hair was good?

I'm not going to act like I'm so above the beauty standards, because I shave too. But I understand it enough to know that deep down the whole thing is pretty much crazy.

Janneth is right... one day we'll all admire something different and idealize something different.

"What if our culture decided eyebrows were gross, and armpit hair was good?" We would smell more.

I shave my legs every day, regardless of the season or if I'll be wearing a skirt or shorts that day. And it's not because I'm brainwashed or "a slave to our Western ideal of beauty." I do it because if I don't, my legs feel itchy and dry. Shaving exfoliates my legs and keeps my sensitive skin happy.

5/5

She can do what she wants. Ah, I see the Western ideal of beauty keeps on truckin'. While I shave my legs, I am not a slave to doing so. I give myself breaks.

Suziryder; my sentiments exactly.

i find hair 2 be nasty but i dont care about that woman's picture. none of u have ever met her (and most likely never will..) its not like shes forcing u to rub her legs or lick them or osmething

i mean u see dying ppl on the news, there r pictures animals being killed everywhere on the internet and this is what ur all in a riot over? u ppl make me sick

That picture is shocking, and it makes me realize how brainwashed I am too. I hate the fact that women have to be bald to be considered beautiful - it is completely excessive in the US! Now a woman can't have hair on her legs, her arms, her upper lip, her hoo-hah....nowhere!! Why do we have to spend so much time and effort, usually accompanied by pain and discomfort, to meet someone's ideal of femeninity?

born and continue to live in the U.S. - don't shave my legs. don't care what y'all who think it's gross think...they're not your legs, they're mine.

This makes me so angry. I hate, hate, hate shaving and in the last year developed the courage to stop. I wear short dresses and frankly I (generally) don't care but shaving leg hair is a far different ball game then facial hair because men unlike woman, can choose not to shave and not be considered disgusting. Femininity does not require hairlessness, and one can still like jewelry, nice clothes, and being a lady with out shaving. If you don't want me to judge your shaving as a cultural concession to unrealistic standard of feminine beauty don't call me a yeti. Thank you Monique!

It's hair. Get over it. Men have it on their legs. Is it gross? No, it's soft. So why is it gross on a woman? Me? I wax I feel like it, otherwise I don't care and neither does my partner. I'd rather spend that time every day flossing my teeth. Clean mouth > razor burned legs.

Shaving is annoying, but i do it for my b/f. He would be completely turned off if I was hairy.

4/5 so close... I have shaving so I wax it off myself

The only hair on my body is on my head and I would have to say I shave for myself. I just think its sexier, feels more sensual and I feel cleaner. My husband likes me shaved to, but I did before I even met him. On him though I like some hair, well groomed everywhere but still I want some hair.

I personally shave because I just feel better when I do. I feel cleaner and I like having smooth legs. I don't neccessarily shave every single day, but I could never let my leg hair get as long as Mo'Nique's. However, no one has the right to judge whether or not someone chooses to shave. To each their own.

there is a huge difference between men choosing to shave or not to and women; -that women no choice but to conform, or face ostracism. if women do not conform to the ' social standard' they are shamed, and it is this humiliation that women are specifically subjected to that shows the extents not only of the gender opression of women, but also to society's blindness towards our collective brainwashing.

i am appalled at people who posted comments such as 'ewww', 'gross', coming from females, it only uncovers womens feelings of disgust with their natural bodies. and as for those making statements alluding shaving to hygiene, why dont you all shave your heads as well to be more hygenic? (the ancient egyptians did) oh, and i suppose that all men are 'unhygenic' if they dont shave their legs, arms, chest etc. etc.

to be able to make such a bold statement which has evoked the intense responses of so many people, to have the confidence and courage to do so is nothing but an act of class

mo'nique, we salute you.

I'm from Canada and have been shaving since I was a teen, but I agree with nevaeh1978 ... like her my family is not north american and most women dont shave and most women dont wear lots of make-up. For them being natural, in a warm climate is normal and sexy

That being said, I still find hairy legs kinda gross