I Shall No Longer Shave My Legs: A Prayer

I shall no longer shave my legs
I shall no longer shave my arm pits
And carry my pheremones with pride
I shall no longer wear chemicals upon my face
Or on my nails, or in my hair
I shall no longer look in the mirror and bemoan my body
I shall no longer allow CEO's and corporations to decide my self-worth
I shall no longer fear what I have been told to fear
I shall no longer deny my age or my fat
My body is perfect the way it is
I shall be happy being me, no matter what
I shall not let ignorance rule my ego
I shall no longer hate myself
There is nothing on earth that can make me better than I am right now
I am absolutly perfect the way I aam
I shall be beautiful because I choose to be
I shall be beautiful because I am beautiful
I shall care for my body because I choose to listen to the wisdom of my body
I shall listen to the wisdom of my body
I shall listen to the wisdom of my body
I shall listen to the wisdom od my body
In the name of the Blessed Lady who made me
Perfect as I am, perfect as she is
So shall it be

=D>
If only...

Why not?

I'm too girly and I like some of that stuff. It's not even that I care what people think, it's I just like to look pretty. But I completely appluad anyone else doing it

Way to take charge and what not. I feel ya, fight the oppresser!

I shall no longer shave my legs
I shall no longer shave my arm pits


WHAT?!?!?!?

*faints*

I DO that

I know its natural and all that, but I just cant stand body hair, much less on women...and I expect my gf/bf to do it as well

and I expect my gf/bf to do it as well

Why? Why would you expect someone you supposedly love to do something that may potentially be against they're nature?

Hm... being a guy, I can safely say that most of this does not apply to me. What does apply is the fat issue. Now, you say "my body is perfect the way it is," but I say, "If I can get in better shape and both look and feel more fit, then why should I settle for this old, trashed body?" Of course, that's much different than starving yourself to look like a Barbie doll or whatever, but I can safely say that my body is NOT perfect the way it is, and that it's my own fault for not doing what I could fairly easily do to make it better.

I really don't think that this is what you were referring to, but it's what your prayer made me think of.

Now, as for what Arvy said, he has a valid point, and it goes along with something I've been thinking about, too. We would all like to have mates that are as close to perfect as they can be, or who are striving for perfection continually. We all have natural attractions to certain physical attributes, and so our inclination is to include that in our list of what the "perfect" mate for us would be. In reality, the one whom we end up with is rarely "perfect" in this way, but we ourselves should do what we would expect our perfect mates to expect of us, and therefore do such things as losing weight (naturally, with exercise and healthy methods rather than drugs and starvation), shaving what should be shaven, etc. I believe that just because our body does something doesn't mean it's always okay to let our body rule us. I shave my face regularly and keep my hair well-trimmed (or at least I try to). My body keeps growing hair; does that mean it's wrong for me to be clean-shaven? Or to use deodorant? No, because the people around me feel better when I look less scruffy and don't stink.

You have to balance the extremes of corporate Nazi-like views of what your body should look like and how you would look if you just "let go."

That's my take on it, anyway.

When it comes to fat, it's a complex issue, especially for women because healthy women generally have at least 15% body fat. There's a difference between accepting that you have fat and not caring about your weight. The fact it that so many women don't know what is a healthy amount of body fat and don't no the difference between healthy and unhealthy kinds of fat. Anyway, when it comes to that sort of thing, the focus is all wrong. It should not be on fat, but rather being healthy. It's a different thing to lose weight for your physical wellness that to lose weight because of self esteem issues.

What Galatea is talking about is not about not taking care of yourself. It's about being happy with who you are, no matter what. Whether you call it God or the Blessed Lady, you should be happy with the body you were given and not try to change who you are. At the same time, yes, we should eat healthy foods, be phsyically active, and bathe. The reason we are attracted to certain features more than others, such as certain skin and hair qualities is because they are a sign of health. When it comes to things like shaving, it's a choice. If our hair naturally grows in those places, it's for a reason. Now, because of improvements in ways we heat or homes and in clothing, it's not needed anymore. Personally, I do shave my legs, but not simply because it that's what I think I'm supposed to do. I do it because I like the way it feels. The fact that my boyfriend enjoys touching more when I do that is just an added bonus.

Incidentally, I was once talking to a man from Russia who said he likes it if women have a little hair on their upper lip. One of my teachers once told me that she knew a man who enjoyed the hair under her arms.

You go Gal !!!! Good for you !

One of my teachers once told me that she knew a man who enjoyed the hair under her arms.

Oh my GAWWWWWD! If one of my teachers told me that I'd freak out !!!! It is so grossly personal !

OOPS! Misunderstanding. I meant that she knew a man who enjoyed the hair under his wife's arms. It wasn't my teacher's hair the man enjoyed.

I actually do not shave my legs. I never have.

Hehee... *rubs hairy legs* So soft... so smooth...

But wouldn't "chemicals in hair" count as shampoo?

Not necessarily. Depends on what they're made of. These days a lot of them are made with herbal and fruit-based ingredients. But I think Gal's talking about hair spray and gel and stuff like that.

Indeed. Also, chemical dye.

Bobo, the part you seemed to have missed is

I shall listen to the wisdom of my body
I shall listen to the wisdom of my body
I shall listen to the wisdom od my body

I'm not stupid. My body knows what it wants. My body knows and craves what it needs to remain healthy. I will abide by my own internal wisdom, rather than what I am force fed by an industry that benefits from my suffering.

Also, consider: Do you like clean-shaven women out of natural preference, or because you have been raised in a society that considers hairless women attractive?

What I encourage is the CHOICE to modify your body to modern beauty standards. You must determine if what you are doing is because of yourself, or because of someone else.