Armpits and 21st century.

[answerbok]

Why must it be just about compulsory for women to shave armpits, and almost illegal for men to? thought we were wising up to freedom of expression and equal rights :-)

[Toglet]

Because armpit hair traps sweat. Men think a man being stinky is macho. A woman thinks anyone being stinky is, well, just stinky!

[chijiki]

You are obviously not German then.
Nor Russian, because most young and liberated Russian girls will insist that their men shave both their armpits and their pubic regions.

[templeman]

Women, and men, have been shaving various bits of body hair since prehistoric times. It was only in 1915 that women shaving their underarm hair became popular when the US magazine Harpers Bazaar published an advert for a sleeveless dress in which the model was shown without underarm hair. The razor manufacturers saw an opportunity here and claimed that it had health benefits. This rapidly increased their sales as the practice spread throughout Western Europe. Many, e.g. Muslims, shave for religious reasons. Underarm shaving for men is quite common in many parts of the world. It is only in the UK where men snigger at this practice and think that it's effeminate. One of the benefits of shaving in this area is that it reduces odour.

[sft42]

Oh dear....I'll be getting nicked then?

[Gef]

I fail to see how shaving armpits reduces body odour. The odour is caused by sweat and not by the hair. If you shave you will still sweat and, as usual, it will end up in the armpits of your shirt etc.