i've never shaved a single hair off my body, well, except the ones on my head. i made a vow to myself long before i knew i was actually a guy, that i won't shave any of my body hair. i sure thought girls looked nice with shaved arms and legs, groomed eyebrows, but i couldn't bring myself to do any of that. i wondered why. it was not because guys don't shave, but because shaving would add to the list of common features of me and girls which i completely hated

I don't shave, (except pits for sweating) and I don't really care what people think. I have seen people look at me strangly (i go swimming sometimes) but you know I don't think anyone should shave if they don't want to. I used to shave but I stopped because it's too much effort, not shaving helps me pass in shorts and I like it myself.

Quote from: timbuck2 on January 29, 2014, 02:41:20 AM
I don't know what friends you're talking to but I've never encountered a guy in my age group (16-21) that thought shaving body hair was weird. Most of the bio males I know shave their torsos. Many guys just don't like to be hairy, especially athletes, and to be honest the only place I really see this obsession with being as hairy as possible is in the ftm community.

Personally I've always shaved my armpits because I sweat like an animal and I don't need excess hair holding in that stink.

No you don't know my friends they don't shave and I meant legs and such or armpits, We all have hairy legs, And I'm not a big fan of being hairy either. And my female friends think its weird or not to be rude but gay to shave.

Quote from: Brandon on January 29, 2014, 06:04:12 AM

No you don't know my friends they don't shave and I meant legs and such or armpits, We all have hairy legs, And I'm not a big fan of being hairy either. And my female friends think its weird or not to be rude but gay to shave.

Yes, many women find it odd that males shave their body. When you think about it though, they really can't complain. Women shave too, and they 'paint' their faces and nails before they go places. How weird is that? 

I know some guys that shave. Not every guy wants to be hairy.

Think it just depends on you and your personal preference, if you don't shave, ->-bleeped-<- good for you, if you shave, then ->-bleeped-<- good for you lol

A lot of guys are doing this new manscaping now, so just do whatever makes you happy

Quote from: YBtheOutlaw on January 29, 2014, 02:50:16 AM
i've never shaved a single hair off my body, well, except the ones on my head. i made a vow to myself long before i knew i was actually a guy, that i won't shave any of my body hair. i sure thought girls looked nice with shaved arms and legs, groomed eyebrows, but i couldn't bring myself to do any of that. i wondered why. it was not because guys don't shave, but because shaving would add to the list of common features of me and girls which i completely hated

That could be part of my reason. I never thought of it like that. I just figure I'm too lazy to shave so why do it.

Quote from: Brandon on January 29, 2014, 06:04:12 AM

No you don't know my friends they don't shave and I meant legs and such or armpits, We all have hairy legs, And I'm not a big fan of being hairy either. And my female friends think its weird or not to be rude but gay to shave.

Thinking professional athletes are gay? (since many of us do shave body hair to some extent or another). Smfh

Quote from: overdrive on January 29, 2014, 11:31:09 AM
Thinking professional athletes are gay? (since many of us do shave body hair to some extent or another). Smfh

I don't personally subscribe to the stereotype that only gay men shave body hair, BUT, Brandon was stating that it is still a common view among people. My brothers and their friends think the same thing. Socially it might be more acceptable for a pro athlete to shave, but for the average Joe, it's still looked upon with suspicion. If someone wants to buck that trend, that's fine, but what Brandon says is true - that's how people see it.

Oh, and, I should answer - I didn't grow body hair pre-T because I didn't pass. One time I had someone yell to me "shave your legs fatty!" Lol. I just hated the attention so I kept them shaved. I didn't have much but every now and again. When I started passing, I stopped shaving - because I was aware that now, not having leg hair would be strange and would, again, draw unwanted attention to me. But that was just my personal comfort level. If you want to shave, don't want to shave, doesn't matter, you should do what makes you feel better about yourself.

Honestly as someone else here said, I think FTMs do obsess more about body hair and shaving than cis people do.  If you saw me on the street out of my sport I'm just an average joe too but never once do I get a funny look or comment. If you're feminine then yes I think its just another social queue that the general public is trying to work out if you are male, female, gay, straight, etc. If you present masculine people don't look twice on the street because their mind already made up that you're male so they don't subconsciously look for additional queues on your gender or orientation.

Also if you're insecure about it either way, people pick up on it. Decide what you want to do, have the confidence and sell it!

I shave my pits and trim the hairs on my downstairs mix-up for hygienic reasons purely. I prefer not letting the bacteria have my hair to hang on to so I can stink it up. I'm already a sweaty guy pre-T and I can stink up to the rafters (that's my opinion on it, though my husband assures me it's not the case), so I like keeping the chances of me being "that guy" you pass by at the store or get stuck behind in a line as low as possible. I've tried all sorts of different strength antiperspirants and deodorants. Even medical grade doesn't seem to stop it. Yeesh.

There are plenty of cis guys who shave their chest hair, I find that a lot of men who swear blindly that shaving anywhere makes you "less manly" are the type of macho guys who are very laddish and take themselves a bit too seriously, but that's just my opinion. I used to live with a pretty "alpha male" type of dude and he was very comfortable with himself, shaved his chest, groomed/shaved down below, and even keeps his eyebrows done a lot more than any girl I know which in it's own way was kind of refreshing, saying that though, he did love himself a lot nothing wrong with that though I guess.

I personally like to keep my eyebrows in check and see no problem with anyone doing so be it guy or girl, I'm pre T atm but my hair is dark and unibrows aren't attractive on anybody I also have the occasional trim (but not completely shave) downstairs, just for hygienic reasons, other than that I leave my arm hair and leg hair just as it is, as it is winter I don't have to uncover my legs and such to anyone who doesn't know about me, and hopefully by the time summer comes along I will be far enough into my transition and moved away from my current place for it to really matter who sees/knows or not.

I didn't shave for the first year or so of growing body hair, but I think the school told my parents that I was getting bullied for it -- which I was, but I had never seen the need to shave it, it didn't seem right -- and she made me start shaving.  I kept it up, badly, for a year or so, and then gradually stopped because I didn't see the point, and it was too much effort.  Since realising that I was trans at fifteen I have shaved only when I was in a situation where I was worried about people noticing and starting up the bullying again, pretty much only for rugby matches where I had to wear shorts.

The only thing I shave is my face, and I trim down below.

I think that leg shaving is a little bit "gay", but I know a couple of people who shaved their armpits and weren't thought of as gay.  I think its more a combination of someone's mannerisms as well, if someone's more feminine in their mannerisms then people will probably pick up on the shaving and decide to rib them as gay.  I know several people who also shave/wax their chests, and at least one swimmer who shaved their legs.  No one really thought that much of it.

Quote from: lxndr on January 29, 2014, 03:41:35 PM
I didn't shave for the first year or so of growing body hair, but I think the school told my parents that I was getting bullied for it -- which I was, but I had never seen the need to shave it, it didn't seem right -- and she made me start shaving.  I kept it up, badly, for a year or so, and then gradually stopped because I didn't see the point, and it was too much effort.  Since realising that I was trans at fifteen I have shaved only when I was in a situation where I was worried about people noticing and starting up the bullying again, pretty much only for rugby matches where I had to wear shorts.

The only thing I shave is my face, and I trim down below.

I think that leg shaving is a little bit "gay", but I know a couple of people who shaved their armpits and weren't thought of as gay.  I think its more a combination of someone's mannerisms as well, if someone's more feminine in their mannerisms then people will probably pick up on the shaving and decide to rib them as gay.  I know several people who also shave/wax their chests, and at least one swimmer who shaved their legs.  No one really thought that much of it.

Thats what I said, Only the leg shaving thing I feel is feminine or as Alex alittle gay. Not be disrespectful

Quote from: Brandon on January 29, 2014, 03:48:09 PM


Thats what I said, Only the leg shaving thing I feel is feminine or as Alex alittle gay. Not be disrespectful

If you aren't trying to be disrespectful, you might not want to call guys "gay" that choose to do it for whatever their reasons are. Just saying 

I think I need to step away from this thread because I'm getting a little annoyed at the references to calling guys gay just for shaving. Its as ignorant a comment as when people saying being trans means you're gay. IMO

Sure the human mind uses several queues to sort out a persons gender or orientation, and shaved legs may be one of those queues that the average person may use among a dozen other queues subconsciously. Shaving may show you as more feminine if you have other traits that combined also exhibit feminine characteristics. But the act of shaving itself, doesn't make a person "gay".

I apologise if my post came across as if I was calling guys "gay" for shaving, I put it in quotation marks to try and show that I didn't believe that point, or that I feel that people really mean to say that they're gay, it's just an unfortunate thing in our society, particularly with younger people, where everything deemed as effeminate gets labelled "gay".

Many people in my school and in my area use the word "gay" to call something stupid or something they don't like. "Oh, that's so gay" "That shirt is gay"

Quote from: Brandon on January 29, 2014, 04:59:34 PM
I'm sorry if I came off as disrespectful, Was not trying to be. I realize alot of my views seem to offend people here. I don't really think guys should be feminine but I'm not knocking you for it. I was not brought up in a household were men shaving their legs or arms were ok. My mom won't even let me shave. Like I said I don't agree with judging. Normally when me and my friends say somethings gay we mean stupid not in a offensive way to homosexuals. I know homosexuals who say it to though......

Dude, that's not okay. You offend people here because you say offensive things: it's called "causality". People who shave aren't "gay", and using that word to describe things you think are stupid is immature and contributes to the negative view people have on homosexuals. I don't care if you know some homosexuals that use that term; I'm sure you would find some choice word offensive if a Caucasian used it even if they insisted they had friends of African descent who use it. Also, it makes no difference if guys are "feminine" as opposed to "masculine". These concepts are created purely by society and furthering the rigid and oft double standards of the gender binary does no one in the trans* community any favors, whether they identify as binary or non.

Quote from: Gene on January 29, 2014, 10:52:25 PM
Dude, that's not okay. You offend people here because you say offensive things: it's called "causality". People who shave aren't "gay", and using that word to describe things you think are stupid is immature and contributes to the negative view people have on homosexuals. I don't care if you know some homosexuals that use that term; I'm sure you would find some choice word offensive if a Caucasian used it even if they insisted they had friends of African descent who use it. Also, it makes no difference if guys are "feminine" as opposed to "masculine". These concepts are created purely by society and furthering the rigid and oft double standards of the gender binary does no one in the trans* community any favors, whether they identify as binary or non.

I'm not gonna argue but I really wasn't trying to be disrespectful. But You have your oppinion and I have mine. That's ok though. I already know I offend people. And no I wouldn't because black people use it freely anyways so I could care less if a caucasion called me the N word because I don't take that stuff to heart. And I didn't say I use the word gay to describe something stupid people around me do, Why take everything to heart, Not everything is meant to be rude. Know do I think some things should not be said yes.

Quote from: birkin on January 29, 2014, 12:17:20 PM
I don't personally subscribe to the stereotype that only gay men shave body hair, BUT, Brandon was stating that it is still a common view among people. My brothers and their friends think the same thing. Socially it might be more acceptable for a pro athlete to shave, but for the average Joe, it's still looked upon with suspicion. If someone wants to buck that trend, that's fine, but what Brandon says is true - that's how people see it.

Oh, and, I should answer - I didn't grow body hair pre-T because I didn't pass. One time I had someone yell to me "shave your legs fatty!" Lol. I just hated the attention so I kept them shaved. I didn't have much but every now and again. When I started passing, I stopped shaving - because I was aware that now, not having leg hair would be strange and would, again, draw unwanted attention to me. But that was just my personal comfort level. If you want to shave, don't want to shave, doesn't matter, you should do what makes you feel better about yourself.

ThankYou that was my only point.......