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Prudie and the Gender Police strike again on the topic of chest hair.

Prudie and the Gender Police strike again on the topic of chest hair. published on 3 Comments on Prudie and the Gender Police strike again on the topic of chest hair.

In the most recent Dear Prudence, a 27-year-old guy writes that he has no trouble with his girlfriend's body hair…except for a scattering of hairs on her chest and particularly around each of her nipples. He is really bothered by these hairs on her chest, to the point of suggesting that she remove them. He envisions a future with her, but also foresees the death of all lust unless she gets rid of her chest hair. Prudie responds by recommending permanent removal in the form of electrolysis.

Let's get this straight…1) Chest hair on women is completely unacceptable. 2) A woman who does have chest hair and doesn't give a shit should get rid of it because her partner gives a huge, disproportionate shit.

As for 1), God forbid that women be anything less than completely hairless except for head hair because then they'd "look like men," and we can't have people transgressing cultural norms of femininity because then the world would explode.

As for 2), I reject the axiomatic assertion that, in a heterosexual partnership, if a man can't accept some aspect of a woman's appearance, the woman should change to suit his preferences. And we're not talking "Please brush your teeth before you kiss me" type of requests; we're talking inscrutable, inconsistent, irrational requests like "Your armpit hair and pubic hair and leg hair and arm hair are 100% A-okay, but lose those 12 nipple hairs of yours, or else this relationship is seriously doomed" sort of shit. That's ridiculous, trivial, nitpicky and insulting, once you think about it. Claiming that you love your girlfriend passionately except for her dozen chest hairs makes me wonder what secret complaints the chest hairs are standing in for.

My advice has everything to do with the boyfriend and nothing to do with the girlfriend. First, buddy, either put up and shut up, or find a partner who lacks nipple hairs and the ability to object to your controlling, nasty demands about her appearance.

3 Comments

BARF. PUKE. GROWL!

I get those hairs around my nipple. I occasionally pluck them if *I* find them annoying. If some guy wanted me to? He could go fuck himself, after I posit that from then on all HIS personal aesthetic choices are subject to MY approval and see what he thinks of THAT little idea.

Prudence kind of sucks.

She has a very poor track record of accepting deviations from culturally prescribed manifestations of feminine gender presentation. See http://blogofstench.livejournal.com/597633.html

She’s really gross about it, and should take a flying leap wrt that topic, forever.

Plus, electrolysis isn’t “only a little more painful than waxing,” it’s fucking excruciating. I had a session of it once, back when I was sooo uncomfy about the amazing lushness of my pubic hair. It burned in a way I could scarcely stand and my muscles twitched randomly for hours afterward, which was uncomfortable physically as well as unsettling.

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