“Who wants hair on their legs on the beach?”

Hm, apparently men do.

“I live in london and go to a waxing salon where half the customers are young beautiful indian girls, because they tend to be hairier than those of white ethnicity and want to remove the hair.”

So women of different races are feeling pressured to conform even more to an impossible white ideal–specifically, the hairless, eternally-prepubescent woman. Are you arguing that this is actually a GOOD thing?

“Not to mention that being hairless is also much more comfortable, practical and attractive.”

Comfortable?
–Again, then why don’t men shave their whole bodies? All I see is ingrown hairs, razor burn, shaving stubble, dry skin, and the potential for folliculitis, if you are particularly sensitive. Not to mention that some dermatologists are speaking out against shaving/waxing the vulva because it appears to make women more vulnerable to infections and STDs. There IS a reason there’s all that hair down there.
Practical?
–I’m wondering what your argument is here. All I can see is how much daily time it takes up, how many chemicals are used, and how much money is spent on shaving supplies and waxing treatments…again, that men seem to get along just fine without. You’d think if it was so practical, they’d be doing it too.
Attractive?
–This is certainly a matter of cultural preferences, but it does seem to be the basis of your argument as a whole. Again, if women want to shave, they absolutely have the right to–but they shouldn’t be expected to have to do it, either. And we shouldn’t pretend that it’s some sort of practical decision born out of empowerment or individual choice when it’s really just another beauty mandate pushed on women as a result of our misogynistic society.

Your right, if someone ends up waxing, so be it. But marketing towards girls under 14 with the obvious message- you need this or you are not pretty, is the problem. Many people will NEVER be in the looks or body image marketed to women in general, so pushing them to conform….to line up and fit into this mold….that young, well to me, it enslaves these girls into stupidity. Fine if they do this or shave whatever. MOST of the country can’t afford waxes, and you don’t want teenagers feeling ugly, out of place, not fitting in. Girls this young can’t possibly rationalize this ad as irrelevant. They put it out there as it makes money. And the girls buying in start their journey of self value of their LOOKS over lets say, academic achievement! This crap is NOT more important than actual accomplishments. Girls who achieve some sort of catalog beauty often neglect the parts of life to make them actually successful, like academics. Girls that cannot achieve the cookie cutter beauty are so often damaged from mocking, insecurity, self-hatred. This also leads to self destruction instead of working on what actually WILL make them successful, be it skills, academics, sports……something to make you valuable other than a mirror!

Heather, I completely agree that ads like this can inspire some important parent/child dialogue about media literacy and beauty standards!

Kelsey, it’s totally understandable that you and many others feel comfortable hairless; this post wasn’t intended to make you or anyone else feel judged for “conforming.” Physically, many people may simply feel “better” being hairless. Psychologically though, many people may feel more “comfortable” hairless because of the pressures and beauty messages society enforces. I write blogs like this to help people understand the psychological side, and to encourage them to buck the trend if they feel that “society told me to” isn’t a good enough reason to shave.

Then I thought more about this and I polled my friends as to when they started shaving their legs and their bikini lines. While I certainly don’t condone this ad at all, but I do think that hair removal is an important topic to broach with your child and perhaps these ads are agood jumping off point, a way to usher media literacy into the conversation and turn a critical eye to hte messages, so there is healither communications about tough topics between parents and their kids.