Women and No Shave November: Stop Body Policing

While I am not a political feminist I simply have to stand up on my social feminist soapbox for a minute and talk about something that is close to my heart; and that is the oppressive body policing done by an outrageous amount of people in our society.

For those of you not aware, "No Shave November" is a month where participants (both male and female) elect not to shave for a variety of reasons. Some to raise awareness for prostate cancer, some simply because they do not want to shave, and others, mainly women, because they refuse to let oppressive beauty standards dictate how they live their lives.

Here is a very small fraction of the oppressive, body policing tweets from this month. I only uploaded the ones that I thought were the least offensive, but trust me when I say there are more that got really nasty.

Who do these people and the thousands of other body image fascists think they are? They have no right to dictate whether or not women have body hair or not. If you are a man, and you don't like women with body hair, then don't date one. It's simple. You don't need to go posting sexist Tweets or Facebook updates telling women what to do with their bodies. Most of the women who do not like beards or body hair on a man simply would not date a man with that type of hair, instead of posting Tweets calling the men with body/facial hair nasty or pressuring them to shave.

I'm especially disappointed by the amount of females that have posted on various sites calling the women who are electing not to shave nasty, saying they shouldn't be participating this month, or saying they aren't real women because of their choice not to shave (last time I checked, you're still a woman even if your legs and armpits are fuzzy). To the women saying these things: how dare you? You should appreciate the fact that you live in a country where women get to choose whether or not they want to shave their body hair, as opposed to trying to oppress your own gender.

I have seen one very brave man create "Full Shave November" to personally understand and raise awareness about what women have to go through every day of their lives because of oppressive beauty standards created by the men in our society. Don't believe me? Here is a picture of him showing off his shaved armpits.

He posted this picture as well as others on his Tumblr blog and in the post I am referring to he states:

"HOW DO YOU DO THIS????

I was in the shower shaving for like… 45 minutes, and I STILL had to forgo shaving one of my legs because I was concerned I was running late for lunch...

I also ruined my razor, because I didn't think to trim any of my hair first...

There’s so much of it. I had no idea I had that much hair on me."

Despite the fact that it was his first time shaving and the first time sucks even for women, he is pointing out a sobering reality. Just think ladies, how many hours and how much money have you spent shaving/waxing your body hair in your lifetime? And why do you shave in the first place? Because society tells you to or because you just don't like having body hair?

Personally, I am not participating in No Shave November, but all the men and women who do have my full support. I personally don't like having body hair, but I could not care less if people feel or behave the same way I do or not. This applies for all months of the year, not just November. Ladies and Gentlemen, life is too short to let other people make you conform to their fascist beauty standards. Don't let society dictate how you feel about yourself, what you see as beautiful, or pressure you into fitting into it's mold.

Your body is just that, YOUR BODY. It is not society's. You can shave or not shave because it is your body, and your choice.