In the last two months I have seen two articles. One article was about a young woman going against cultural norms and throwing her razor in the trash…for good. She had made the decision that she would no longer go by what society tells us and not shave any hair off her body. The second article is from another woman who made the life choice to ditch a very important piece of our everyday attire as women since we hit puberty - the bra! 

The question we have to ask is, do these actions really define us as women? For example, is the first case less of a woman because she has more body hair than the average woman?

Personally, I am lucky enough to experience no discomfort from my bras or find shaving tedious. I guess I am part of the group of women who have been programmed to find this very normal. I wear a bra because it makes me look better in my outfit and it also adds another layer of protection without feeling overly exposed to the outside world. As for the shaving, I tend to sometimes not shave my legs until they are pretty unbearable to touch but I will never let the hair in other places grow. It is just not clean or conducive with the fact that we live in a pretty hot climate - you don’t want to be all sweaty, it’s gross. I’m sorry ladies but this is our reality.

However, do I think these above acts define me as a woman or are connected to my womanhood? No, not at all. I think we are made the way we are by a higher being and society and over time, certain beauty tricks have come up to ensure we look a certain way but this does not mean every woman has to follow them. The bra provides support that helps avoid back pain while the shaving of armpits helps control odors and lets your deodorant sink in more. However, shaving the legs does not have to be for everyone.

I think we should focus on things that really do make us women like our strength, our perseverance and so much more but not let the superficial acts define us.

So 21st century ladies, would you ever throw away your razor or ditch the uncomfortable bra or would that be throwing away your womanhood?