Oh, man, don't get me started. I hear ya, sister! I'm kind of a fair-weather leg shaver; that is, I do it pretty regularly in the summer, but just kind of off and on in the winter months. The chief, my so, is ok with that, too.

But mainly it just pi**es me off when people complain about women with unshaven legs (even women complain about it sometimes). I mean, where do they get off? It's my freakin' body, and as long as I keep it clean and healthy and I'm not spreading disease, whose business is it of anybody else's whether I shave it or not?

And here's another thing about women shaving: it supports the image of women as persistently infantile. If that sounds a little extreme, hear me out: when we're little girls, our legs (and underarms) are hairless (except for the fine, almost invisible childhood fuzz), so if men want us to have hairless legs when we're grown up, doesn't that suggest that they want us to remain childish and therefore governable by them?

I can hear the shrieks of protest already, so let me hurriedly admit that I know that our culture values smooth skin, and nice smooth legs are appealing to many of us--I like them too. But that should be MY choice, or possibly a choice agreed to between me and my significant other, not someone else's. In fact, that's what feminism is all about: choices. And if you think you're not a feminist, think about whether you'd like someone else making these kinds of decisions for you: if you're OK with that, you're not a feminist; but if you're NOT OK with that, whether you want to own up to it or not, you're a feminist, sister.

OK, rant over. You may now return to your originally scheduled thread.