Sammy Secrist

“The Specter of Excess” presented an interesting account of the social implications and expectations of body hair removal among woman.  I found the reading very interesting in how it explored conformity, specifically in regard to body hair removal among woman, from the point of view of resisters. This perspective allows the article to effectively convey messages about gender ideologies, beauty standards, and how body hair removal is “one way women obey social norms” (13).  By following the stories of those who departed from these norms, we can clearly see the negative response it elicits from society. Men’s hair is linked to masculinity and power, while women’s body hair is associated with uncleanliness, immorality, and “the denial of women’s sexuality” (13).  Therefore, hairlessness creates a clear distinction between femininity and masculinity. Femininity becomes linked to docility, while masculinity is associated with dominance. Hairlessness among women causes females to look more infantile, a quality desirable in societies that feel threatened by female power. The women in this study’s responses exhibited “beliefs about hair as disgusting and inherently unhealthy” (17) and most of their family and friends expressed this to them, so it was interesting to hear their reactions to their experience. One point in the article I found interesting was the raced and classed dimensions of body hair and the idea about the “dreaded otherness”. The working-class women and women of color particularly struggled with body hair because of their established feelings of “differentness” from white middle or upper class women. They feel pressure to overcome this sense of “differentness” by being very polished and “clean” and “not shaving added a layer of bodily oppression to the stigma they already experienced as lower-status women and because, for women of color, their hair was darker, coarser, and more pronounced than white women’s hair” (24). It was also interesting to read the reactions of friends and family to the women participating in the study. Most found it gross and disturbing, and were worried it was corrupting their mind and identity. These comments led to feelings of disgust and lack of cleanliness in the women which indicates that “shaving-engendered social penalties resulted for those who refused to comply with mandated female hairlessness” (24). In conclusion, by resisting body norms, the women in this study effectively brought to light the power imbalances between men and women and the practices to which they conformed.