[307] Un Issue Peludo para el 2013

Miss Afrofinger

Comence a organizar mis notas para el 2013 y tropece con un articulo que me tiene intrigado.  Enfoca en las percepciones de modas y como los medios como la prensa, television y el word to mouth cambia las percepciones de lo que es bello y atractivo a lo que no lo es.  Comence esta idea basada en una busqueda aleatoria de la red de la epoca.

La ruta es enredada, enfoquemos por pedazos:

A Sanson le crecio el pelo y derribo el templo...

[1]  Cliches con las Pelirojas
De la misma manera que con las rubias o con el pelo malo o pasurin...Se crean estereotipos.  Cuando muchacho quede preocupado de que un documental que vi decia que los primeros cavernicolas veian con malos ojos a los rubios y los tiraban de lo alto de los montes.  Se que no es posible pero en aquel momento lo crei...

Pues algunos datos, hechos y curiosidades de las pelirojas aqui:
http://facts.randomhistory.com/redhead-facts.html

En realidad mi pelo es rojizo por momentos.  Cuando joven...ahora es canoso...

[2]  De Ahi Brinque a la Tendencia Moderna a la Depilacion Obsesiva
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-09-14/features/sc-fash-0913-shaving-20100913_1_shaving-strip-hair-body

La depilacion de piernas y axilas es una costumbre relativamente moderna.  Por que entonces la percepcion que oigo de radio y television es que estar completamente depilado es lo higienico y la norma?  Decidi indagar al respecto.  Del articulo de arriba:

But why do we recoil at the sight of a few follicles? When and why did women begin to strip hair from their bodies, anyway?
Historians are unable to pinpoint the first group of women to remove body hair, said Victoria Sherrow, author of "Encyclopedia of Hair: A Cultural History." Women in ancient Egypt used beeswax and depilatories made from an alkali, like quicklime, to remove leg hair, she said. Ancient Romans and Greeks used pumice to remove body hair.
"Some cultures regarded it as uncivilized, since body hair appears on animal bodies," said Sherrow. "The idea of a hairless body for American women developed between 1915 and 1945."
Many attribute the kickoff in 1915 to Gillette's Milady Decollete, "the first razor designed and marketed specifically for women, and was billed in the extensive national advertising campaign as the 'safest and most sanitary method of acquiring a smooth underarm,' " according to author Russell B. Adams Jr. in "King C. Gillette: The Man and His Wonderful Shaving Device."
The movement also took hold as sleeveless dresses and sheerer fabrics became fashionable and hemlines rose. Safety razors were also produced en masse.
"As the middle class grew, women's lives increasingly became defined by spending power and habits," wrote Jennifer Scanlon, professor of gender and women's studies at Bowdoin College, in her book "Inarticulate Longings: The Ladies' Home Journal, Gender, and the Promises of Consumer Culture."
It was the perfect storm for advertisers as magazines like Ladies' Home Journal and Harper's Bazaar flooded homes, not only informing, but shaping women's concepts of beauty.
"You see this kind of transformation of the female body — that women are increasingly to be looked at," Scanlon said of advertisements at the time. "There's sort of the promise that more and more women can gain access to beauty if they engage in these practices (like) shaving their armpits."

Como siempre...los medios y los negociantes crean moda para crear mercado...

http://history.barnard.edu/sites/default/files/inline/kirstenhansenthesis.pdf

Hay un adagio...
Where There is a Need, Create a Solution and Sell It.

Ahora es:
Create a Need, then sell the solution

Por ende las medicinas para enfermedades del primer mundo.  O productios como el iPhone (x+1), que es bota el iPhone x en cuanto salga la nueva version...

O sea la depilacion es algo para crear un negocio.  Pero de donde llego a los constantes brazilian wax que es la moda ahora?

[3]  La Obsesion de Querer Erradicar el Pelo del Cuerpo
http://theconversation.edu.au/bare-necessity-public-health-implications-of-removing-pubic-hair-8737

Esta obsesion tiene implicaciones.  Se presenta como antihigienico o poco salobre tener pelos en el cuerpo.  El nuevo ideal es estar completamente pelados.  El argumento entonces es que hay dos riesgos, uno de salud por mantener el pelo y otro los riesgos a la salud de la depilacion con cera, corte, etc. para detener el crecimiento natural de pelo...

Ese es el meollo del articulo previo...

What’s “normal” in the pubic hair landscape has changed considerably over the last 20 years. Research suggests that pubic hair removal is increasingly the norm in Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom; but has been documented as early as Ancient Egypt.
Recent studies of hair removal in young Australian women show that almost 50% of female undergraduates remove most or all of their hair. This trend is also present in men: about two-thirds of both gay and heterosexual Australian men remove pubic hair, mostly to improve perceived attractiveness.
Other reasons cited for hair removal include: possible increased skin sensitivity, perceived cleanliness, experimentation, and to please a partner.

And while we’re here, let’s also put an end to the three most common myths about pubic hair removal:

1. The rate of hair regrowth will not change because of hair removal.
2. Hair coverage will not change in density; your body has a set number of hair follicles.
3. Ingrown hairs are common but not impossible to avoid; everyone has different susceptibility to ingrown hairs.

From a public health standpoint, pubic hair doesn’t have any advantages, but the negative health effects associated with hair removal processes are of some concern. And despite recent attacks against hair removal, keeping pubic hair isn’t right for everyone. As long as you’re careful with the removal process, you can be just as healthy (or even more healthy!) with little or no pubic hair.

La percepcion definitivamente ha cambiado...este proximo articulo es del 2003:
http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/27894
But is body hair as unattractive as we are led to believe? A 1998 study by Washington University tested 115 female students and 86 male students on their reactions to a video of a model in a bikini. Half saw her with body hair, half without. Both men and women described the model with body hair as stronger, more aggressive, confident and active. The model without hair was seen as more sociable, happy, intelligent and only slightly more physically attractive. Viewers with feminist attitudes were more likely to have a positive view of body hair.
This illustrates two things. Perceptions of body hair are socially constructed and they are not unchangeable. The presence or absence of body hair is perceived to indicate traits that are stereotyped as masculine or feminine. Feminism has had a positive effect in breaking down stereotypes of "appropriate" traits for women and men. Feminists have generally rejected the practice of removing female body hair because they insist women should be judged by who they are, not what they look like. Despite the efforts of advertisers to convince women otherwise, some of these attitudes have stuck.
Women are more likely to be judged on their appearance and treated differently. The fact that men are now under scrutiny should make us double our efforts to free everyone from expensive, painful and needless forms of torture in the name of "beauty".
Salma Hayek as the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo in the recent film Frida, portrayed one of the world's most famous and sexy hairy women. The female stars of the current television adaptation of DH Lawrence's Sons and Lovers were told not to wax or shave, to stop going to the gym and to eat carbohydrates so that they would look authentic for the period.
The clock ticks in the world of fashion, and more natural hair is returning to the catwalks of Europe. We should point to these examples and use them to our advantage. However, against the barrage of advertising, this will not be enough to counteract the horror that people feel at their own natural body hair. Once again, we need to fight for a feminist perspective, one that judges all people on who they are, not on their designer body hair.

[4]  Si ya las mujeres se depilan enteritas, por que no lo mismo con los varones?
El mundo de la moda, los deportes, hacen ahora repulsivo el pelo en los hombres...
http://www.mamamia.com.au/health-wellbeing/male-body-image/
It’s a Friday night. I’m at a friend’s family function and the house has been divided in two. In the back half of the house, the adults are eating canapés and getting suitably sloshed. Meanwhile the kids and teens are in the front half of the house eating cheesy-macaroni and watching the Olympics. When I join them, I find them deep in discussion, debating one of life’s hairier little subjects: fury underarms.

Only it’s not women’s underarm hair they’re interested in. The kids are watching the men’s trampolining event. As each athlete’s name is called, the competitor steps forward, raises his arm to salute the crowd, and- much to the horror or relief of the kids I’m with – reveals his underarm-muff status.

One competitor has no sign of underarm hair. The teen boys nod approvingly. Another has shaved his underarms but has a tuft of chest hair sticking out the neck hole of his uniform. The boys comment that he should have shaved that off too.

Then one competitor raises his arm to reveal a thick slick of licorice black hair proudly displayed for all to see. The kids go positively mental. Or at least the boys do. The girls seem quite content to just watch the gymnastics.

Meanwhile I’m wondering how on earth these boys have gotten through life without ever seeing their dad’s underarms. And when did boys become so anxious about body hair anyway?

Before I go on I should clarify that not all teen boys would have had the same reaction. I’m sure that plenty wouldn’t bat an eyelid. But more and more I am beginning to notice a bizarre and somewhat disturbing trend with the teen boys I work with.

[5]  La Pornografia ha tenido influencia?
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.324872-Has-pornography-changed-your-perception-of-men-women?page=2
Ademas de la publicidad habia oido argumentado una vez que la pornografia y la depilacion de las mujeres fue creado en esa era de los 50.  Que a traves de los a/nos se fue convirtiendo en la norma.

Comparando peliculas...en peliculas como Porky's todas las chicas en las escenas en ba/nos etc. estaban todas velludas, sin afeitar.  Sin embargo, toda produccion reciente que he visto las chicas tienen brazilian wax o trimeado corto, tal como salio Helen Hunt en The Sessions (mencionado aqui: http://alcantarillaalquimica.blogspot.com/2012/12/306-video-closure-for-2012.html).

A fin de cuentas, creo que es una preferencia personal.  En mi caso considero estupido gastar tanto dinero para darse cera.  Ademas de lo increiblemente tedioso que es afeitarse las partes intimas.  Y si, me he afeitado en varias ocasiones cuando el pelo crece demasiado pero tiendo a odiar el ardor o picor que da cuando pega a volver a crecer el pelo...Quizas sea falta de costumbre...Como mi gata Roxie, que le gusta estar ba/nadita pero le aterra que la ba/ne...

Oh well, a la larga ajustare a lo que realmente le guste a mi pareja, cuando llegue el momento.  Aunque pensandolo bien, ya es hora de un recorte...demasiado pelo alla abajo lo que hace es que uno sude mucho.

Como dije, todo un issue peludo...Feliz Dia de Reyes, octavitas y las fiestas de SanSe...