This has been on my mind recently and what better place to start a debate than on KR, with its widely divergent views on female body image.

I shaved my legs yesterday for the first time since maybe November, because I didn't feel confident wearing skirts outside the house without tights. I was quite sad to do so because I like the feel of hairy legs and my leg hair's pretty light-coloured anyway. Not shaving my legs wasn't a feminist point, but shaving them has become a feminist defeat. I gave up initially because I'm lazy and poor, and felt it was a waste of time, effort and money. But I have a healthy sense of absurdity, and it soon dawned on me that getting rid of leg hair was a pretty silly thing to be doing.

I asked my housemates what they thought in general about this. My anti-woman housemate expressed that he thought leg hair on women was disgusting, but couldn't seem to give a reason for it other than that he once saw a woman with leg hair longer than his. Perhaps it compromised his sense of masculinity, associated in his mind with hair? Perhaps it threatened his image of women as reducible to 'girls'; hairless, vulnerable creatures. He's a bit of a dick, but always good when you're angry and thirsting for an argument since his views are almost invariably the opposite of mine. My female housemates had more disparate views. One of them hasn't shaved her armpits for weeks because she's been busy revising and hasn't seen her boyfriend since then. Basically, the lazy reason. The other said it didn't really matter if the hair was light. The third is the female stereotype embodied, so was naturally of the persuasion that hair is the enemy and must be obliterated.

What do you all think? This is particularly about legs, but by all means extend your discussion to other types of hair. I remember two schoolfriends who shaved their arms, which always seemed crazy to me. I'm ridiculously light-skinned with blonde arm hair so perhaps I can't understand the pressure in the same way, but I thought arm hair wasn't quite so bad as to turn you into a social pariah. These girls did it from when they were 10-11 (they weren't Asian or any sort of ethnic origin; I think girls of those communities are more inclined to get rid of arm hair). So, let me know what you think. I'd be interested to know the KR consensus, or just some KR views.

Body hair...That was a major issue for me when I was younger. When I was 14 I developed hair on my stomach and thought I was a monster and I proceeded to remove it and to this day (I am 26) I still do. I remove hair all the time..from legs to bikini line. I dont touch my arms because I know that once you start removin hair you cannot stop. i have fixation on my body hair as I developed hair all over - from my face to my back...it annoyed me so much and made me so depressed, I would sit infront of the mirror and see how awful it was. I once removed hair from my upper lip with cream and its my biggest regret. I went to my doctor to see if anything hormonal was wrong and she disagreed..she said my body hair was fine and I should leave it.

I personally remove hair from my legs, armpits, bikini line and stomach because I prefer not to have it and I would be humiliated if anyone saw I had a hairy stomach. I dont think it really matters if a woman is hairy...up to them really...

p.s. Im too lazy to shave my legs all the time...I only do when needed..

bikini line waxing hurts like a bitch and ingrown hairs are far worse then having hair!

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I am the hate you try to hide and I control you - Mr Self-Destruct.

I have naturally thick almost black hair so it is very noticeable. I sort of wonder about the idea that it's more acceptable to leave it if you have light hair - I mean it's either okay for everyone to be hairy or it isn't?

I used to shave my arms but I just bleach them now, when I can be bothered, I just think it looks nicer light; it makes my arms look a nice golden colour. I think completely shaved arms look a bit silly. But if I don't have much time, I leave it because I don't feel that self-conscious about my arms. It's odd because I know it's only because arms aren't traditionally a place women are expected to be hairless.

I mean I feel physically cleaner and more comfortable with no hair on my armpits/bikini line. So even if there was no convention that you should, I would still not like to have hair in those places. But I've seen pictures of attractive women with hairy armpits and/or vag and I thought it looked quite sexy?

I leave my thighs sometimes, because the hair is pretty thin there, but I don't like the look of thick leg hair at all. I don't like it when men are very hairy though.

It's pretty hard, getting rid of those conventions; even though there's no logical reason for them. I mean thinking logically about it, it should all be about what makes you comfortable; but then women aren't mostly comfortable with body hair. And that's probably mostly due to the convention that you should remove it. So can we ever really say we're removing hair by our own choice, if everyone else does it because to do otherwise would make them feel self-conscious too? :S

I am partially mediterranean but i don't have much hair thankfully to my mothers genes and any hair i do have i remove it.I think because my dad has a massive amount of hair especially on his back it makes me a tiny bit sick. Hair on others is okay in moderation,if well groomed and it's not a beard like the one that my friend has decided to grow because it makes her queerer.Wrong just wrong!

There are more aesthetically pleasing ways to make a statement about your savvy & individualistic counter-culturalism than going au naturel. Having excessive body hair does not make you an earth goddess; it just makes you a sasquatch.