Research on bodies and sexualities has long debated ideas about choice, agency, and power, particularly as women conform to, or rebel against, traditional social scripts about femininity and heterosexuality. In this study, I have used responses from 34 college women who completed an extra credit assignment in a women’s studies class that asked them to reject social norms and grow out their leg and underarm hair for a period of 10 weeks. Responses reveal that women confronted direct and anticipated homophobia and heterosexism from others as well as hostility for rejecting traditional norms of femininity. Heterosexual women regularly encountered demands that they acquire permission to grow body hair from their male partners, while queer and bisexual women expressed reluctance about further “outing” themselves via their body hair. I consider implications for linking sexual identity discrimination and body hair practices, and for imagining bodies as sites of resistance inside and outside of pedagogical settings.
AndersenM. L.2008. Thinking about women some more: A new century’s view. Gender & Society22:120-25.
2.
AndersonS. C.HollidayM.2004. Normative passing in the lesbian community: An exploratory study. Journal of Gay & Lesbian Social Services: Issues in Practice, Policy, & Research17 (3):25-38.
3.
BasowS. A.1991. The hairless ideal: Women and their body hair. Psychology of Women Quarterly15 (1):83-96.
4.
BasowS. A.WillisJ.2001. Perceptions of body hair on white women: Effects of labeling. Psychological Reports89 (3):571-76.
5.
BasowSBramanA.1998. Women and body hair: Social perceptions and attitudes. Psychology of Women Quarterly22(4): 637-45.
6.
BraunV.2005. In search of (better) sexual pleasure: Female genital “cosmetic” surgery. Sexualities8 (4):407-24.
7.
BraunV.ClarkeV.2006. Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology3 (1):77-101.
8.
ButtonS. B.2004. Identity management strategies utilized by lesbian and gay employees: A quantitative investigation. Group & Organization Management29 (4):470-94.
9.
ByrdA.SolomonA.2005. Naked: Black women bare all about their skin, hair, hips, lips, and other parts. New York: Penguin.
10.
CarterK.SpitzackC.1990. Transformation and empowerment in gender and communication courses. Women’s Studies in Communication13 (1):92-110.
11.
ChapkisW.1986. Beauty secrets: Women and the politics of appearance. Boston: South End Press.
12.
ChoiP.ToerienM.WilkinsonS.2005. Body hair removal: The “mundane” production of normative femininity. Sex Roles52 (5-6): 399-406.
13.
ClarkV.BraunV.2009. Is the personal pedagogical? Sexualities and genders in the higher education classroom. Feminism & Psychology19 (2):175-80.
14.
ColeE.DanielJ. H.2005. Featuring females: Feminist analyses of media. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
CowanG.MestlinM.MasekJ.1992. Predictors of feminist self-labeling. Sex Roles27:321-30.
17.
DworkinS. L.WachsF. L.2004. “Getting your body back”: Postindustrial fit motherhood in shape fit pregnancy magazine. Gender & Society18 (5):610-24.
18.
ElliotP.2009. Engaging trans debates on gender variance: A feminist analysis. Sexualities12 (1):5-32.
19.
EudeyB.LukasS.CorreaE.2007. The role of women’s and gender studies in advancing gender equity. In Handbook for achieving gender equity through education, edited by KleinS. S.RichardsonB.GraysonD. A.FoxL. H.KramaraeC.PollardD. S.DwyerC. A.Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
20.
FahsB.DelgadoD. A.2011. The specter of excess: Race, class, and gender in women’s body hair narratives. In Embodied resistance: Breaking the rules, challenging the norms, edited by BobelC.KwanS.13-25. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press.
21.
FahsB.2011a. Shaving it all off: Examining social norms of body hair among college men in a women’s studies course. Women’s Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal.
22.
FahsB.2011b. Breaking body hair boundaries: Classroom exercises for challenging social constructions of the body and sexuality. Feminism & Psychology.
23.
FarrM. T.2000. “Everything I didn’t want to know I learned in lit class”: Sex, sexual orientation, and student identity. International Journal of Sexuality & Gender Studies5 (2):205-13.
24.
FoucaultM.1978. The History of Sexuality, Volume 1. New York: Vintage.
25.
GimlinD.2007. What is “body work”? A review of the literature. Sociology Compass1 (1):353-70.
26.
HeyesC. J.JonesM.2009. Cosmetic surgery: A feminist primer. Surrey, UK: Ashgate.
27.
HodgsonS.TiggemannM.2008. The hairless norm extended: Reasons for and predictors of women’s body hair removal at different body sites. Sex Roles59:889-97.
28.
HopeC.1982. Caucasian female body hair and American culture. The Journal of American Culture5 (1):93-99.
29.
KenwayJ.ModraH.1992. Feminist pedagogy and emancipatory possibilities. In Feminisms and critical pedagogy, edited by LukeC.GoreJ.New York: Routledge.
30.
KenyonS.TiggemannM.1998. The hairlessness norm: The removal of body hair in women. Sex Roles39 (11-12): 873-85.
31.
KwanS.TrautnerM. N.2009. Beauty work: Individual and institutional rewards, the reproduction of gender, and questions of agency. Sociology Compass3 (1):49-71.
32.
LewisC.TiggemannM.2004. Attitudes toward women’s body hair: Relationship with disgust sensitivity. Psychology of Women Quarterly28:381-87.
33.
LindR.SaloC.2002. The framing of feminists and feminism in news and public affairs programs in U.S. electronic media. Journal of Communication52:211-28.
34.
LombardiE.WilchinsR.PriesingD.MaloufD.2001. Gender violence: Transgender experiences with violence and discrimination. Journal of Homosexuality42:89-101.
35.
LovejoyM.2001. Disturbances in the social body: Differences in body image and eating problems among African American and white women. Gender & Society15:239-61.
36.
NielsenJ. M.WaldenG.KunkelC. A.2000. Gendered heteronormativity: Empirical illustrations in everyday life. Sociological Quarterly41:283-96.
37.
PattonTracey O.2006. “Hey girl, am I more than my hair?” African American women and their struggles with beauty, body image, and hair. NWSA Journal18:24-51.
38.
PitmanG. E.1999. Body image, compulsory heterosexuality, and internalized homophobia. Journal of Lesbian Studies3:129-39.
39.
RichA.1980. Compulsory heterosexuality and the lesbian existence. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society5:631-60.
40.
RobertsD.1997. Killing the black body: Race, reproduction, and the meaning of liberty. New York: Pantheon.
41.
RosenfeldD.2009. Heteronormativity and homonormativity as practical and moral resources: The case of lesbian and gay elders. Gender & Society23 (5):617-38.
42.
Sasson-LevyO.RapoportT.2003. Body, gender, and knowledge in protest movements: The Israeli case. Gender & Society17 (3):379-403.
43.
SchiltK.WestbrookL.2009. Doing gender, doing heteronormativity: “Gender normals,” transgender people, and the social maintenance of heterosexuality. Gender & Society23(4): 440-464.
44.
SinacoreA. L.EnnsC. Z.2005. Diversity feminisms: Postmodern, women-of-color, antiracist, lesbian, third-wave, and global perspectives. In Teaching and social justice: Integrating multicultural and feminist theories in the classroom, edited by EnnsC. Z.SinacoreA. L.Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
45.
SteinA.2008. Feminism’s sexual problem: Comment on Andersen. Gender & Society22:115-19.
46.
StubbsM. I.CostosD.2004. Negative attitudes toward menstruation: Implications for disconnection within girls and between women. Women and Therapy27 (3-4): 37-54.
47.
SzymanskiD. M.SungM. R.2010. Minority stress and psychological distress among Asian American sexual minority persons. The Counseling Psychologist38:848-72.
48.
TerkildsenN.SchnellF.1997. How media frames move public opinion: An analysis of the women’s movement. Political Research Quarterly50:879-900.
49.
ToerienM.WilkinsonS.2003. Gender and body hair: Constructing the feminine woman. Women’s Studies International Forum26(4): 333-44.
50.
ToerienM.WilkinsonS.2004. Exploring the depilation norm: A qualitative questionnaire study of women’s body hair removal. Qualitative Research in Psychology1(1): 69-92.
51.
van den BergP. A.MondJ.EisenbergM.AckardD.Neumark-SztainerD.2010. The link between body dissatisfaction and self-esteem in adolescents: Similarities across gender, age, weight status, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Journal of Adolescent Health47(3): 290-296.
WhelehanI.2000. Overloaded: Popular culture and the future of feminism. London: Women’s Press.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
