The Politics of Body Hair

I stopped removing my body hair about three years ago. I think I've really taken this to the limit. I've regrown my monobrow. I don't shave my legs (unless I go to something like a wedding). My armpit hair is longer than most mens. My vagina looks like a ferret, but I think it's cute.

I can't tell you why I did this. I just had enough of paying ridiculous sums of money to wax. I did it as an act of resistance and as a fuck you to the patriarchy. Most of the time I'm happy with my decision, but often there is a hypocrisy I feel when I hear women talk about removing their hair.

I can't explain this. I know women must do what empowers them and what makes them feel good, but I often feel angry and repulsed at how the removal of body hair is normalised. I was listening to a podcast the other day and a muslim woman stated proudly that muslim women were the first to remove body hair. "It's a hygiene thing", she said. As a muslim woman I felt really fucking irritated. It's an understatement of the burden the patriarchy has placed on us to be vessels for what men find enjoyable.

I get a lot of flack for my body hair. When I take a new male lover I often worry about whether or not they will find it attractive. I had one lover tell me that he wouldn't eat my pussy because it was too hairy, and I have never picked up a razor so fast (I am not perfect!). I had another lover ask me if I considered myself a "natural" kinda gal, and I said "no, I wear makeup", and he said "but you don't shave", and I said "do you mind it?" and he said "it doesn't exactly get my dick hard, but it's alright I guess". And I spent the whole day wondering if I was automatic dick repellant.

My family hates it. My mother has come to accept it but she looks at me with disgust and disdain. When I visited my older sisters last Christmas they didn't shut up about it until I let them wax it themselves.

I follow lots of hair positive movements on instagram. I post a lot of photos of me with my armpit hair out. The response is mixed. Women hardly ever comment on it. Men do. And it's polarised. They either fetishise me with statements like "Hair good. I want lick armpit. Sexy amazon. Make sex.", or "You look like a man, that's disgusting.". I'm not here for the men. If I don't know them I would like to say that I don't give a fuck about what they think. But I do. Is this the condition of an empowered radical feminist? Why does it make me feel so dirty to have men say these things about me? Why can I really not just give zero fucks?

This post is starting to sound like a rant. I suppose I am lamenting the fact that in 2019 body hair on a woman is still a contentious issue. I just wish I could find a space where it is considered natural, and sexy and beautiful and I could come to my fullness in it without being made to feel self-conscious or worry about whether it may jeopardise getting my pussy eaten.

Do you grow your hair? If you do let me know how you feel about it in the comments.

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