It is a norm for women in the U.S. to shave their armpits, but this is not the norm elsewhere, even in countries that have relatively a lot in common with the U.S. (like France I’ve been corrected). How did armpit shaving become the norm in the U.S.? And who benefited from this?
Vee the Monsoon sent us the following commentary and ad. It turns out, women shave in the U.S. today, in part, because of a concerted marketing effort on the part of companies that stood to profit from the creation of such a norm with the creation of anxiety about “objectionable hair.”
From The Straight Dope:
…U.S. women were browbeaten into shaving underarm hair by a sustained marketing assault that began in 1915. (Leg hair came later.) The aim of… the Great Underarm Campaign was to inform American womanhood of a problem that till then it didn’t know it had, namely unsightly underarm hair. To be sure, women had been concerned about the appearance of their hair since time immemorial, but (sensibly) only the stuff you could see. Prior to World War I this meant scalp and, for an unlucky few, facial hair. Around 1915, however, sleeveless dresses became popular, opening up a whole new field of female vulnerability for marketers to exploit…. the underarm campaign began in May, 1915, in Harper’s Bazaar, a magazine aimed at the upper crust. The first ad ‘featured a waist-up photograph of a young woman who appears to be dressed in a slip with a toga-like outfit covering one shoulder. Her arms are arched over her head revealing perfectly clear armpits. The first part of the ad read “Summer Dress and Modern Dancing combine to make necessary the removal of objectionable
hair.
From the May 1915 issue of Harper’s Bazaar:
Thanks Vee!
NEW! Another example from the U.K., 1934 (found here). This one encourages the dissolving of armpit hair as a way to fight armpit odor:
Comments 10
Leeloo — May 26, 2008
Being a french woman, I can assure you that shaving your armpits is also the norm here.
It's funny how this simple mistake (using a cliché instead of a documented fact to prove a point) makes me question the veracity of the articles on your blog...
Even though I really like reading it.
Noumenon — December 2, 2008
Since the U.S. has now advanced its standards to the point that shaving the pubic region is somewhat common too (at least 2blowhards.com is always remarking on it), I would expect other countries to be playing catch-up at least with regard to armpits.
Sociological Images — March 24, 2009
[...] men aren’t supposed to shave below the neck, but women are required to. Specifically, women are supposed to shave their “flowers” (in a nod to [...]
meerkat — March 25, 2009
Wow, I like how the second one makes armpit hair sound like a horrible disease that normal people never have but an unfortunate few are afflicted with (but this powder is a cure that will make it go away FOREVER).
Only *YOU* can prevent Unshaven Legs « Women In Pants — April 8, 2009
[...] haven’t always had to shave, even in American culture. This post at Sociological Images documents the rise of advertising in the early twentieth century designed to make women feel as [...]
MissMoppet — April 24, 2009
Actually, hairless armpits and hairless bodies have been part of the Western aesthetic back to Greek and Roman times. Depilation was where it was at, even in the middle ages a pair of tweezers was a vital part of a well to do womans kit.
Blix — August 17, 2011
I never understand why people feel so strongly against hair. After all, it is simply the location that changes things. I am a woman and sometimes go several months without shaving. I get funny looks as well as people who think I'm manly, but hair is not only for men. Duh.
My armpit and the hairs that call it “home” | The Embiggens Project — August 28, 2013
[...] Harper’s Bazaar (http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2008/05/24/anxiety-about-objectionable-hair-money-in-someones-p...), BAN (http://www.flickriver.com/photos/roadsidepictures/7640666640/), 1933 device [...]