Happy Shave your Legs Day

Today was the first day in, well, forever, that it was warm enough for shorts. I also had friends visiting for the day (yay!) and a full day of caching and nature watching planned, so I decided it was "time" to shave the winter coat.

As a feminist hippie, I'm just fine with not shaving. But as someone who is too sensitive for their own good (on many fronts), I've learned that the obnoxious comments about my hairy pits is just more than I want to deal with. So, as a nifty compromise, I don't bother with shaving from September until spring. It's my personal "win-win," because I am just that easy to please.

Now none of this matters at all in the grand scheme of life, so I continue to be amazed by people's reactions to the way other people, and women people in particular, choose to conduct their personal grooming. One year I tried to go the summer without shaving, but the looks and the comments I received were just unbelievable, and ranged from staring to the occasional sneered "Must be a dyke." Seriously? Are we still stuck there?

The other male-female dynamic that I find interesting is that people (friends) always want to know how my partner feels about the hairy (pits in particular). It's like "Well, YOU may be ok with not shaving, but what does your man have to say about it?" as though my feelings on the matter aren't enough to justify my decisions. This always makes me chuckle, because I can say with 100% certainty that if I were involved with someone who flat-out could not handle some hair, he could flat-out take a hike. I can also say that while I have been involved with more than one macho type, NONE of them have ever bailed over the hair (which just goes to show that guys will say what they think their idiot friends want to hear, but they tend to be smart enough to know which side their bread is buttered on).

Naturally, my hippie husband couldn't care less about the state of my body hair - though he is plugged in enough to notice. When I was changing my shirt this evening he said, "Hey, what did you do with my wife?"

Happy spring to one and all!