Set 2 - Quarter 3

Body Hair Baddies

‹ Set 2 - Quarter 2

Hello Ladies :))

It’s that time of the week again where I get to play with data and show you all the shiny things I find. This is the best kind of show and tell for me. So without further ado, let’s get into it.



Summer Shavers


First up this week is the wonderful phenomenon of body hair. We all have it, and likely at one point in time or another, we’ve all removed it. Personally, I find shaving to be a pain in the ass. It’s one of those constant chores that as soon as you’ve done it, you have to do it over again. There’s something to be said of the ritual, and sometimes the self-care practice of an everything-shower brings me much joy and peace. But mostly not lol. Much to my mother’s chagrin, I think I’ve actually found a lot more satisfaction in seeing just how long my leg hair is able to grow. Oh how I love being a woman!

That being said, I know a lot of people who would rather they had no body hair consistently, and that’s very valid! I applaud those of you who have figured out the optimization of exfoliating and shaving, and I will always partake in the happiness of a woman who excitedly shows off how smooth her legs are. And during those 8-10 months of the year when we forgo shaving, I will just as happily take out the ruler so we can compare whose hair grows longer.

We did some differences by age groups, and we talked about this over at SapphicSavvy headquarters to get some of the varied perspectives. Though everyone had similar guesses, it seems that younger generations have gone without shaving for a longer maximum period of time than older sapphics. I think there’s more acceptance of body hair now than, say, the early 2000s where body hair was considered more of a sin against humanity. The beauty standards of the early aughts were actually crazy, to anyone who suffered psychic damage from Daily Mail or other tabloids, my deepest condolences. 

There were also some differences by identity group as well! It looks like a fair few of us let it all grow out for a majority of the year, and some quick mental math does seem to support that this might be during the non-summer months when pants are more common. But the highest average was around 1 full year for queer users! The queer community is of course varied, but I think an overarching value among many is to live without the constraints of a society that would rather dictate how we live. That might mean feeling less pressure to shave just because it’s “expected” of women to do so, as well as due to how comfortable it is to let your body hair simply be. Whatever your reason for shaving (or not), keep on doing what’s most comfortable for you!

Last thing I’ll say about it: there’s actually a very interesting history of societal expectations of women shaving, and it’s a very recent expectation. There’s some theories that the mass popularity of shaving traces back to early 1900s with shaving companies aiming to expand their market, so they pivoted to advertising at women as well. Everything comes back to corporate greed, doesn’t it?



Shared Sexuality


We also asked a question this week about sapphics who only have relationships with people that share their same sexuality. This one I found particularly interesting, because there are a lot of stereotypes about lesbians specifically being unwilling to date bi women. I’m gonna show the results, but I have some additional thoughts to add some nuance. 

Lesbians did have a much higher average than all other groups. But lower than the expected guess. Queer and bisexual users had roughly comparable guesses (lower for bisexual users), but significantly lower averages. Why is this? Well, I think for several reasons. The queer identity, while more all-encompassing, is not necessarily more common than other sexual identity groups. People who identify as queer may not date other people who identify as queer because it is less common to find people who identify as such, and also because queer people may date others who have a variety of sexual/gender identities. Similarly, bisexual people may not be dating people who identify as women. And this makes the likelihood that bisexual and queer people date others who identify as lesbians, as straight people, and just generally people who do not share their own identity more common. Lesbians, on the other hand, might have a more restricted subset of people that they date (notably, not men) that would push the likelihood that they date someone who shares their own sexuality to be higher. This is not to say that biphobia in the lesbian community does not exist. There are lesbians who are outspoken about solely dating other lesbians, but I think that number is considerably lower than the stereotype would have us believe. Which is probably why the average guess was higher than the actual answer.

There was one notable difference by age group, with users in the 40+ age category being more likely to report only dating others with the same sexual identity. Could this maybe be due to younger generations endorsing a wider spectrum of sexuality? Is the stereotype of lesbians only dating other lesbians one that comes from older generations? Who’s to say. Ultimately, the thing to take away is that we all actually wayyy overestimated how picky our community is about sexuality, and I think we shouldn’t let that narrative drive divisions between us. Sapphics support sapphics!



Sober Sex


Last up on our list today is sapphics who prefer sober sex. Let me say this to start: it is always important to get consent from a partner. Always. And consent needs to be ongoing and happen while in a coherent state of mind. That being said, having sex while tipsy can be fun between two consenting adults! But overwhelmingly users said that they prefer having sober sex! 

I think, on the whole, this is a good thing. Younger users had slightly lower averages, but there’s still time to figure out how great sober sex is. Part of me wonders if this average increases as people experience more long-term relationships throughout the course of their life. It seems like drunk hookups might happen more when you’re younger and having all the fun under the sun, but over time and once in a committed relationship, the preference becomes sobriety as you get more comfortable with your partner, as well as your sexuality and gender presentation. If anyone has any other ideas as to why this might be, let us know! We love hearing from you.

Anyways, that’s all I have for today! We had some heavy hitters this week. Feel free to check out some of the additional sources below, and let us know if you have any other thoughts about the results! Looking forward to seeing y’all in the app :)


XOXO SapphicSavvy


Body hair:

Shared Sexuality:

Sober Sex:

‹ Set 2 - Quarter 2

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