WHY AMERICAN HIGHER EDUCATION HAS BECOME THE LAUGHING STOCK OF THE WORLD

Women students in Arizona State University’s gender studies program are offered extra credit for not shaving their legs and armpits, and males are offered extra credit for shaving all their hair from the neck down

American university offer such worthless majors as Women’s Studies; Gender Studies; Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Studies; African-American Studies, etc. There are courses entitled “Queer Marriage, Hate Crimes, and Will and Grace: Contemporary Issues in LGBT Studies” (at Dartmouth), “Race, Gender, and Ethnicity in Martin Scorsese and Spike Lee” (at Harvard), “Politicizing Beyoncé” (at Rutgers) and "The Sociology of Miley Cyrus: Race, Class, Gender and Media" (at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.).

Professor Breanne Fahs, director of Arizona State University’s Center for Feminist Research on Gender and Sexuality, is offering extra credit to women enrolled in a gender studies course for not shaving their legs and armpits for 10 weeks and male students for shaving all their hair from the neck down, also for 10 weeks.

No wonder American higher education has become the laughing stock of the world.

UNIVERSITY OFFERS FEMALE STUDENTS EXTRA CREDIT FOR NOT SHAVING THEIR ARMPITS … AND DEAL IS OPEN TO THE BOYS TOO IF THEY KEEP THEIR BODY COMPLETELY HAIR-FREE FOR 10 WEEKS
Gender studies professor encourages class to challenge social norms on appearance

By Jessica Jerreat

Mail Online
July 4, 2014

Female students at an Arizona university have been offered the chance to earn extra credit by not shaving their armpit hair for a whole semester.

The unconventional offer was made by women and gender studies professor Breanne Fahs as a way to get her students to challenge social norms.

Male students on the Arizona State University course are also able to apply for extra credit, but to qualify they have to shave all their hair from the neck down.

Fahs, who is director of the Center for Feminist Research on Gender and Sexuality, encourages her students to document their experiences in a journal for the 10-week semester.

She said the social experiment helps students analyze society's attitude to genders, with female students facing ridicule for having hairy armpits, and the men gaining insight into how much pressure is put on women to stay hair free.

'There’s no better way to learn about societal norms than to violate them and see how people react,' Fahs told ASU News.

'There’s really no reason why the choice to shave, or not, should be a big deal. But it is, as the students tend to find out quickly.'

Many of the students who have taken the hairy path to extra credit described it as a life-changing experience, and said they were shocked at the reaction from their partners, friends and family.

'Many of my friends didn’t want to work out next to me or hear about the assignment, and my mother was distraught at the idea that I would be getting married in a white dress with armpit hair,' Stephanie Robinson said.

She had refused to take part in the experiment on two previous occasions, but finally joined in during her third class with Fahs.

Another student, Grace Scale, said some of the strongest reactions she had were from male friends.

'One of my dearest friends - at the time - compared my underarm hair to "the sludge in the bottom of the garbage can",' she said.

Fahs said the number of students taking part is often governed by whether a majority decided to join the challenge.

'It's interesting how peer pressure within the class can create a new norm. When practically all of the students are participating, they develop a sense of community and enjoy engaging in an act of rebellion together,' she said.

The professor noted that the reactions from men appeared to be the biggest stumbling block for the male students as well as the female ones.

While the women in her class often worried about the reaction from their boyfriends, the men were also concerned about how male friends would perceive them.

She said it often led to macho behavior from the male students taking part, including one who insisted on using a hunting knife to shave his body hair.