my take on it is this:

we may very well be influenced by society to shave our bodies, or not shave them. and we can whine about this as much as we like, we aren't going to change this in the short term. so we're faced with a choice; we either shave our bodies or don't, and in the end, we weigh up the pros and cons, and we do what we think is best for us.

in my case i choose to shave, (body hair, pubes, face regularly, legs if im wearing a skirt), i choose to do this because i think it looks better (which may, or may not be choice that is influnced by society, and because
when my body hair gets long it gets caught in things an this hurts alot.

in the end, i shave because societal indoctrination or not, this is the choice that makes me the happiest. trying to second guess the reason for me feeling like this will probably be fairly fruitless, we have a choice to make, and we do what we think is most beneficial at the time.

I just do what "feels" right, I don't think about the social expectations of other people. I feel good, feminine and even sexy when all the fluff has been eradicated! Thats all that matters

I understand your point of view. When I go on with my transition I'll most surely be shaving too (not in all places, however). But that is one thing. What I was talking about is another.
Actually, I was trying to answer to this:

UST wrote:

Quote:

"Maybe in a perfect world, but it's not gonna happen unless we all stop having our own ideas about what we find attractive, which would in turn require a world without any sexuality whatsoever. I'm not too interested."

Well, for one, these ideas are NOT entirely personal and second, if that NON-PERSONAL part of such ideas was somehow eradicated, that would certainly not mean having "a world with no sexuality whatsoever". On the contrary, it could mean having a world with multiple sexualities. Really personal sexualities, liberated from all the trendy bullshit.

Well may be, it's too romantic as a thought. But it is what it is...

....er.....
Doesn't Nature give us the lead on this one? Come puberty, males tend to get extremely hairy and females don't. Perhaps removing such visible female hair is a way of emphasising Nature's differentiation?
Armpits and Down There are the places we have in common and surely shaving them is often more related to hygene and comfort than social pressure?

- wasn't that uproar over Julia Roberts' armpits SO over the top?
.... btw - isn't it curious how the shape of male pube pattern is the inverse of female? ^ and v
- and what about male nasal and ear hair? WTH is that all about? Or as Billy Connolly said "I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of challenge life has in store for me that I'm going to need nasal hair to deal with it....."

_________________
I started out with Nothing - and I still have most of it left.....