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Originally Posted by boo boo
That is guilt tripping them, if a woman shaves her legs like many here do you're holding them responsible for the low self esteem of others. This is just unfair, that's like telling me I have to shave my head because it makes guys with alopecia or male patern baldness feel bad and that's just stupid.
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I agree with you that trying to show the positives of the behavior that is considered unusual (a woman shaving her head, or a woman *not* shaving her body) is preferable to focusing on the problem caused by people perpetuating a norm, boo boo.
However, I view describing how and why norms are created as informing people rather than guilt-tripping them. It is talking about the reality of a situation. For example, every time Tyra Banks gives bald women wigs or make-up, she is perpetuating the idea that women need those to be beautiful, and that being beautiful is important. Without acknowledging the effects of her actions, we don't see the full picture of why most women want long hair.
With the leg hair issue, the fact is people made women feel their own body hair was superfluous or ugly, so they shaved it off to feel attractive, and now women perpetuate the norm by almost always shaving. Pointing out that this is how the norm was created and sustained may help people realize reasons they might wish to question the norm. Long head hair and shaved legs/underarms for women are so common that people may not even think of themselves as having a choice because they never questioned those societal habits, so challenging assumptions about what makes someone a "woman" is good, I feel. At least people are then thinking about this issue.
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I was joking sheesh, I know you wouldn't be into that.
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I knew you were joking! I just decided to answer seriously.
So, boo boo and perhaps baldy, here's a shaved-head question for you both: How do you think your fetishes would be affected if the norm for women was to be bald? Do you think your fetishes would have even developed? Do you think you might have ended up with a fetish for the few women with long, luxurious, silky head hair, since that would be unusual and would mean the woman gloried in the sensuality of her hair and was brave enough to defy society and think for herself? Or, do you feel there is something intrinsic about women's bald heads that appeals to you?