A Hairy Situation

Breanne Fahs, a professor of women and gender studies at the University of Arizona, offered her students an unusual assignment for extra credit: For 10 weeks, men shaved their legs, underarms, and pubis, while women let their hair grow in the same places. Both the shaven men and fuzzy females reported criticism and reactions of disgust, which Fahs explored in the journal Feminism and Psychology. We asked her why rules about body hair are hewed to so closely:

"Hair has always been a big deal. Throughout history, it has signified culture, gender, power, individuality, and collectivity. Studies find that over 95 percent of women in the U.S. remove their body hair. That's a huge number, and the norms and rules persist because people do not construct them as a choice. I was really surprised that the male participants didn't say anything like, 'I went home and asked my girlfriend and my mom what they thought about this,' which is, of course, exactly what the women participants said they did first. It really freaked some of them out. They would say, 'I thought I was this liberated woman, and here I am asking permission from people. Do I do this more than I think?'"