Shaving.
It's something every woman does, isn't it? Or rather, it's something that every woman is supposed to do: something that society has dictated should be a part of our everyday lives, something that we should be doing subconsciously because otherwise, we are disgusting, unhygienic, unsanitary beings.
Do you know what percentage of women really shave? 80%.
Now, do you know what percentage of men shave? It's 50%. Wow.
So why is that? Why is it that whilst eighty per cent of women shave - whether by choice or by societal pressures, I don't know - only 50% of men shave?
Before I get into that, I would like to share with you the origins of shaving and how the idea of female bodily hair was unhygienic and dirty despite it literally growing there. Basically, in the early 20th Century, not only was women having body hair considered normal, it made the newspapers if a woman was to shave her legs... rather than nowadays when articles and Instagram posts and stories can be based on and will shame when women don't shave. Back in the earlier decades of the 20th Century, women simply didn't care for whether or not they shaved, and neither did society apparently, because their clothing was so concealing that it was rare to see bare legs or arms. However, in 1915, advertisers for Harper's Bazaar began to talk about underarm hair and how it was important for women to shave it if they wanted to feel unembarrassed when wearing the current fashion of sleeveless dresses.
As well as this, razors began to get into the trend of convincing women to shave, and they did so simply because they needed to sell more of their product. As shorter skirts came into fashion, it meant that legs were more visible and so these companies began to tell women how they would feel more confident if they were to start shaving and they would feel less self-conscious if they were to use their products. So really, we can trace the origins of shaving to the beauty industry rather than to any scientific facts... to which there are none that claim of women's hair being unsanitary. Because it isn't! Growing hair is perfectly healthy, it is perfectly normal and it is something that every human does, every mammal does, and it is nothing to be ashamed of no matter how hard the beauty industry and society tries to do so.
I can remember when I first noticed my body hair. I was eleven or twelve and it mortified me even though I didn't know why, and I was too scared to ask my mum to buy me a razor so that I could get rid of it, so I left it for a year (not after being a stupid eleven years old and trying to scrub it off with one of those scratchy ball things in the shower... it didn't work and my legs turned bright red). I eventually plucked up the 'courage' to ask my mum when I was nearly thirteen and I convinced her that I was embarrassed, that everyone was doing it, that I felt self-conscious of the hair on my legs because even though it was winter, we had to wear skorts and there was no hope in me hiding it. All I knew was that I was adamant of getting rid of it, even though I wasn't quite sure why.
Why was I so self-conscious? What had caused me to be so embarrassed and mortified by the idea that someone, anyone, could realise that I grow hair like any human being?
I did some research and most girls start shaving when they hit puberty, which for some can be as young as eight or nine. Imagine! You're eight years old and you're already affected so much by society and the patriarchal views of 'disgusting body hair' that you feel the need to shave your legs. This saddens me so much because we go on and on about how social media is ruining children's lives and how we need to stop being so negative... and yet many people's immediate reaction to seeing body hair on a female is to be disgusted by it.
Some women choose to shave because it makes them feel more confident. Some women choose to shave because they feel sexier or more feminine. Everyone shaves for a reason and whether or not that reason is directly linked to someone telling them that they need to shave, it all comes back to the patriarchal society and the fact that 20th Century companies began the targeting on women and their natural, beautiful body hair.
We need to start normalising body hair existing on females. We need to start normalising the idea that it isn't disgusting and nor is it unsanitary or unhygienic, it is simply normal. If we as a society don't do this now - and yet continue to preach about self-love and being kind to others, all while criticising their natural body - then this will only continue to be a problem that is downgrading to females as young as pre-teens.
I'm not saying don't shave, because that is a choice of yours and it's a choice that 80% of females and 50% of males choose to do, and I can't dictate your lives for you... otherwise, I am simply as bad as those companies because I'm trying to change the way you do things simply because I 'want' to (I don't, by the way... it's just an explanation). You do you. Be your beautiful self.
Remember: you're beautiful whether you choose to or not to shave. You're gorgeous the way you are, don't ever forget it, please.