why do nuns shave?
Last night, hanging out with my fellow Jews for Shabbat, I met a woman is Jewish and has a (religious, practicing) Catholic father. Since I go to a Catholic university, I pretty much pounced on her and asked her a half dozen questions about Catholicism I've always wanted to know, but can't really ask the Catholics at my college because contrary to what some might think, I may be mean, but I'm not an asshole.
One of my big questions concerned nuns, specifically the nuns at my university. I asked this woman, "Why do nuns shave?"
The response? "WELL! Just because they're nuns doesn't mean they aren't HYGIENIC! I mean, they don't do things that are UNHEALTHY!"
I think something inside my brain broke. Then again, there's no logic in the patriarchy, or its religions.
One of my big questions concerned nuns, specifically the nuns at my university. I asked this woman, "Why do nuns shave?"
The response? "WELL! Just because they're nuns doesn't mean they aren't HYGIENIC! I mean, they don't do things that are UNHEALTHY!"
I think something inside my brain broke. Then again, there's no logic in the patriarchy, or its religions.
posted by Edith at 12:19 AM
40 Comments:
This comment has been removed by the author.
If nuns shave :) it does make sense. Just because they've taken a vow of celibacy, they still are subject to all the messages thrown at women in our culture.
Although celibate, they probably don't want to appear "gross", which is how most women who don't shave are treated.
It goes much deeper than just patriarchy, although it definately finds an expression within that space. It often seems to me that the very basis of civilisation (in general) is the denial of our mamalian biology. Things can get quite wierd because of it.
Just consider for a moment "artificial musk" as a scent in perfumes and deodorants. What message does that send? "Cover up U'r filthy, disgusting, natual, musky odor with our clean, refreshing, artifical, musky scent."
shave what parts?
Okay, I'm confused, is not shaving unhealthy? I have trouble shaving my legs because of my sensitive skin (supposedly sensitive skin razors are crap). Or are we referring to more intimate areas? No, I am not a nun.
I thought it was initially both monks and nuns who did the head-(and everywhere else)-shaving. That's certainly been, and still is, the case with particular strains of Buddhism.
I think it was done as an easy means of distinguishing the enfaithed from the regular people around them, but that's just the official explanation so it's likely not the full story.
Of course, it's not exactly a colossal surprise that it's the men who got to stop doing it. The hygiene excuse is so utterly bogus is makes wars look reasonable.
i pooped! in joy! i pooped in joy that you posted. thanks :)
"It often seems to me that the very basis of civilisation (in general) is the denial of our mamalian biology."
Bingo. And the cause of this denial is, at least in part, religion. What else taught us that we must supress natural urges becuase they are dirty and wicked etc. It follows that the natural state of our bodies is somehow lacking as well.
Hey, guess what? I just got my first "gross" from someone close to me on account of my unshaven arms! One of the comments here reminded me of it. Now I can share my experiences too! Me too, me too!
;-)
(Actually, the conversation was uninteresting. When I said, "Do you find it gross on your guy friends when they wear shirts that show their underarms?" my sister replied, "Look, I know it's completely what I've been taught and that it doesn't make any sense, but I can't change it. If it's on a woman, I still think it looks gross!"
So ironically, she's more self-aware than I used to be on the issue before I gave non-shaving a try.
"...contrary to what some might think, I may be mean, but I'm not an asshole."
Priceless.
I just had a similar experience with my brain feeling like it snapped somewhere, after I inadvertantly pissed off some mens rights activists with my latest post.
It's nearly impossible to argue logically under illogical premises.
hi,
i was/am very interested in joining a contemplative religious order. i asked the contemplative nuns (i visited convents all over the UK) if they plucked/shaved . Pretty much they all laughed and said "No" which sounded an awful lot like "are you nuts?" the way they said it. i found that a lovely relief. Maybe it's just the contemplatives that don't have to be "hygenic"
It's only 'unhygienic' if you don't bathe once in a while.
Even then, I'm not so sure.
Maybe nuns shave because they enjoy the smoothness themselves?
That's the only reason why I shave in the winter.
Nuns don't shave. Individuals do.
"...because they enjoy the smoothness themselves?
That's the only reason why I shave in the winter."
I like to say that one of the reasons why I don't shave, is that "it keeps me warm in the winter months!"
;)
I never knew that nuns shave. (We're talking armpits here right?) Why would you need to shave your armpits to be hygienic? Ingrown hairs can get infected, for one thing. Intact hairs don't do much of anything, just bathe and maybe use deodorant. Weird.
Seeing the questions & comments posted about nuns shaving really brought a smile. As one who lived at a couple monasteries it depends on the community. Some shave (esp. underarms, to contain odor) and others don't. Stockings hide the hair on the legs but some prefer to shave both areas just in case they have a doctors appointment. It depends what the customs are at each community.
Well, honestly, if they don't shave ever the hair would start to migrate (if you don't believe me look at someone who never shaves, the hair starts to spread and spread), and unfortunately, here in the US hair covered nuns wouldn't be taken seriously be the teenagers they're supposed to be influencing (not that they are already, but whatever).
well, here's a random comment for you...
i shave my legs maybe once every two weeks. i'm pretty much the only person who sees my own naked legs, and when my boyfriend sees them (fairly rarely), well, i guess he has other things on his mind because he doesn't seem to care. (wink!)
however, when it comes to the armpits, i shave about twice a week. why? because i like to see the deoderant going on the smooth skin, it makes me feel more hygenic or something.
i bet habits are sweaty, so i'd guess that nuns shave their armpits often just cause it feels nicer and cleaner. but i've never asked any, so.
Ew? If you don't shave the hair spreads? I'm gonna tell my hair he'd better be moving and spreading or it won't be 'natural' enough.
Never shaved a.k.a mutilated my natural smooth skin and quite happy with me and my body.
And go read those studies that tie shaving plus deodorant with new unsual type of breast cancer. Please.
Typical stupid little girl. Too lazy to do any real research, and outraged at the first response she hears from flesh and blood; as though an individual Catholic speaks on behalf of all nuns! Fuck you!
Sunday was warm and sunny, just how I always fantasized it would be when I finally went through with it. I stared walking to the sumpster again, I think about 2pm, and I was really excited and nervous. I felt butterflies in my tummy, just anticipagting what I was about to do.
The dumpster is in the alley behind a restaurant near my house. It gets emptied on Tuesdays, so by Sunday it's pretty stinky and there are flies buzzing around. Which means there are things rotting inside there and that's just perfect for me. A few times in the past I climbed into that dumpster and masturbated. Nothing too intense. Most I'd ever done was take off my pants and hump against the dirty garbage bags. And one time I laid there with my legs spread, watching the flies land on me.
So anyway, I walked down the alley to the dumpster, and as usual I made sure nobody was around, just to be extra careful. You have to go behind a tall wooden fence to even see the dumpster, and the restaurant is closed on Sunday anyway, so I knew I wouldn't be noticed. But this time there's no way I want to be disturbed. I climbed up and over the side and onto my hands and knees into the mass of plastic garbage bags and other miscellaneous rubbish. The bags felt warm from the sun. The smell in there was extremely foul, much worse than usual, and I knew it was because of my rotting meat. I sat and tried to get myself to relax for a few minutes. There was no reason to hurry. When I was ready, I calmly took off my sandals, my jeans, and my panties. Both pairs. I was wearing two pairs of tight panties with a bunch of my panty liners in the crotch, which keeps anything in my vagina from coming out when I move around. But I was going "all the way" this time, so I went ahead and got completely naked. That was a weird feeling, being totally nude inside the dumpster. It seemed very erotic to me. The sun felt warm on my skin, especially my boobs, which pretty much never see the sun.
I took a pair of rubber kitchen gloves out of my pants pocket and put them on. There was no way I could bring myself to actually touch a maggot with my bare hands. Lying with my back against the side of the dumpster, I fingeed my pssy. I was really wet already. I knew I would be. The sensation of the rubber glove against my clit felt unusual, and I kind of liked it. I did that for a little while, just thinking about what I was about to do, while staring at the smaller garbage bag in the far corner of the dumpster where I'd left it yesterday. I still felt the butterflies in my tummy. I kept thinking to myself that I can't wimp out, that I had to go through with this. I wished for a moment that someone else was there to force me to do it, but decided that it was somehow much more sick and depraved to do it to myself willingly. And I thought, yeah, that's me. That's what I want. I deserve this. And so I knew it was time to do it
I got back on my hands and knees and crawled to the other side of the dumpster. I sat down next to my garbage bag, gently picked it up and placed it in front of me. The terrible smell was already stronger. Carefully, I tore the bag open. And there they were. There had to be thousands of maggots, kind of beige-yellow with little black spots on them, all writhing in a large mass. I couldn't even see the rotting meat underneath them. Dozens more maggots clung to the inside of the black plastic, which was coated with a thick light-brown slime. It was such a repulsive sight I thought I was going to throw up right there. But I didn't. I took a few minutes to get control of myself, fingering my clit while staring at the maggots, trying to work up the courage to continue.
I scooped up some of the slime on my gloved finger and brought it to my nose. I knew what it was from the reading I'd done before. It was digestive juices from the maggots, full of bacteria. And it smelled just horrible. I thought to myself, that's what I'm going to smell like. That's the stench that's going to come from my vagina. I want that, I thought, spreading my legs wide apart. I dragged my slimy finger between my pussy lips. My clit felt like a hard little pebble beneath the slime. I didn't want to cum right then, though, and I was still right on the edge of gagging, too. But I knew there was no turning back now, so I let my fingers lightly touch the top of the maggot mass. The maggots felt like nothing I'd experienced before. They seemed to have such energy, totally different from picking up an earthworm or something. And they felt so alive. I was fascinated and nauseated at the same time. Sinking my fingers into the mass, I felt the solid meat beneath. Gently breaking it apart, I could see that the meat had turned gray except for the very center which was still pink, and that the maggots had penetrated into it but not too deeply yet. There was still plently of food for my filthy little babies. I broke off a small chunk of meat that was covered on one side with maggots and held it for a moment while I fought back another urge to vomit. It was finally time, I thought. I leaned forward, and holding my pussy lips apart with one hand, I gritted my teeth and pushed the maggot-covered chunk of meat into my vagina. And then, totally without expecting it, I had an orgasm. A quick, sharp one that only made me want more.
And more was coming. I broke off another small chunk of meat, along with another part of the maggot mass and pushed it inside me. This one had more maggots on it, and I stopped for a moment to see if I could feel them inside me. I wasn't sure I could, but it didn't matter. I wanted them all. I needed to take them all inside me. With that thought, I went sort of wild. I started pushing bigger chunks of meat and maggots, and even handfuls of just maggots into me, over and over. I was practically hyperventilating, too. I wasn't thinking at all about the noise I must have been making. But now I could definitely feel the maggots squirming inside my vagina. Just the idea of it made me cum again.
Finally, once I had crammed all of the rotten meat, and all of the maggots I could inside me, I felt so filthy, so disgusting, like I'd turned myself into some low, depraved sort of beast. And that made me so incredibly hot, together with the constant movement of the maggots inside me. But it was time to go. Holding my hand over my crotch, I slowly crawled back to my clothes and managed to get dressed again without anything coming out. I put the gloves back into my pocket and climbed out of the dumpster. And right then I could hold back the revulsion of what I'd just done no longer. Holding myself up against the side of the dumpster, I threw up. Ever vomited while you were horny? It's weird.
Walking home down the alley, I felt like I was in a daze. I kept asking myself how I could have done this to myself, but then asking why I'd waited so long. I had to walk slowly to make sure nothing got squeezed out of my vagina, but also to keep from cumming again. I found myself amazed at the whole thing, that I'd stuffed the most intimate part of myself with these things that were too disgusting to even touch without gloves. And that I was totally getting off on it.
Once I was home, I locked myself in my bedroom, took off my clothes, except for my double-panties, and got into bed. I closed my eyes and just let myself feel the maggots squirming inside me. For a while I tried to watch TV, but I could really pay attention to it. The maggots were too wonderfully distracting. I skipped dinner. Later on, when I really had to pee, I did it by taking down my panties and holding my hand over my crotch, wearing the rubber gloves, of course.
A little later on I realized that I didn't need the panties to hold the maggots and the meat inside me. The mass pretty much stayed in place as long as I laid kind of still. I thought hey, I guess that means I'm infested, which made me cum again. I was always right on the edge of orgasm, and it didn't take much to go over the edge. I also noticed that the maggots seemed to be more active if I kept my legs apart and realized that they probably needed to breathe. So that's how I stayed a lot of the time. I did get up and read my email and posted an update on my web page but I couldn't seem to think clearly enough to write much. Then I had to pee again, but I just didn't want to get up. So I just peed in the bed. It made me cum. I just wanted to keep feeling the maggots moving. And they were. They seemed even stronger, in anything. I was totally in heaven with it. I didn't eat at all, either.
I heard my parents come home from work. During the evening my mom said hello through the door and wondered why I was staying in my room like a hermit. I said I was reading a novel all the way through at once, which I actually do sometimes. She left me alone. I hoped she didn't smell anything. I surfed the Web for a while that night and looked at porn. I came a few more times. I decided to go ahead and take a shit in my bed, right where I was. That just made me more turned on and I ended up smearing some of my shit over my thighs and my pussy and cumming again. I noticed that the maggots started coming out a bit. Maybe they liked the shit. A couple tmes one would creep up on my belly. I'd just flick it back down between my legs.
I was getting tired at that point. It really was time to sleep and my vagina was throbbing and kind of sore from all of the attention. But I was most worried about making sure my maggots could breathe while I was sleeping. Somehow, I managed to find the energy to place a chair on either side of my bed and use sheets to tie my ankles to them. That would keep my legs apart during the night. I pulled the blankets over myself and dozed off lying in my piss and shit.
For the most part I slept through the night, but I kept waking up sweating, with my vagina throbbing worse. I knew I was getting a bad infection from this, but I didn't care. I was not thinking right. I could also feel maggots crawling all over me. I guess I decided I liked that and I'd play with my clit until I came again. I don't know if I realized at the time that I wasn't wearing the rubber gloves anymore. I'd fall back to sleep and wake up again later with little phrases running through my head. Other girls have babies but I give birth to decay and filth, I'd keep thinking to myself. Or I'd say I'm probably ruining my womb and I don't care, I want to be ruined. I know I must have been hallucinating from the infection. I was hoping the maggots had given up on the rotten meat and were eating my vagina instead. My fingers were buried inside my vagina, with my fingertips against part of the meat. Whenever I pressed on it, the maggots would squirm faster and I'd climax again. I could do it over and over and keep cumming.
Finally it was Tuesday morning and sunlight made me wake up. I knew I was really, really sick at that point. I felt weak and dizzy, I knew I had a fever, and now my whole lower belly was sore and throbbing. Despite all that I was still horny and I was still right on the edge of cumming. And then for some reason, all I wanted to do was see my maggots.
I pulled the blankets aside and saw that I really did have maggots crawling all over my body. I was so whacked out I loved it. But I also saw that I had a rash spreading over my tummy and my thighs, and I was soaked with sweat. And then suddenly I needed to see what it looked like between my legs. I sat up a little, picked up the hand mirror I have on the table next to my bed, and held it between my thighs.
i don't really approve of the kinds of feminism and feminists in general who attack religion. religion is religion. i believe they're individual issues that are supposed to exist independently and not intertwine. perosnally, i'm a catholic. the rules that exist within the church don't exist to be sexist. they're just rules. for example, feminists enjoy attacking catholicism because it allows only men to be priests. well, during mass priests play the part of Jesus, and in general, priests are sworn to live as Jesus did. so why are there only male priests? because Jesus had a penis. sorry ladies.
I was pinning away for such type of blogs, thanks for posting this for us.best panasonic shaver review
This comment has been removed by the author.
Wow, I think that reading this gave me cancer. If you want to shave and look clean and smooth and smell nice then do it. If you don't want to shave then don't. There's positives and negatives to both, suck it up and get on with your life.
Post a Comment
<< Home