At what point in history did it become commonplace for women to shave their legs? Why do we do it at all?

Why Women Shave Their Legs and Underarms - The power of advertising. A marketing campaign around the turn of the century convinced the women of North America to shave their body hair. It all began with the May, 1915 edition of Harper's Bazaar magazine that featured a model sporting the latest fashion. She wore a sleeveless evening gown that exposed, for the first time in fashion, her bare shoulders, and her armpits. A young marketing executive with the Wilkinson Sword Company, who also made razor blades for men, designed a campaign to convince the women of North America that: (a) Underarm hair was unhygienic (b) It was unfeminine. In two years, the sales of razor blades doubled as our grandmothers and great grandmothers made themselves conform to this socially constructed gender stereotype. This norm for North American women has been reinforced by several generations of daughters who role-modeled their mothers. The link has some very interesting facts on the subject.

women shave their legs because that is what the advertizing media tells them to do. Probably started around the early twenith century as stocking became available and men get aroused by the smooth feel of a silk stocking leg thrown over them.

Well, going way, way back, women and men shaved their bodies to rid infestations of body lice, but I'm guessing that really isn't what you're asking. I think we can mostly attribute the practice to changing society and the Hollywood machine. When it became fashionable for women to start baring more than her ankles and hemlines kept getting shorter, hairy legs started disappearing. No one wanted to see a pin-up looking less than perfect and hairy legs (or armpits, or mustaches, for that matter) just don't make pretty pictures. Ultimately, women started shaing frequently for the same reason they snap up every trend that comes along today - furry moon-boots, anyone? micro-minis? - they want to be just like the trailblazers (think Betty Grable and her forever-long legs). Questioning the underlying issue of "following the herd" might be more relevant than just leg-shaving.

Good question!! Where did this start?? I have often wondered this. I do not shave my legs and proud of it. A man surely invented it for more work for a woman to do.

to some of us guys it makes no difference. It's all good

we do it to look cleaner... smother and to show off our legs... mostly its the guys

Some other posters have provided links to discussions of the historicity of this practice. I'm not an expert, but having viewed a large selection of still and 16mm "stag films" (the precursers of pornography) from the 1920s and 30s as part of a class, I am confident that shaving, at least of the armpits, was not a requisite aspect of female gender at this time. Most of the women had obvious armpit hair and pubic hair. It was difficult to tell whether the legs were shaved on many of the actresses (due to the washed out nature of the films/the fact that they kept hose on/or some combination of the two) but some had obvious hair. Most of the later films we watched were European, so they do not neccessarily reflect contemporaneous American gender constructs. I think that shaving infantilizes women (especially the current trend of total hair removal in the pubic area) - it is one of the many culture markers of gender that speak to women's diminished status - we are supposed to appear weak (this is where chivalry comes from), we are supposed to be emotional and itellectual children. I don't shave my legs or my armpits. I refuse to suffer (ingrown hairs, waste of time, etc) so that I can prove I am a woman and so that men can enjoy my legs. I actually love armpit hair on a woman - I mean, it actually turns me on. I think I've come to associate the armpit hair with personality traits I admire. Armpit hair is usually an indication of either ardent feminism, lesbianism, or both.

I guess to feel sexy, for the guys? Good question. Im going to stop shving jk.

Have you tried pulling hose up hairy legs? I prefer the feel of my legs to be smooth. My guy does too.