Science

Weekend Quickies 8.17

Amanda

Amanda works in healthcare, is a loudmouthed feminist, and proud supporter of the Oxford comma.

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8 Comments

  1. The turning little girls into hairless sex objects link overshadows the totally awesome Lego Robot of Doom.

    I knew the robot revolution was coming… smart of them to trick us by sneaking in through toys. Hopefully they’ll take over before “waxing children will be like taking them to the dentist or putting braces on their teeth.”

  2. Yeah, the waxing thing is creepy. Amanda, I’m not sure if turning girls into sex objects is the point, if there is a point; maybe it’s to make them more sexless.

    I know I’m in the minority on this, but I find natural body hair on women sexy. I have a half-baked theory that the modern fashion of women shaving legs and armpits makes pedophilia more likely, by removing one of the natural differences that separates women from girls. Yes, I’ve noticed that there are other differences, but removing one may make it a little more likely for a guy who’s a few cards short of a full deck to cross the line.

  3. “I know I’m in the minority on this, but I find natural body hair on women sexy.”
    Yup, me too.
    As far as crackpot theories on women and this weird thing about removing body hair, I blame Barbie (yes, the doll).

  4. jwwalker, I believe that theory was brought up in a recent episode of Penn and Teller’s BS. While it’s arguable, I wouldn’t go crazy with it.

    That being said, six is way too young to be that obsessed with hair. At that age a girl could have a mustache and her classmates would probably think it’s cool. Especially a handlebar mustache.

  5. Well, it’s possible that the hair-removal thing isn’t sexual. I doubt that the girls are thinking about how sexy their becoming. My guess is that it’s their moms who are into it a lot more than they are. By the time they think about removing hair to be sexy, they’ll already be so used to it, just like their moms already are.

    I have mixed feelings on the topic. As a hairy man who voluntarily goes unshaven most of the time, I’ve accepted the fact that I’m a mammal, yet I tend to think women look better shaven. I don’t think we should shame or pressure people into going one way or the other. If it doesn’t seem weird to cut your hair or shave your face, it should be acceptable for us all to shave or not shave any other part of our body as we see fit.

    Having said all that, little girls waxing is at worst yet another case of over-sexualizing girls, or at best out-of-control upper-class suburban culture.

  6. Hmmmm…could cleanliness be the drive, rather than sexuality? Or rather, an over emphasis on what is perceived as being clean? Not knocking folks that don’t depilate, just saying there’s a social perception in which less hair = more clean.

    Of course, even if the above were true, it could be a cleanliness drive that’s a back-door to sexuality, in that more clean = more sexy….?

    I shave my pits and take a beard trimmer to my hairy bits just because I feel cleaner when I do it…I’d do my legs and the rest of me, too, if I could find a reliable way to do it that didn’t take an hour every morning.

    Then again, I could simply be weird. :)

  7. Yes, you could be weird :P

    I also think there is a perception that hairiness = uncleanliness. I have to fight this perception, doubly so due to my dreadlocks (which, by the way, are clean, and don’t stink).

    Mostly, I think it’s just a fad. People also associate skinniness with healthiness to a degree that’s gone too far. People today think that skinny is sexy, even when it’s gone too far to be entirely healthy. Clearly our perceptions, even when they’re based in reality, can be manipulated.

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