Then there is armpit hair – disgusting if women have it, dandified and effeminate if men don’t have. Celebs have appeared in public with armpit hair and been trolled and roundly vilified for it.
It isn't just men; women also get uncomfortable with these trends and changes. Women who refuse to use hair removal products are trolled by women as well. Men, as well as women, also think that #WomanSpreading is uncouth and disgusting.
Some of us explain it away as a matter of personal grooming, aesthetics, etiquette and personal tastes – the ideal of feminine beauty and comportment is supposed to be smooth, shorn of hair, delicate, small, dainty, quiet, well behaved. The ideal of male attractiveness is the opposite.
Evidently, it is about much more than that. Our social conditioning is strong, gender stereotypes have a powerful influence on the way we think and expect others to behave. Of course, the expectations from women are always more. Women always have to try harder and do more to gain societal approval. Right now, the women trending #Womanspreading probably don’t care about that type of social approval.
That very attitude – impervious to societal censure or praise or approval – is probably what is infuriating some people the most!
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