A Pilgrim’s Digression

Last week, we had our first Code Red day in the Washington, D.C. metro area. Code Red does not refer to terrorism, but to the heat index and air quality. The heat is near unbearable. People are supposed to stay inside, immobile, as much as possible. It’s a good reason to vege shirtless, or clothes-less, on the couch, drinking Pepsis and watching Fellowship of the Ring over and over until I am truly convinced of the rumor that Frodo and Sam are homosexual lovers. The hot weather also has the effect of bringing out girls and women in shorts and skirts. A great thing! you say. Oh yes, most of the time. However, I must say I’ve seen more hairy-legged women in the past few days than I saw both times I visited Paris. Well, I visited Paris in November both times, so maybe that isn’t a good example, but the effects of all the anti-French war rhetoric haven’t quite worn off so that was the first example that came to mind. Yesterday, on the bus home, I sat beside a woman whose legs probably hadn’t seen a razor in a couple weeks, but the woman across from me looked as if she had joined NOW in 1968 and hadn’t shaved since. Why is a hairy-legged woman so shocking? I admit, it won’t be shocking to me for very long, considering how many I am seeing on a daily basis, but I don’t think I will ever find leg hair or arm pit hair to be attractive on a woman. Perhaps men like smooth-legged women because men want there to be a clear distinction betwen how the body of a woman looks and feels and how the body of a man looks and feels. I admit, I found myself questioning whether the hirsute specimen I saw on the bus yesterday was indeed a woman. Hairy legs on a woman crosses the boundary of gender and calls into question our basic assumptions about men and women. I found myself unable to keep from looking at this person’s legs throughout the bus ride home. I was disgusted by the sight, but I also couldn’t help but look because the question weighed on me, “Is this a woman or man I am looking at?”