Bare-chested doesn't mean what it used to mean. Not too many years ago someone who was bare-chested was someone who wasn't wearing a shirt, now it may refer to someone with no chest hair. Gone are the days of Sam Elliot and his hairy chest being considered sexy. No longer is Sean Connery fully blanketed chest considered the epitome virility, nor Tom Selleck. Today 95% of teenage boys remove some or all of their body hair. (lost the link to that stat) I titled this The Abercrombie Effect because it's the most visible manifestation of this phenomenon. The Abercrombie models have even been mocked by flash mobs (check youtube). But the mocking missed one of the primary points of the shirtless guys, no body hair.
It's hard to see those abs thru all that hair, so just remove it.
What started me thinking about this was a conversation with a friend over dinner last week. Chuck is a man who came out late in life, not until he had been married and had kids was he willing to admit and accept who he was. His kids don't live with him but they spend a lot of time with their dad. The daughter has left for college and this has left her 14 YO brother home alone. Well it seems he has been hiding something from his mom and dad, he started shaving, not his face but his legs and maybe more. Having a secret is what concerned Chuck. He need not worry.
Chuck's son is not alone, as I stated above 95% of teenage boys in the US remove some or all of their body hair. Body hair is a sign of being an old man. Chest hair is seen as we once looked at nasal hair or that hair we saw coming out of grand pa's ear, gross.
The practice of removing body hair is not a new phenomenon, there are signs of it as far back as 4000 years to ancient Egypt. In the western culture the practice has waxed and waned;
The returning Crusaders(1096-1270) brought the practice back to Europe. In many European castles built between 1200 and 1600 AD, a special room was constructed where the ladies of the court could gather to shave. During the Renaissance, the practice of pubic hair removal flourished. Sixteenth and seventeenth century artists portrayed women as having little or no pubic hair. The work of Rubens, whose models typified the ideal in feminine beauty at the time, most dramatically reveals this.
The habit of depilating started to wane (publicly at least) during the reign of Catherine de Medici (1547-1589) who was then queen of France and something of a religious zealot. She forbade her ladies in waiting to remove their pubic hair any longer; however, it was still widely practiced until the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901) and the smothering prudishness of the "Victorian Era." Even then, it remained popular in private, especially for the ruling classes. There is some photographic evidence ranging from the time of the Civil War to the "blue movies" of the 1920s and 30s that shows that the amount of pubic hair during that time varied from full to none. Even though repressed by the outward morality of the era, it appears pubic shaving never disappeared but instead more appropriately went underground.
There are other reasons to remove body hair, among them hygiene. Body hair is a breeding ground for all sorts of bacteria. This bacteria contributes to what one would refer to as BO (body odor). So remove the hair and you reduce the odor.
Thru the years, the removal of body hair was also associated with either religious piety (keep it) and class identity (remove it).
All in all, Abercrombie models didn't start this current race to remove but they are a highly visible representation of it.
On with the games!!
Mojo Friday Guidelines
Disclaimer; Kinda like the Pirates Code, they're just guidelines, meant for fun. They aren't hard and fast rules.
1) If you comment you have to recommend all comments. (in order to receive mojo you have to give mojo. It's only good mojo manners.)
2) Everything you say may be taken as a joke (so if you ask a question, expect a silly answer)
3) You must recommend the diary (and pimp it unapologetically)
4) You don't have to comment to recommend.
5) You can't steal my idea (right, like that ain't goin' to happen. It has in numerous forms, I'm flattered!)
6) Mojo mojo mojo mojo, mojo mojo mojo.
7) TexDem (that's me) is not bound by the guidelines. Neither are you
Mojo Friday Goals
Disclaimer; These are mostly here for nostalgia, the site has changed so much and the servers have been upgraded to the point I don't think we could fuck with the site with 1000 people participating. 2007 it ain't.
A. At least 300 different commenters and 1000 comments by 1:30 PM EST and 1500 by 5:00 PM EST Friday Night that it's posted.
B. 100 recommends for each comment, at least.
C. Stay on Recommend List at least five hours (this requires some strategic planning by you guys, refer to guideline #3)
D. At least 200 diary recommends. 300 would be better, spread the word.
E. And always, fun fun fun.
F. Have at least 75% average participation rate as seen here in the Mojo Friday Postgame Show by Woodtick and bjedward.
G. (New) Have at least 30 kossacks over 90% participation (see here for some tips).
H. Overload the servers with recommends, not to mention dominate Top Comments Mojo list. (we do tend to mess with the site with all of our recommends at one time)(also, to dominate the Top Comments Top Mojo we need at least 50 comments with over 200 recommends, see guideline B)
I. That's enough for now. (Have a suggestion? Post it.)
MKinTN posted a diary to help everyone achieve greater success called How to Succeed at Mojo Friday Without Really Trying.
For those of you new to MF (Mojo Friday) we have our own lingo about a few things. Thank's to MF'er Jez (the link will explain) go to this diary for a little more fun and explanation. Official Mojo Friday Snecktionary.