A bi-gender friend has been suggesting I get rid of my forearm hair along with all the other body hair (chest, legs, etc.) I've been clearing away. She's mentioned looking at men's arms in stores and at work and finding that a lot of them have no forearm hair, possibly due to shaving it. I haven't noticed this myself, and I'm concerned, because while I have no doubt that it would make me look at least a little more feminine to get rid of it, it might harm my ability to present in a masculine way, and I'm bi-gender, so I'm trying to balance. You could argue that shaving my legs and so forth is harmful to my ability to appear male, but I have enough evidence of other men doing that (including what seems like a big majority of men in movies and TV shows) that I'm not too concerned. In my case, I have fairly thin but darkish hair on my forearms. I've seen women with hairier forearms than I have, but not many.
I have fairly hairy arms. I've never shaved them, but the hair is thin and very light brown. It's clearly there, but not so dark it would matter. I know girls who have very dark arm hair and who cut it, but it seems few and far between. I've never really known any guys personally who have cut their arm hair, but I've known guys who shave their legs and chest hair for different sports, I assume arm hair would count under those as well. This is speculation, but I wonder if there is a way you could thin the hair more, or dye it. The hair is still there, but might play better into your ability to present as masculine or feminine
Where I am from men have lots of forearm hair and leg hair, though the shade of the hair and tan of the skin can make it seem like less. I remember in my French class our teacher talked about how in parts of Europe it want uncommon for men to shave their arms and legs, to which every guy in my class called them the offensive words of "sissy" and "faggot" But if you want to shave then do so. I use to shave my arm hair to appear more feminine back when I was repressing being FtM. Since I've stopped my arm hair has come back much ticker, often time rivaling those of other guys.
I've known girls with hairy arms and guys with thin to almost no arm hair. I've known girls who shaved their arms and girls who didn't care. And I can't recall a guy noticing, commenting, or caring about how much arm hair another has. Now, if you've always had hairy arms (or, at least, thick enough to notice its absense), you might get a comment or two questioning your decision. But, in the end, who is allowed to care or voice an opinion (unless you ask) about your body other than yourself? If you decide to shave your arms and you don't like it, it'll always grow back.
I honestly don't even know any women that shave forearms, even when It's super hairy. It is not the norm for either gender. I shave mine, but I am in the minority.
Having arm hair shouldn't harm your ability to pass as male. Where I'm from pretty much all men have forearm hair. Plus people tend not to judge your gender based on how hairy your limbs are. By the way, it's best not to use Hollywood and TV as a reference for what men look like. They often shave because it simply looks better on screen. Besides, we all know about the sky-high standards that Hollywood demands from their actors.
Thanks for all the responses so far! I realize that I was unclear about one part: I was assigned male at birth and am bi-gender, so the reason to consider getting rid of my forearm hair would be to present better as female. From what people are saying here, though, I'm thinking there's probably no need.
I think it depends on the forearm hair you have. If the single hairs are dark and thick like on your head, you would present female better if you depilate it completely. If it's even somewhat dark and noticable, but not like I described above, I think nobody would pay attention, as cis women with stronger built or dark hair in general tend to have arm hair like that and probably most of them don't shave it. I think it also depends on where you live, because women from warmer countries depilate head to toe, especially if they have dark hair, and in colder countries, where there's real, cold winter - not really, because you rarely put your skin on sight.
If you have a lot you might want to do something about it. I think I would be more confused by a woman with very hairy arms than a guy with hairless arms.
I shave my arms and literally no one ever says anything. Don't even think they notice.(I still present male full time, but am working on that). I don't think people actually pay attention to how hairy someones arms are.
