the pits

Hairy armpits are considered one of the tell tale signs of a women's hippiedom. I found a picture of Julia Roberts on the web, where the caption said something like, "from elegant to earthy just by raising her arm." I think this is a silly but powerful cliche. Julia just knows what I happened to learn from a good friend my freshman year of college: it's dumb to shave. Sometimes I do feel weird about people seeing my pit hair, especially in professional situations. Part of this is the fear that I will judged as a dirty hippie but also because people peeping my armpit hair seems personal, almost like they were checking out my pubes. This thought, according to one of my favorite entries in "The Joy of Sex," is perhaps not that far off. Under the term Cassolette Alex Comfort writes, "The natural perfume of a clean woman: her greatest physical asset after her beauty (some would say greater than that). It comes from the whole of her--hair, skin, breasts, armpits, genitals and the clothing she has worn: its note depends on her hair color but no two women are the same." In a related article on armpits (where he also describes their use for axillary intercourse) Comforts writes, " Classical site for kisses. Should on no account be shaved." Exactly. I will acknowledge the Joy Of Sex itself has a hippie aura for sure but it also covers bondage, leather and g strings so it's not all kama sutra. It is one of my favorite books and I think it makes a good point. Shaving armpits actually takes away from sex appeal, not adds to it.