I agree the pressure is mostly coming from the media, but it's affecting men's views of women as much as it's affecting women's views of themselves. The issue I'm describing here specifically is the unrealistic expectations from the porn industry. Men are fed very false ideas of women and women's bodies - and behaviors! - especially if they are into porn when they are young. They are learning about sex in a very fake setting with very fake looking women, and that becomes what they find attractive.

I hear from women all the time about these unrealistic expectations their partners now hold - especially for unrealistic body sizes and removal of bodily hair.

My solution is to stop dating men who aren't actually attracted to normal human bodies. I have screening questions for potential partners such as: what are your expectations for body hair? If they have a response that's anything other than - I don't really care what you do with your body hair - it's usually a hard pass. But maybe young women don't know enough yet to know that it's an option.

As far as some of the more extreme styles - yes those are strictly for the woman's preference. In fact, my daughter does some "beauty care" that she knows makes her less attractive to the opposite sex and she does not care. She does what she wants (including not shaving her armpits) because she has no interest in attracting a partner in general and more specifically one who feels like he has a say in what she does or doesn't do for hygiene. So it sort of depends on what specifically we're talking about.