Body hair on women is "liberating" apparently.

[think positive]

[Morrigu]

[David]

Well said!

[Tannin]

[Skids]

Ya can't beat a nice smooth pussy. End of story

[think positive]

[think positive]

[HAL]

Only on the web.

[Morrigu]

The whole " smell factor " is interesting

We in the west seem to need to smell "pretty " - artificially mostly though as a result of things we can spray on to mask any degree of natural human odour.

I've spent a bit of time in Africa - and not in high society that's for sure - they aren't big on spray away so the smell of human ( just human not grubby not unwashed - just clean without " perfumed" Western aerosols) can be in the first instance overpowering but once you get used to it - well it is so much more pleasant than the over powering stench of many deodorants etc and all perfumes - rather poke myself in the eye with a pencil than be in close proximity to stinky perfumed women and men - yuk yuk yuk!!!

[David]

Yep, and how bizarre is it that we insist on inflicting our bodies with these chemicals on a regular basis. Every morning, I paste roll-on deodorant on my armpits because I'm afraid people might be disgusted by my natural bodily odours. Despite the fact that I have a shower every morning without fail.

It's a vicious cycle we get ourselves into - where the mildest visual or olfactory 'blemish' becomes an intolerable flaw - and the only real winner is the personal grooming industry, which gets to profit from our insecurities and unjustified unhappiness about our perfectly normal bodies by selling us more things so we can be even more 'perfect'.

[/rant]

[pietillidie]

^You're committing a "ghost in the machine" fallacy there, though; human cultures are every bit as natural as the neural networks and environments which sustain them.

Unless you're an untreated addict or schizophrenic, or suffer certain health issues, or such, wandering about invading people's space with odours others find repugnant is every bit a cultural choice. Other cultures will have their own versions of bad smells.

You're confusing cultural form with the process of cultural negotiation. If you think saving society from the menace of deodorant oppression is a worthy cause (and I'm not talking health and environmental problems related to ingredients), fair enough, but, ahem...priorities, anyone?

[David]

Aren't you confusing individual responsibilities with structural critique, though? Surely the question of whether or not I should apply Lynx tomorrow morning is a different matter to the question of whether obsessive deodorant use is actually harmful or at least symptomatic of wider social ills.

[pietillidie]

^Unless there's plainly some Norsca-based oppression going on, someone has to demonstrate that this is actually an "ill" beyond any other mundane thing we do in life because it works okay in context.

I for one am not lamenting that I don't toil in the fields, have parasite-infested hair and wear deer skin; deodorant for crowded elevators, passenger vehicles and confined spaces seems like a small price to pay.

Of course, throwing in the adjective "obsessive" makes everything in any culture an ill! IMO you're confusing spending 20 seconds applying a ubiquitous product to your armpits with something�anything�that matters in our context.

[think positive]

[stui magpie]