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Sent: 23 November 2012 15:08 Dear Laura, Thanks for your interesting question. I do not work empirically or scientifically in the field myself, and my comments are based on personal observation only. As a general comment, I would say the following: RE: class - my impression is that hair removal is a common cross-class practice (perhaps with the exception of the lumpen-proletariat). Amongst white German working class people from around where I live, and from what I have seen in various saunas across both East and West Germany, I can observe that hair removal or hair grooming (including eyebrows and other facial hair) is a popular and common practice amongst both men and women from the working and middle classes. This would need to be empirically investigated, however. RE: ethnicity - yes you are absolutely right about the link I sent, and that would be a generally correct assessment of that particular magazine. It would be fascinating to compare whether one of the largest non-ethnically-German groups in Germany, that is, people of Turkish heritage, adopt the same practices. Again, from my personal observation, hair grooming is a popular practice amongst young men and women within this milieu. In general, segregation remains quite a large problem in Germany, meaning that my observations in small-town saunas across various states has been limited to a predominantly ethnically white cohort. However, I repeat that this is *non-empirical* and therefore I would suggest that anyone interested in the issue seek out some academic studies that have been conducted in the area. One related direction, more related to the class issue, might be to take a look at Josie McLellan's work on cultures of nudity in East Germany? Best wishes, Kate
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