What Silk Stockings Cannot Conceal
An Examination of Women's Attitudes Towards Body Hair and its Removal
Abstract
There is hardly any academically rigorous sociological research on female body hair removal in Hungary, despite the fact that this practice constitutes a strong social norm in our society. This study examines women’s attitudes toward hair removal and how they interpret both their own relationship to this norm and society’s expectations more broadly, seeking to understand the reasons behind its widespread conformity. The research employs a two-stage methodology. First, hair-removal advertisements were analysed in order to explore the visual representations of this practice and to inform the design of the study’s main empirical component: focus group interviews. In total, three focus group interviews were conducted with 28 female university students in Budapest, with the aim of uncovering different dimensions of norm compliance. Consequently, the frequency of body hair removal was not the subject of my analysis, only the interpretation of the social reactions to it and its typical patterns. The aim of my research is to provide possible theoretical frameworks for a deeper understanding of the phenomenon, drawing on both the classic theories of sociology and a feminist critical perspective.
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