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Show .VEDNESDAY, OCTOBER Who : 200: are shaving their legs ... and nobody knows why by Eric Watson M -- 5 whether they shave their legs or not. Maybe men g aspire to be champion swimmers, striving to save those few seconds in by keeping their legs silky smooth for extra time-trial- s and m DIXIE SUN wears short shorts? Men wear short shorts Men kit OPINION 29, 2003 Megan Truman aqua-dynamic- r! fad has men shaving and women ask-,nfor tips. While women dread shav-,naround their knees, A It has even been said new leir legs g g and along their ankles, hiris, men dont seem the .east bit bothered as they orefer their mooth. legs silky and that some football and baseball players shave their legs, claiming that their pants pull on their leg hairs. Its funny how a football player can get knocked unconlinescious by a man, but show the utmost concern for the pain he experiences when his span-depull his leg hair. It could be that sports have nothing to do with it. Maybe men are being con- vinced to shave their legs by women who are secretly bitter with the system and 300-poun- d x But has "silky and replaced the male why smooth" senders "brawn? of women absolutely dread shaving their legs, out are forced to succumb under social pressures. Which leaves us wondering, if this is such a chore, why are some men shaving :heir legs? men, who cannot so easily pass with the ladies claim of society obligations, are a curious lot hos, reed teps hert it s t( st ir ion s!e- u s a' bi't , Dreed to the men and to all of the many women of the world, leiv Jf o' rd. by Victor Godinez k Knight tor, r; r; men Some probably planned to try it only once, out of curiosity, but experimenting with a razor and your body hair can send you plummeting into a downward spiral. leg-shavi- 5 E s Role reversa:. Men are shaving their legs and women are letting the hair grow out. DSC students model their smooth (and not so smooth) legs. Once youre trapped into shaving your legs for the duration of your natural born life, there is only one that question remains, get the purple razor or the pink? Then again some married men are often heard complaining, I cant believe Should I she used my razor to shave her legs again." Maybe men need not fret over purple or pink, seeing as women find manly razors give a closer shave. Or men could skip the razor altogether and go straight for the hot wax, which would bring them to a whole new level of pain. g Whatever the reasons and whatever the methods, legis shaving continually growing among men. It may be that one day men will be forced to succumb to shaving their legs just as women are, but for now, the men that choose to shave their legs have their reasons. Workers turn freelance while job market is jittery ide f; Or, maybe it is just one of those things women like to see if they can get men to do. C what may be a permanent shift away from the traditional Ridder Newspapers Recruitment executive Jon Davis is seeing the first signs of a recovery in the job market, but most of the employers he talks with aren't looking for workers. e They want contractors pendent workers who by the assignment. - inde- are paid employment model. While most workers will continue to hold conventional jobs, data show that more are as becoming contractors, sultants freelancers, or owners con- of microbusinesses. Resources, an Atlanta-basetechnology placement firm The historically make up about 7 percent of the U.S. labor force, but that could grow to as much as 10 percent over the next several years, said Ed Potter, president of the Employment Policy Foundation, a data research organization in Washington, DC. rising cost of supporting a work force, diminish-n- g worker-employe- r loyalty and the proliferation of technology are contributing to Those percentages may seem small but an increase to 10 percent equates to millions of workers in a labor force of 146 million, he said. 1 would say there are more than there that like the employers today "ere in the past flexibility of a force," said contingent work Davis, branch manager in Dallas for Matrix d The e Some employment experts argue that the shift is temporary, saying that the economic downturn pushed many workers into contract status and that they will return to traditional jobs. Workers are discovering that the perceived primary benefit of a permanent job - stability doesn't exist anymore, says author Dan Pink, who published Free Agent Nation" in 2001. "There's a base amount of insecurity in the work force, period," he said in an interview. "I can either manage that insecurity on my own or let someone else manage it for me and lay me off whenever they want." At the same time, employers are reeling from the escalat- ing cost of hiring and main e employees, Dr. Mike Davis, a to according professor of economics at the Cox School of Business at Methodist Southern He pointDallas. in University ed to exploding health care costs as one of the biggest burdens on employers. taining full-tim- If those costs continue to rise, many employers may stop offering some benefits, which Davis said would demolish another pillar of the traditional labor model. rose, peaking at 9.2 million in April of 1991 and then falling below 9 million for the next few years as employers started hiring again. once the economy improves, goes down to a normal level" Potter said. "But I'm not sure that's going to happen. I think that the difference now is that the nature of work has made it more likely that this could be activity, rather than just in the an economic Band-Aishort term. "In the usual scenario, g d Historically, has been a bridge for many workers unable to find permanent positions in faltering job markets. When the economy stumbled in the early 1990s, the number of people describing themto Labor the selves as Department Experts say different dynamics are at play in this economic recovery. One is that technology has advanced to where many workers have fully functioning see JOBS page 9 |