Fuzzy Leggies Reign Supreme

Summer is the time to expose ourselves. Our bodies. The good, the bad, and the ugly.

But isn't beauty in the eye of the beholder??

My fuzzy (hairy!) leggies have been the object of hard, sometimes hostile stares from both men and women over the years. I imagine that they must think of them as horribly unsightly, or that I'm a lesbian, as if either of those are some sort of felony. :-(

What do I care what others think anyway? I've got better things to do with my time! I regret I fell to peer pressure in high school and regularly shaved them (what a pain in the ass!) to fit in. Shaving legs was a high maintenance job for me. I hated it. After 10th grade, when I wasn't required to take P.E. anymore, that was IT. I stopped shaving my legs and armpits. And haven't done it since. Well, maybe a few more years shaving under the arms, but that was still a nuisance, and not done often.

Hair is a natural part of the body. I just happen to blessed with more of it on my legs. My man likes my legs just like they are! ;-b Besides, he would be gravely disappointed with me if I were to shave my legs: I'd be wasting my time kowtowing to society's idea of "beauty" when I could be doing something more productive with my time, like enhancing my brain activity through reading or writing. I wouldn't be me if I shaved my leggies, he tells me.

It is sometimes difficult to bear the stares of others when I go out and about in shorts every summer. But I try to regard it as a sort of character building test: ignore the stares! be yourself! And I admit: I am rather envious of those women who have little hair or whose hair is so light it doesn't show much, and thus, there's no need for them to shave. Yet at the end of the day, I am still glad to be me! ;-)

What am I thinking when people stare or glare at my legs? Exactly this:

• What the hell are you looking at them for?
• Do you look at everyone's legs?
• If they look that bad to you, don't look!
• And for crying out loud, why are you being so shallow? :-(
• Don't you know that a person's character traits are much more important than her physical traits?

The good, the bad, and the ugly. Hmm...that was a good movie! But when those adjectives are used together, it best fits describing peoples' character traits, rather than physical traits. Do physical traits have any value? Maybe as far as health and fitness are concerned, but beyond that, it seems all vanity and Hollywood to me. That a stranger would stare at my fuzzy leggies says more about her/him than me, I'd say. In terms of character traits, their disdain borders on ugly.

Can I consider myself a liberated woman, then, for refusing to bend to society's ideas of beauty? I think I ought to, self-proclaimed feminist that I am. :-) It is liberating not to follow the crowd! My skin is fair, my hair is black. And my hairy legs are the most blatant, public, and physical aspect of my nonconformity, even if the public only sees them three months of the year. (I do have to protect them in the cold months. ;-)) Oh yeah, I've got pretty bushy eyebrows, too. I do tweeze them occasionally as they are more visible, so perhaps my vanity gets in the way there. And I've got hairy arms, as well (don't get lost in the forest!). I certainly don't shave them!

Others have written about hairy legs, online: Hairy-legged feminist wrote some wise words about them, and an Ask Yahoo! person answered the question to "When and why did women start shaving their legs?" Blame advertisers! Or insecure women.

The hairy women I've seen in public seem not to be bothered by their fuzziness. Why should they be? If they were concerned, they wouldn't let the public see their hairiness. Which leads me to believe they've accepted themselves, and say to hell with those who are disturbed by it! To me, they seem more natural human beings--and perhaps more true to themselves, rather than those flowing out of the tanning salons.

I am who I am. Proud of it, too. ;-) And if my honey likes me and my parts just how they are, then so be it. What reason on earth is there to remove the hair on my legs or any other part on my body? What kind of message would I be sending to myself if decided to suddenly start shaving again? If I did that, I feel I would be devaluing myself, going against what I believe in--that I should be true to myself; I'd really fall prey to Madison Avenue (advertising), and become weak-willed because I'd have caved in to society's expectations of what women's beauty should be.

There's no way I can do that to myself. Absolutely not.

Besides, I've read that there are men out there who think hairy women are sexier! :-)

“The best part of beauty is that which no picture can express.”

--Francis Bacon, Sr. (1561-1626)
English lawyer, philosopher