Hair-raising tales of manly pursuits

Gentlemen, please stop manscaping (‘They handled me like a carcass!’: Why are so many men now ‘manscaping’?, 29 August). I love a hairy chest, although I don’t like facial hair other than a bit of five o’clock shadow. I particularly love to see a tuft of chest hair poking out of the collar of a man’s shirt. To me, it offers the promise of what’s further down. A hairy chest is nice to snuggle into and press your nose against, inhaling the musky man-scent. Keep the hair!Laura AshtonHaslemere, Surrey
One of the people quoted in your article says: “Gay men for a long time were waxing their chests and trimming their pubic hair.” Some gay men, that should be. This weekend is the start of Bears Week in Sitges, a gay resort in Catalonia. It is estimated that 8,000 hairy gay men, or their admirers, will attend the event from all over the world.
Mainstream media tend to portray the male gay scene as being full of smooth gym bunnies whose only aim in life is to maintain their six-packs. The bear scene is a total contradiction of this. There are a number of categories such as the bears themselves (corpulent and hairy), cubs (younger bears), otters (slim and hairy), polar bears (older, with white hair). Please stop using the lazy stereotype of gay men as buffed Love Island wannabes.Danny BoydBelfast
My wife and I are in our 70s and have been shaving our nether regions for years. We wouldn’t dream of going through the pain and bother of waxing. There are so many jokes about the unattractiveness of human genitalia, but I find them beautiful – more so if they’re carefully shaved and lightly suntanned. Perhaps most people would if they were more represented in art and people looked a bit harder?Name and address supplied
I’m reminded of TV coverage of the Tour de France some years ago. Members of a peloton were asked: “Why do cyclists shave their legs?” The first said, vaguely, “Aerodynamics?” The next rider said it was nothing to do with aerodynamics, but because it was easier to apply sun protection to smooth skin. A third said it was in case of a fall, as adhesive dressings were less painful to remove if you were hairless. The fourth rider, an Aussie, replied: “Dunno, mate. Just because everyone else does it?” Ellie Crawford Bradninch, Devon