Nicole+G’s+Final+AmEx+Speech+2016

An America Filled With Girls Jealous of Naked Mole Rats

Evolution has created humans, a superiorly intellectual being. Evolved into a creature able to fight disease, solve problems, have opposable thumbs. One one thing that shows our inferior animal ancestors is our body hair. Some men are indistinguishable from a gorilla. Men are allowed to leave their body hair untouched and ungroomed but women are taught to believe their hair needs to be removed. Body hair is seen as manly and unfeminine. Women are seen everywhere without a trace of body hair. These women have been put through excruciating pain to have the ideal naked mole rat look. There are many ways of removal. Most common is shaving. This is also the most practical method. Buying a pack of razors every few months. Gillet the most popular brand of razors is a 20 billion dollar company and has sales of 7 million dollars annually. Your average woman will spend around 10,000 dollars on shaving related products in her lifetime. She will also spend an extra 10 minutes in the shower every time she shaves. This is not only a phenomenal waste of time and money, but a burden on the environment. First off is the amount of trash accumulated by razor blades. Second is the amount of water wasted if a woman shaves in the shower, about 20 gallons of water is wasted every time she shaves. Shaving also comes with some side effects: cuts and ingrown hairs. And when you get a chill your hair immediately grows back. What's the point of shaving it off if it's going to grow right back? Another form of hair removal is waxing. Pouring hot wax on your body and ripping out hair and possibly skin!!!!! To get waxed it is safer to visit a professional and pay to get it done. If you get leg, armpit, bikini, brows, and lip done (which are all necessary) the cost will be roughly 150 dollars every time you go. You can have smooth skin for 2 weeks, but the day after your skin will be red and splotchy. There is still risks of ingrown hairs and waxing removes the first 7 layers of your skin, so your skin will get weaker and start to sag over time. The last way to deal with body hair is to leave it be. No pain no hassle. But for some reason this is not socially acceptable. I had leg hair at a young age like 7 or 8. I was embarrassed because lots of my friends had minimal leg hair that wasn't noticeable. One day I wore a skirt to school and I was playing on the playground minding my own business. I went over to talk to the boy I liked and he felt it was necessary to point at my leg hair and call me gross. I was already embarrassed of my leg hair and that night I asked my parents if I could shave. They said no and asked why I wanted to so I told them what happened. My dad was enraged that someone would say that to me and told me to tell him that I don't have to shave until he grows hair on his balls. This made me feel a little better, but I was still insecure about my body hair. Then in 5th grade all my friends started shaving. My friends told me I should start too. So I asked my parents again and they still said no. Finally the summer before 7th grade I was allowed to. The reason was because I was doing a dive club and was going to wear a bathing suit everyday. That summer I felt more comfortable with my body but once the problem of my leg hair was gone I moved on to something else I could feel insecure about. A few years later the problem of my facial hair arose. I was asked by my own mother if my boyfriend complained that my mustache tickled him while we kissed. She told me she was just joking but then offered to help me remove it. I quickly jumped on the offer since now my own mom was ridiculing me. She bought me a nair hair removal kit. For those who don't know what that is it is a cream that you put directly on your skin and it singes off the hair. I thought i would give it a try. I opened the bottle and put it on directly under my nose where just the smell alone brought tears to my eyes. You're supposed to leave it on for 15 minutes, but i could not last for more than 2 minutes because it started burning my skin off, or that's what it felt like. That was obviously a bust so my mom took me to get my mustache waxed off. This was more successful even though it was almost as painful, but the next day instead of my face hair catching your attention the line of breakout across my lip was more noticeable. I thought all my hair removal problems had been solved. Sadly this is still not the case. Now there is the problem of shaving everything down there. In every pornography the ladies are bare. I have been told that boys expect girls to shave and are disgusted by girls who are comfortable leaving their bodies alone. Many boys and girls for that matter believe that having pubic hair makes you less hygienic. Which the opposite is true. Pubic hair is there for a reason. Pubic hair helps protect your genitals and your well being. There are many reasons not to shave down their. First it is there for protection. Dirt and bacteria that you don't want in your body is caught before it is able to harm you. Second shaving irritates and causes small cuts in your skin. These open wounds make it easier to for the spread of infections, especially sexually transmitted ones. Also pubic hair trap pheromones which are what makes someone become attracted to you and know whether you are compatible with one another. So essentially shaving could actually make you more undesirable. Lastly pubes are there as a cushion during sex, to lessen friction and lessen skin on skin contact.

The America I want to grow old in is a place where body hair is accepted for both genders. A n america where girls and also boys don't feel the need to change their bodies solely to conform to societal norms. Where I can grow my hair out and not be ridiculed or judged for it. An america where women can walk around with their armpit hair dyed blue and not feel ashamed.


 * Sources **

[|__http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/04/03/shaving-pubic-hair.aspx__]

[|__http://www.forbes.com/companies/gillette/__]

[|__https://www.verywell.com/can-shaving-or-waxing-my-pubic-hair-affect-my-std-risk-3133066__]

[|__http://www.statisticbrain.com/shaving-statistics/__]