An Ode to Hairy Chests

(Newser) – There’s a key issue we’re forgetting in this whole Anthony Weiner scandal: His hairlessness, both on his chest and, apparently, elsewhere. “Depilation is increasingly visible among straight men, and it's a damn shame,” writes Tracy Clark-Flory at Salon. Sure, some women like men “as smooth as a Sphynx cat,” but “I love resting my head on an undepilitated chest, whether it's a thick forest or a slight scattering of curlicues in between the pecs.” Hairy men offer “earthy sensuality, the primal snarl.”

“I appreciate men's body hair in the same way that I relish their size and strength. It's just another signifier of difference,” Clark-Flory writes. “I see a man with hair on his chest and I think (or rather feel, because this is where my rational, feminist brain checks out): You man, me Jane.” Why? Because “natural is sexy, and unvarnished maleness is incredibly erotic.” Indeed, too often we write off male bodies as the less attractive ones—but “ancient Greek sculptors would have a thing or two to say about that.” For more on the appeal of the hirsute man, read the full column.