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[debodacious]

The kitchen is now clean and I will not be scrubbing anything for the foreseeable future, I very much hope. The bad news is the earwig and the valley girl are going back to England tomorrow and I miss them so badly when they are away. I am trying to think of it as not so much losing my daughters as regaining the computer, but it's so quiet when

Comments

[slemslempike]

I shave. Much less now than when I was younger, and I would have been very pissed off if anyone had told me I had to (and I removed less hair with less frequency when I had a boyfriend), but I did. I never thought that hairy women were gross though, and now I shave my armpits every few weeks, and my legs haven't seen a blade in around six months. Might whip the razor out in the summer though, as if I wear a skirt to work I think it's better to have shaved legs.

[cangetmad]

I concur, ish. I don't often shave (never in winter), but sometimes I do it as part of femming-up for an occasion, or just sometimes for bare-legs-in-skirts. But then, for me as a dyke who spends a lot of time in the queer community, my being femme is a statement as well, so...

But, when I was 16, I shaved alwaysALWAYS. I was very definitely a feminist, but that was freaky enough without also being a hairy-legged lesbian, and it was a shortcut to a slightly quieter life.

[cangetmad]

Also, aw! I will miss stories of the earwig and the valley girl. I hope they have a safe trip to England and that the phone their devoted mother very often.

[debodacious]

I am hoping so too. But they will be back for a week at the end of May, so it isn't too long to wait.

[land_girl]

I was secretly quite horrified when I realized that Rosie was shaving her legs, but she is 12, and much darker than I am, so I didn't feel I should stop her ...

[debodacious]

I wouldn't stop her either but I was surprised that the girls felt strongly about it. And the earwig is now planning to get her eyebrows waxed, which sounds excruciating.

[debodacious]

No waxing so far, although one is planning to get her eyebrows done. But it seems young feminists do shave, so perhaps I haven't failed after all.

[chiasmata]

I'm a young feminist, and I shave. Although less my legs than my armpits. Legs tend to get ignored for weeks at a time. It was quite the thing when I was 14-16 to just not shave your legs for weeks - we'd then sit there giggling at the hairs poking through our tights. Although I was at a girls' school - had there been boys about, maybe it would have been different...

[debodacious]

Seems to be the general consensus. I am clearly old and out of date.

[debodacious]

Sorry - meant to add that I love the thought of all sitting there giggling at your legs.

[vinaigrettegirl]

Not old, no. Maybe a little out of date, though. Feminism seems to be about women doing what suits them as individuals; Andrea Dworkin's style was very much up to her and had a lot of point to it; so for some young feminists it probably is very much a statement to not shave, and for other people it is equally a statement to do so

[debodacious]

Am very much a Washing Person so it's not that - definitely more them thinking I am an aging hippy type and lacking in femininity because I hardly ever wear make up, don't shave or pluck my eyebrows. Part of my surprise was because they have reached the relatively advanced age of 16 and have only just started shaving - I had assumed that among their peers the situation was similar to my friends and me where some depilate and some don't but it's not much of an issue either way, but in fact it would appear that shaving is absolutely the Done Thing in their circle.

Will ask them how they feel about their dad's 'pits. VBG.