Swedish girls think shorn body hair is 'natural'
Published: 20 Mar 12 10:02 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/39778/20120320/
Swedish girls believe that body hair makes them appear less female compared to when they have shaved, with youth centres receiving queries from girls about shaving as young as ten.
- Swedish feminists bare pits to 'reclaim the hair' (16 Mar 12)
- Swedish woman's hairy armpit hurrah goes viral (13 Mar 12)
“We see these problems all the time. To be smooth in the right places is seen as a ‘natural’ part of being a girl,” said Carin Göransson coordinator at the young women’s empowerment centre, Tjejjouren, to newspaper Metro.
The girls that contact the centre about hair are sometimes not even teenagers but as young as ten years old, according to Göransson.
“Sometimes they write to us and call themselves ‘apes’, saying that their hair disqualifies them from being girls," she told Metro.
There is a double standard in society where adults are shocked to hear that young girls shave their midriffs or arms, but don’t bat an eyelid if they shave their legs.
A heated media discussion regarding female body hair has recently kicked off in the country after the online community went into a tizzy over audience member Lena Ehrin’s hairy armpit exposed during a live television broadcast of the Melodifestivalen song contest finals.
Under the Twitter hashtag #hairriot, Swedes continue to have their say online about a topic which never seems to run out of public interest or of willing arm pit volunteers.
Göransson welcomes the debate that the hair exposure has caused, as she thinks it may make people more aware of the hidden norms of our society.
However, for those that don’t de-fuzz regularly, it might be detrimental to see all the net hate directed against Sweden’s now most famous non-shaver Ehrin.
“It also shows some of the absurdity. That we have decided it is OK to have hair in some places, but not all,” Göransson said to Metro.
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I shave my face everyday so as not to look like a hobo. It's a pain in the arse yes, but do I blame the opposite sex for making me do it? No.
These feminist are just bored (and redundant). Go to the middle east or Africa where perhaps the women could use your help.
Shave armpits, legs and nether regions = boyfriend
your choice!
This obsession with removing female body hair is absurd and is a relatively recent development. The effect is to make women increasingly uncomfortable with their bodies and is driven by commercial incentives - lets find a way of selling more pointless rubbish - from the people who bought you vaginal deoderants.
The relative smelliness and cleanliness of male and female changing rooms in Stockholm swimming pools quite clearly demonstrates that smell is a male problem - our children very much prefer the (lack of) smell in women's rooms, sadly I have to put up with the smell of my fellow men.
Women do look more feminine and attractive without the hair. I'm grateful to them for shaving.
Since women compete for high status males, they will naturally do what it takes to win.
Of course there are some alternate games out there. Women with braided armpits can win high-status hippies within the hippy status game.
"Of course there are some alternate games out there. Women with braided armpits can win high-status hippies within the hippy status game."
It's comments like this though that bother so many bagbuoy.
Why is that so many now expect women to be hairless from the neck down, covered in makeup and shoved into tight, uncomfortable clothing and heels everyday just to be worthy compete with men?
I know you said compete for and not compete with, but the same problems are involved in both. Women that are just trying to get "high status" males instead of competing with them or being an equally high status female probably agree with you though. Can't really imagine the Hollywoodfruar type or anyone that aspires to be one disagreeing with you.
I understand the need to look put together and professional in certain settings, but the question for many is why there's so much more expected of women.
Men are sometimes expected to have a clean-shaven face, but companies that require that are getting fewer by the year. Men don't have to wear makeup in order to be considered handsome and professional. They don't have to wear shoes that can and do damage you body in order to be professional. Why is that expected of women?
Teaching young girls that they're not pretty or worthy of love, a professional job, happiness etc. without hours of work is bad and damaging, especially since boys aren't taught the same.
Example: "That we have decided it is OK to have hair in some places, but not all".
There can't be many other countries where the choice as to whether to shave the armpit or not is something that "we" decide once and for all for everyone. Can there?
Just let people get on with their 70-90 short years of life and not agonize over how better everything would be on another planet if we make ourselves miserable trying to change everything.
Besides, I didn't say anything about make-up or uncomfortable shoes. That's your contribution, not mine.
Women do look more feminine and attractive without the body hair. And most people can't be bothered with marginal sourpuss activism that in Sweden gets raised to the level of state-sponsored preaching.
Can't we call a truce and name shaving as predominately activity/location/status related? If you belong to the superficial-urban-suburban-with-disposable-income tribe, shaving is most often a prerequisite for humping. Especially, if you're gonna wear a thigh-high dress. This scenario applies to men as well as women.
If you belong to the climb-a-mountain, sail-the-world, live-in-a-religious-or-secular´-commune, etc. tribe, it's not "gross" to skip shaving. Nor is it a prerequisite for humping. Until the last century or so, most humans belonged to this tribe.
Like it or not, we all descended from hairy humpers.
P.S. (wiki):
Chaetophobia is fear of hair. Sufferers' fear may be associated with human hair and/or animal hair. They fear people and/or animals with an excess amount of hair. They may also fear the hair on their own body. Some only fear detached or loose hair and do not mind attached hair. [And my favorite line...]This fear could be the result of a negative experience with hair and/or a hairy person.
Swedes are obviously transferring their fear of trolls to humans. Troll-sensitivity-training is needed to combat this social phobia, lest all in Sweden soon look like baby mice...
Hair does not smell. Our intrinsic odour comes from modified sweat glands - their activity is not reduced by shaving.
I like my men hairy and big and loud!
And any adult male with a healthy sex drive is not going to let a few tufts of hair get in his way.
At least one thing in which Swedish girl are right.
and I am sick about people who keep harassing middle-eastern and know nothing about them!
A feminine girl or a feminine woman, is a female being feminine from top to button. And they are beautiful to see and to enjoyr their company.
"If you belong to the superficial-urban-suburban-with-disposable-income tribe, shaving is most often a prerequisite for humping. Especially, if you're gonna wear a thigh-high dress. This scenario applies to men as well as women."
With you all the way there! Mah kilt's no exactly thigh-high, but ye needs to look smart at a' times.
So many jokes... so little time.
@Emerentia
Very sad and true. We need to educate our kids on how they should preceive their bodies. for instance, i consciously choose to not look at clothing chains bilboards at Slussen or T-Centralen anymore.
I am not a feminist and i think feminists should go to Africa and the Middle East if they really mean to work. But in sweden, they are just bored borgiose with too much money and no real work.
'This obsession with removing female body hair is absurd and is a relatively recent development.'
but then you go on to say
'The relative smelliness and cleanliness of male and female changing rooms in Stockholm swimming pools quite clearly demonstrates that smell is a male problem - our children very much prefer the (lack of) smell in women's rooms,'
so, even though females removing hair is absurd, male change rooms smell worse (because men are unshaven) than female change rooms (most females shave).
So from a female perspective, shaving, as absurd as females think it is, actually serves a purpose when it comes to hygiene and smell...