Men and the emerging hairless ideal

Because body hair removal has long played an essential role in the construction of the ideal feminine body, it is normally connected with girls and women. Nevertheless, there is growing evidence to suggest that hair removal is increasingly the domain of men as well as women. Visual imagery in print advertisements, reports from aestheticians, and other sources suggest that men, in growing numbers are removing hair from their chest backs and stomachs. While the development of this apparent trend is over determined by a number of interesting factors, it is generally linked to the body building and fitness craze of the 1980´s and the emergence of gay aesthetics into the mainstream.

The practice of body hair removal by men has obvious differences from the practice by women: different areas of the body are targeted, and men´s body hair removal is nowhere near as pervasive as the same practice by women. It is also important to note that men´s body hair removal has cultural meaning that is significantly different from that of women. Especially in relation to gender construction and the crisis of masculinity. However, for our purposes here, what is significant is that the history related to the public display of the body- female or male. While men´s body hair removal does not correlate to increased exposure of the male body through changing fashion, the practice does emerge in the context of the increased exhibition or display of the male body through changing fashion, the practice does emerge in the context of the increased exhibition or display of the male body.

In the past two decades, in advertisements and in popular culture at large, the male body has increasingly been presented as the object of an appraising- and critical- gaze. Coinciding with this increased visibility has been a rapidly growing industry of products and services related to the improvement of the male body. The emerging practice of hair removal by men is thus one of a number of significant cultural changes regarding the treatment of the male body. Together, these changes reflect the growing problematization of the male body. Thus, as the male body is increasingly displayed, it is also increasingly scrutinized and problematized .