Shaved vs unshaved. Everyone has their own personal preferences for themselves and for their partners. I'll preempt some of the criticism for what I'm about to say by pointing out that I don't shave my body, and although I don't have an angora rug on my chest, I do have visible body hair.
Some guys feel their skin, and particularly their balls are more sensitive when smooth. As someone else said, your partner may not want a mouth full of pubic floss. Some tops feel a smooth bottom looks more submissive/feminine/whatever, so bottoms shave to be more attractive to said tops. Some guys that are in shape feel that since they've put the work into their body, their definition is more visible when smooth. IF you've got a muscular body, why not flaunt it?
What I can't stand is when gay men are critical of others' choices. As if gays don't have to put up with enough prejudice from the outside, they have to put up with bullshit from their own community.
Body hair isn't what "makes you a man". We're mammals. Man or woman, you have hair all over. The ability to do something with it is one of those things that defines us from Neanderthals. (Although I think Neanderthals probably shaved too, you get my gist.)
The same question could be more broadly asked of why so many gays want to look alike. Personally, I think few men look truly good in a beard. Some guys look amazing with one, but in most cases a beard hides anything distinctive in a guy's face. I don't think guys are objective about aesthetics when choosing to grow a beard. I suspect they just do it because either it's the trend, or they think it will make them look more masculine. Frankly, when I see a guy in a beard, the unspoken first words that come to mind are usually "sheep", "clone", or "boring" and I pray that upon meeting them I'll be wrong. But I don't go around like a catty bitch in gay bars belittling people about their choice, which I have seen done. I've seen "butch" guys snicker about "twinks" three feet away from them and heard "twinks" talk about how gross "bears" are, again within ear shot. I just don't see the point of the snickering, unless it is an expression of insecurity and self-validation. If we all wanted to be alike... well we'd all be straight for a start.
And this response isn't any criticism of Shelter's initial question. I realize he was asking for reasons and that he didn't intend to be critical.
[j/k]
