Quote:
Originally Posted by tore
Women with more testosterone have more body hair and are also less fertile (which is directly fitness related) so there may perfectly well be biological grounds for a "less hair" preference in women. From that, you could also reason that the same hairless body preference would generally not apply to men.
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Yet most women in the U.S. shave their legs and underarms, showing that the majority of female humans *do* have quite a bit of hair. If body hair is so prevalent as to be removed by huge percentages of women in certain cultures...and that only in recent human history and sporadically among humankind...I question whether there is any deep innate drive among people to want women with less or no body hair.
If visible, robust body hair were such an important trait to negate, wouldn't sexual selection have rid women of it long ago?
The fact that so many women have (we assume) a good growth of hair (otherwise they wouldn't feel the "need" to remove it) suggests to me that very little sexual selection pressure against women with body hair has existed over evolutionary time.
For example, I doubt that all *my* ancestors were genetic freaks and misfits!
I'm here, after all, so apparently their hair didn't prevent my female ancestors from having sexual relations and successful pair bonding that helped them raise the resulting children.
I don't think people cared overly much about how much hair females had on their legs and underarms for most of human history. Maturation of body hair actually is a sign of sexual maturity, and persumably served that purpose as a sexual cue.
I think you are underestimating the ability of culture to shape people's desires, Tore. After all, remember this: men with long hair, shaved faces, tights, and high heels were also once the norm.
Are you going to argue that there is an innate desire among women to have men without beards? Or men with long hair? Or men with sleek legs and a coquettish turn of toe?
Or is a preference for shaved women and shaved men perhaps more reflective of
an innate desire to be with people who fit some cultural norm and excel at it?
I think many people do have a huge innate desire to "belong" and "be the same as" others in the group of which they perceive themselves to be a part. They also like mates who do things to please them. I suspect removing body hair is more a manifestation of those human drives rather than a result of strong, innate dislike of body hair.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Aurora
I don't think I could grow my armpit hair out. It'd weird me out and no iffense to those who do, I'd feel dirty.
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That feeling is probably a result of your social programming, K. How many women do you know besides me who don't remove their underarm and leg hair? I am curious how common the practice is among the Scots.
When I was a teenager, I once wore long socks in a hot tub during a class skiing trip in Colorado, because I was ashamed of how my body looked and I didn't want my classmates to know I didn't shave. They asked why I was wearing long socks, and I lied, saying it was because I didn't want to get foot fungus from the tub.
So I understand the "dirty" feeling.
But there's no need to put yourself through those emotions. There's nothing inherently dirty about your body.