Earlier this month, the New York Times noted that "American women didn't shave their armpits en masse until the 1920s." These days, Nivea.com has a demonstration of male body shaving.

In a piece from Friday's Wall Street Journal, Cameron Stracher writes: "The same people pushing hairlessness are the ones selling the products. In the best tradition of hucksterism, we must have what we don't need." But Stracher noticed something else important:

Recently I went to see the play Hair, the '60s musical about hair as a metaphor for rebellion, pride, power, sexuality and love. As the talented cast sang about the joys of their God-given hairiness, I realized that at least half the men in the cast had shaved their underarms. In a generation, hair had gone from plumage to be worn "long, straight, curly, fuzzy, snaggy, shaggy, ratty, matty… bangled, tangled, spangled and spaghettied," to being plucked, shorn, waxed, buzzed, razored, tasered, lasered and depilated.

Over the weekend, I went to my friend's parents' 40th anniversary party, which means they got married the summer of '69. The party was hippie-themed, with tie-dye and what not, and someone joked that they'd Googled "Woodstock" to get a costume idea and "everyone was hairy and naked." How did this happen? How did Americans go from being proud of their body hair to being stalked on the streets by gorillas and encouraged to strip it all off? Being shamed into hairlessness can't be progress.

Or course, all things are cyclical — the Ancient Greeks used depilatories. Hairy pits and bush will probably come back around to being "in style" again in another 40 years. Meanwhile, we'll continue to be stripped not only of our hair and pride, but our hard-earned cash: According to WSJ, the shaving and hair removal business made about $1.8 billion in the U.S. last year. Almost makes you want to be a hippie.

Gorillas And Women Tag-Teaming On Spa's Hair-Removal Campaign [BrandFreak]
Receding Hairlines [WSJ]
Do Women Like Men Quite That Cleanshaven? [NY Times]

I go back and forth about shaving, but I understand I'm blonde and fine-haired so my opinion is of little relevance to the general population. But, my regimen is: shave my legs when they're noticeably hairy (which is to say, it's long enough to see actual legitimate hairs) and trim the pubes with a beard trimmer when they get long enough to annoy me. That's right, I said beard trimmer. It takes it down to like a quarter of an inch in under two minutes and it's impossible to cut myself; it doesn't itch when it grows back; and I don't get ingrown hairs or razor burn. I switched to a beard trimmer after shaving the whole thing for the better part of a year, which resulted in razor burn, ingrown hairs, insane itching when I was lax on maintenance (and I was always lax on maintenance) and the uncomfortable feeling that any guy who was really interested in seeing it hairless was, at best, a little creepy. The one exception was a particular ex (now married, so I won't reveal his name) who used to shave it for me but leave a landing strip. I'd just lie back on the bed once a week, he'd shave it, clean it up, uh, you know, stay down there for a bit and we'd go to sleep, it was very relaxing.

On the other hand, one Jezzie gets regularly waxed but not to the point of pre-pubescent hairlessness; another only does in the summer; a third waxes the edges for the summer and goes "retrobush" otherwise (and good for her!); and the final sticks with "incredibly halfhearted shaving and trimming when I can find an implement." I know what she's getting for her birthday this year!

There is, however, a near-universal dudely opposition to the full wax job but in favor of some maintenance — only one guy and, as it happens, the youngest of the bunch even expressed a remote preference for the landing strip look. As one friend with a lucky girlfriend said, "I prefer a regular trim because it makes it easier to perform oral. I like cunnilingus but don't like hair in the way," and maintained but natural-looking seemed to be the word of the day. In the end, though, they all more or less agreed with Spencer who said "i would truly not feel comfortable telling someone else what kind of shaving regimen she should have — it's like telling a girl to diet, in my mind. not appropriate."

If that's the case, though, why the fuss? Why the pulling and ripping of hairs in the pursuit of something that most guys don't really seem to give a shit about anyway? Is it really just that we're told we ought to look like that, like looking like that, that men prefer we look like that? Because, really, why would a guy care if he's about to get laid?

[Side note: I've dated guys who shaved everything below the navel. Freaks my shit out every time.]

Earlier: Wax Tales
To Strip Or Not To Strip?
Is Pubic Hair Making A Comeback?
An Open Apology to Our Labia

Image via LOLVogue: Good Help Is Hard To Find

One friend, who works in advertising, says she makes a point not to shave for the gynecologist ("I don't want to send anyone the wrong message!"), but she seems to be in the minority. All my other girlfriends, however, whip out the razor before changing into the robe. [Robe? You mean that cold, itchy paper shit? -Ed.] Another friend, a working mom, sayas she never steps foot into the doc's office without running a razor over her legs and her "down there." "It's not about trying to impress anyone," she explains, "It's just a hygiene/ease thing. I just want to make sure I'm doing everything I can to make sure my doctor can get the best look possible of what's going on down there." Adds a friend who works in fundraising: "Yes, I do. But not for the physical therapist, who massages my inner knee." Hmm!

Another friend, a writer, says she doesn't make a point of shaving, although it has nothing to do with women's lib and everything to do with, well, the pretty: "I shave my legs for the bikini waxer but not necessarily the gyno. I guess i figure that she's there for health reasons while the waxer is for aesthetics so i want to impress her more?" Says a lawyer: "I shave everything for the gyno. She's my favorite doctor and if I can make her job (which I would NEVER want) a little better, I think that's nice. If you shave for a boy who tells you you're pretty, don't you owe at least that to a woman who tells you that you don't have chlamydia?" Lastly, a smarty-pants grad student mused with following: "Since I'm not going to get waxed for the gynecologist, I figure shaving my legs is the least i can do. Like tipping the mailman. You can't make the job of delivering mail on icy Boston streets less shitty, but you can at least make a small gesture."

A quick survey of us Jezebels shows that Jen and I were the earliest shavers (we started on our legs and pits at 11 and 12 respectively. Is it because we're Eastern European Jews?), while Moe, Dodai, Anna and Tracie were grooming their legs at around 13-14. Anna didn't shave her pits until she was 17 because that's when she started growing hair there (interesting!) But none of us touched our eyebrows before age 14, and Dodai puts it succinctly: "As for Lourdes, i think she should keep her brows that way and not feel pressured into doing anything by bloggers, WTF." But we're curious about what you think. Take our poll below, won't you?

Gawker Media polls require Javascript; if you're viewing this in an RSS reader, click through to view in your Javascript-enabled web browser.

I Applaud Madonna [Dlisted]
What's Worse???? [Perez Hilton]
Someone Has Taken Her Love for Eva Peron a Little Too Far [Evil Beet]

DailyCandy Everywhere thinks we're real sickos and have nothing better to do than staging murders.

DailyCandy Chicago is under the impression that women shave their boyfriends' backs. We're not sure if we're more confused by the idea itself [We thought women prefer picking their boyfriends' zits! Or maybe that's just us! -Ed.] or by the notion that such an act of bonding is intrinsic to the city of Chicago.

DailyCandy London thinks we have 1) money to burn 2) no friends and 3) would like to go in on buying a racehorse with a shitload of strangers.

DailyCandy Los Angeles thinks we're sadists who'd enjoy watching our pets restrained and tortured before our very eyes.

DailyCandy Miami has not an ounce of respect for The Clash.

DailyCandy Seattle thinks that women can't drive without lessons.

DailyCandy
Related: In Grossness And In Health [Salon]
The Nutshell Studies Of Unexplained Death
Earlier: Women Drivers Don't Know Hot To Shift Gears, Start Cars, Or For That Matter, Dress Themselves