Intimate norms of beauty by women. Depilation and modification of body hair on the example of Czech women.

Martina Greňová: Ženské intimní normy krásy. Depilace a úprava tělesného porostu na příkladu českých žen. FF UK 2011 The author searches for reasons for the body hair removal and its modifications. As the base she uses an analyse of the media and literature and her research among Czech women. The paper emanates, that certain subjects try to define norms of body hair removal. These norms are presented in medical and cosmetical literature, in magazines, internet articles, films, adverts, in the language and in the folklore. Accordingly the normative subjects are doctores, cosmeticians, editors and authors of magazines, participants of internet discussions, film makers and producers of cosmetic products. Nevertheles women participate on the creation of norms too. The author postulates some attitudes, how the hair removal is perceived and presented: as hygienical and medical, as dichotomy of human and animal (nature vs. culture), as dichotomy of feminity and masculinity, as an attribute of maturity, as an esthetic aspect. Most of the women remove hair from their bodies. Young women "shave" more , but the difference between the generations is not that big. Yet a vast difference exists between the age of todays teenagers when they started removing (on an averge of 12 years) and the older generations (at 24 years)..