Monday, July 9, 2012

Genderfree #4

Well folks, another week has gone by (where did it go, by the way?), so I guess it's time for another

For some reason our culture is obsessed with body hair. Where it's acceptable, and where it isn't. It's also obsessed with the fact that how you remove that hair must conform with your gender (because each gender is required to groom different areas in order to be accepted).

So for this week, I challenge you to find me gender neutral razor. You know, something you can shave with- be it your face, your legs, your pits... doesn't matter.



Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Genderfree Challenge #3

Apparently Stat holidays totally screw up my internal clock. I meant to post this yesterday (Monday), but because of the stat holiday for Canada Day giving me yesterday off of work, I completely forgot it was Monday. Go figure.

This week's Genderfree Challenge: Deoderant.

No one wants their smell to be offensive. We all have different definitions of what that means though. Why do those definitions need to be aligned with our gender?



About a year ago, Hubby and I were shopping and we both needed to pick up deoderant. We were at Costco, and I couldn't find anything I liked there in "women's" deoderant. They were all over priced super "moisturizing" to reduce the irritation from shaving. I haven't shaved my arm pits in a few years, so I certainly don't want to spend extra money on deoderant with features I'll never make use of. Hubby says to me "why don't you just get this stuff?" (pointing to the same stuff he buys).

It was like a bomb went off in my head. I hadn't even considered it a possibility until that moment. Our society has me so brainwashed that I couldn't even THINK of not using women's deoderant. I texted my buddy (a transgender man), and his response was "Honestly I'm surprised you hadn't switched already." As though this is everyday stuff for him. But for me, it was groundbreaking.

It was also awesome as it shows me just how amazing my Hubby actually is.

Oh- and as a complete side note- I find I'm less stinky since I stopped shaving my underarms. I rarely even use deoderant these days, and so far no one has complained. I find basic cleanliness works well at keeping the odours at a minimum.