Happy No Shave November and Movember!

Welcome to Movember! This time of year is observed in attempts to spread prostate cancer awareness. Participants are to refrain from shaving for the entire month of November. Willing participants, also known as "Mo Bros", can register at Movember with a shaven face and then find sponsors to donate funds for prostate cancer research. At the end of the month a gala is held for the participants.

November is also known as No Shave November, which is not to be confused with Movember. No Shave November is similar but it has little to do with charity.  Just as with Movember, No Shave November is not limited to men only. But if you do a little digging online you'll learn that not all are enthused at the idea of women joining in on the fun.

Below are some Twitter quotes in response to No Shave November. All quotes were obtained from TNT Magazine.

“Ladies... Please don't participate in 'No Shave November',” says on Twitter user.

“Attention Ladies : No Shave November is meant for men not women,” tweeted another.

While one man writes: ‘’By the way...No Shave November is for Men....Ladies trim that....all of that.”

Below are quotes obtained from Ms. Magazine, 

"If women were also participated in #Noshavenovember there would be a huge drop in November pregnancies"

"Yoo, this #noshavenovember thing going on ONLY applies to a MANS FACE, women please don't participate or well be gone till December"

Although, I shave; quotes like these displease me. The question of, "to shave or not to shave?", is not a new one. In face I have touched upon this subject in prior posts. The most prominent on this blog is entitled, Feminism and Hair: Is Shaving For Suckers? To read that post click, here.

Shaving is an act largely reserved for women. Although, women may pressure the men in their lives to do some "manscaping", it is women more so than men, who receive the most pressure. 

In a recent article, Deborah Aronin, of Ms. Magazine, says, "As early as 1915, women were shown advertisements such as this one for depilatory powder in Harper's Bazaar telling them underarm hair was 'objectionable.'"

"Since then, the campaigns for hair removal products have become ubiquitous. Another argument relates more to gender roles: Generally, men tend to have more hair on their bodies and faces than women. Hairlessness for women can be seen as an exaggeration of that difference between men and women."  

Aronin, makes the astute point, that when it comes to body image issues, feminism focuses mainly on body size within the media. Body hair is not often a topic of concentration within the feminist movement despite the fact that there are plenty of feminist and non-feminist women who refuse to shave. Hairy women do exist.

Those of us who shave have our reasons. Most likely they have to do with cultural expectancy and partially due to personal preference. Is one influenced by the other? Probably.