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The original was posted on /r/AmItheAsshole by /u/hallowedborn on 2023-08-09 03:06:44.
This just happened, and I simultaneously find it infuriating and laughable.
Hi. I am a high school-aged girl who lives in the United States, as context. And I haven’t shaved my legs in… probably around three months? Something like that. But it’s also been summer vacation, so I haven’t really cared.
The problem is, school starts up again next week, and my mother has forbade me from going to school without shaving my legs. She actually told me that if I haven’t shaved my legs by the night before the first day of school, she will “discipline” me, and then shave my legs herself. (NOTE: she’s not preventing me from going to school, she’s just going to make sure that when I go, my legs are shaved.)
Problem is… I just don’t want to. It’s time consuming to shave my legs, and then it itches for weeks while the hair is growing back (no matter how much lotion I use, I’ve tried, it doesn’t really help). And while a lot of people will probably just say that I should shave my legs regularly… again, I just don’t want to. And it’s my body, so why should I have to?
Some of her brilliant reasons for why I should shave my legs:
- It’s unhygienic for women to not shave their legs. Of course, my brother has such long leg hair that it’s actually curly. It’s like a fuzzy blanket of hair covering his legs. If he shaved that off, you could make a wig out of it. I’m not exaggerating. But she literally told me that men don’t have to shave their legs, but as women, we have to. She even told me that my leg hair is “offensive” to her. Yes. She said that. I wasn’t aware my leg hair had that much power!
- I’ll get bullied for it. She told me that “teenage girls are shitty to each other”. So, I asked her if she wanted me to shave my legs so I wouldn’t get bullied. She said yes. I said I didn’t care if I got bullied over something as stupid as leg hair (because, news flash, I’ve gone to school before with unshaved legs, and nobody has ever said something about it!). And that’s when she started screaming at me because I wasn’t just agreeing with her. As a side note: I told her the only person who seems to care about my leg hair is her, and she said, “that you know of”. Well, I don’t care, and my friends think it’s sexist to make me shave my legs, so…
- Because she told me to. Now, this one’s my favorite. She tells me that she gets embarrassed over my “lack of hygiene”, and that she’s telling me to shave my legs, so I have to. That’s it. End of discussion right there.
Now, I’m going to be completely honest here, I’m pretty sure I’m NTA. But I’m asking anyway, because at the very least, it’ll give me some insight as to why she thinks the way she does, and/or how to convince her she’s being ridiculous. And, hey, maybe if enough highschoolers come on here and say they don’t care, she’ll rethink her position!
On the other hand, if I am TA, then I’ll apologize. Either way, I’m shaving my legs, just because I’m sick of her yelling at me over it.