"The idea that removing body hair is necessary in order to be clean and attractive is entirely the product of patriarchy, capitalism, and Eurocentric beauty standards."

Yes, exactly, though when I lived in Germany for 5 years as a young man, traveling all over Europe, I was quite struck as an American by the frequent and unashamed appearance of body hair on women. Sure, European women shave their legs sometimes, but certainly not all the time. And way less than American women.

Just a few years ago, I was quite friendly with a group of French speakers in Detroit, and a young scientist I knew, not quite 30 at the time, favored lovely little sundresses with spaghetti straps on warm evenings out.

She quite clearly did not, or at least did not regularly, shave her legs or under her arms.

None of our European cohort (French, Belgian, Swiss) found that in the least remarkable. Neither did French speaking Canadian women we hung with.

Americans were an altogether different story. I mean, nobody shamed her, but people seemed shocked that she would go out for the evening with body hair showing.

I can still see her snorting and rolling her eyes at one point answering a question. "I'm not getting rashes and razor bumps just for some guy who doesn't like what a real adult woman looks like."

That ended that conversation.