Why don't men shave?

I would like to ask the simple question of, I'm sure you've already guessed, why don't men shave? By this I mean their legs and armpits (not everything guys, don't sweat it!).

Now I already know that I'm most likely going to get a couple of negative votes for this one, but being the noder I am, I care more about expressing my opinion, agreed with or not.

The reason I ask this question is because, being a female, I am required to shave for the sake of the male species' pleasure. Don't get me wrong, I prefer to shave as I do derive my own pleasure from the comfort it lends me, but society has imposed the idea that if I were not to shave I would become less appealing to the opposite sex. Men become 'grossed out' at the slightest view of a woman's leg that has gone unshaven, and for this reason I do feel that we, females, are required to shave in order to appear attractive.

Which brings on the main debate of my questioning... if men find hair on a woman's body unattractive, what is to say that we, females, find it just the opposite? Because as a society, I feel, we are taught that hair on a man is 'manly' and denotes the more aggressive side of the male, while at the same time we are taught that females without hair on their bodies are more appealing because it is less animalistic, less 'manly' and more 'womanly'. Why? I would like to meet the man (I'm sure it was a male) who came up with this standard and give his bottom a good wallop. Why should males be any less appealing if shaven? Because it takes away from being 'manly'?

I believe just the opposite...why should we, as females, be expected to shave because it is unappealing, and not males? The hair isn't any different because it's on a different body...it's still there. If hair is so unappealing to men, why don't they shave? Isn't this a contradiction in their thinking? I'm not suggesting women discontinue shaving (as I said before, it's extremely comfortable), but what I am suggesting is that men shave as well. Women don't like hair either! At least trim that underarm hair if you won't shave...the-deodorant-dangling-from-the-hair scene isn't pretty...and I promise it won't make you any less 'manly'.

Have you looked at male models lately? Are they hairy? Nope. How about young male actors? Hairy? Nope. Being a hairy guy, I've never had a woman say she thought it was sexy, attractive, nor that it was repulsive for that matter, but they do like the shaved chest look. There was a day when a hairy chest was thought to be attractive on a guy, but that day isn't today. Many men today shave. Especially if they are in the business of showing off their bodies or just like to do it for fun.

As a guy you doesn't show off his body. I don't shave. Why? Convenience. I don't want to go through the hell of shaving my entire body every couple days. What do women need to save? Legs, armpits, and pubic area. Try shaving legs, arms, pubic area, chest, face (plus head if you go that route) and for most men back and butt too. That's a lot of freakin' shaving. That is also a lot of iching if you don't shave for a while.

But Hippie you have brought up a good point. Why don't we trim? I don't know, I've never really thought about it.

I believe cyclists shave their legs not so much for aerodynamics but to make first aid easier should they fall.

I was recently dating a girl that said she had never dated anyone with chest hair before. I told her she needed to start dating more men as opposed to boys. Hey, I thought it was funny at the time.

I suspect it is because they never tried it. My own experience is that:

1. armpits stink much less (I suspect that the bacteria have less real estate).
2. The pubic area is more sensitive if it is not covered with hair.
3. As for the chest, it is matter of taste :-)
4. Legs take, as observed above, a looong time. But, shaved legs feel ever so nice, at least for the first days. The main danger is getting distracted by the texture of your trousers.

Now, what is really boring is shaving around a beard. Boring boring boring, and can't be done in the shower because you need a mirror, and mirrors fog, and only a turbogeek would buy a no-fog mirror from the Sharper Image catalog.

Hey sister, don't ask me why normal guys like what they like. Personally, I couldn't care less whether or not you have armpit and/or leg hair, and if I was a woman I still would rarely shave my legs. Maybe it's my Russian background (we are a hairy people). You do get marked down for a Frita Kahlo style mustache, but not by much. Only -1 or a -0.5... easily offset by other qualities like the ability to help with Python/Perl problems, or interest in computer games, or even a voracious appetite for rugburns.

I shaved my legs a couple of times. Once when I went to a cross-dress party, and once when I was, um, dating somebody who was mostly into women. Duh, like her girlfriends ever shaved their legs... she didn't even notice. Both times, it felt really nice, sliding into a pair of jeans. Also fun to touch them.

That not noticing part, though, is telling. If women don't care about appearances as much as men do... or even if there is less consensus among women as to what is attractive in men... the result will be that men will care less about how they look. I sure learned my lesson about wasting time altering my appearance in order to please someone.

I've read some socio-biological explanations too (notice how there seems to be one for everything, and it's always disturbing?). A woman's fecundity is tied to her youth, and a man's isn't as much. Therefore (according to this theory) straight men are attracted to child-like features in women-- soft contours, large eyes relative to their faces, short stature, and lack of body hair.

That being said, I must be some kind of mutant because I have a thing for women who are tall or angular or a few years ahead of me. Annette Benning and Sigourney Weaver have long been my favourite actresses. No bonus points in the gene pool game for me, I guess.

Yes, yes, the age-old question has popped-up once again. And once again, I will give my 2-cents worth.
As an avid road cyclist, I shave my legs. I also up-keep shaving my legs through the winter so that I won't have to do a full operation in removing them when bicycle season starts again. Here are the most notable excuses/reasons for shaving legs:

1. They reduce the drag coefficient for time trials;
2. Smooth legs feel fast when you're pedalling;
3. When you crash and hit the pavement, less hair or your legs mean less resistance, therefore the size of the road rashes are minimized;
(then I wonder what happens when you fall on your face if you have a goatee or moustache)
4. Shaved legs enhances the feel of massages;
5. They look good.

Of course, the most valid statement of them all is number 5. I know that for me, this is my primary reason among others. I'm certain that all the serious roadies out there will tell people differently, and they will return all other responses you see here. The truth remains, that everyone who shaves their legs do it because they look good. Once you get your calves and quads all toned up, who wouldn't want to show them off?!

My wife has two very constant opinions on the presence of hair on my body:

1. She hates the idea of me growing a moustache and/or a beard. The main reason seems to be that it interferes with smooching.

2. When we're in bed, she likes how it feels to run her fingers through my chest hair. I've commented more than once on the way young male actors almost always shave their chests in movies, and she's firmly opposed to the idea.

Who am I to tell her what she likes?

More objectively, though, I think it's all a matter of appearance. When either a man or woman shaves their body, it makes them look younger. Any adult male will instantly add five or ten years to their appearance by growing facial hair, and lose the same number by shaving it off. If a man is nekkid, a shaved chest likewise makes him look closer to adolescence.

Women doubtless started shaving their legs and armpits to create the same effect, except that now it has become more or less a universal standard for their gender. Traditionally, though, it's still more acceptable for a man than a woman to appear "older". Such is the nature of fashion.

Ancient Egyptian men shaved.

Well, sort of. As one of the purification rituals carried out by ancient Egyptian priests before coming into any contact with a deity, every hair of the body was shaved off. That's right — pubic hair, back hair, even the eyebrows came off. Since hair lice were such a big problem in ancient Egypt, and nothing unclean could come before a deity or even into the innermost chambers of a temple, it made sense to get rid of the hair.

In ancient Egyptian funerary and religious murals, priests are often depicted in a group, wearing white robes, and are usually the only bald people.

Variations in ancient Egyptian religions varied considerably across locations and eras, but the hairlessness of priests seems to be one of the more widespread practices.

Other purification rituals involved bathing (four times a day, with water and natron), dietary restrictions (no fish), clothing restrictions (those white robes they're wearing are made of the finest linen; the Sem priest sometimes wore a leopard skin during important rituals), circumcision (very common in the Late Period), and sexual purity (but usually only during the time spent as a priest).