Armpits4August- Why Does Body Hair Matter?

I was once at a performance poetry night, everything had been going very well, drinks had been drank, poems had been said, everyone was in a friendly supportive mood by the time the open mic started. Then a very posh, floppy-haired young man took to the stage to read a ‘comical’ poem about how he had once gone home with a girl, only to discover that she hadn't shaved her legs, and that she could give no good excuse as to why not, so he left in disgust at her hairy body.

Now, I don’t know how many poetry nights you've been to, but the women there tend to be of the empowered persuasion, and this particular poem went down like a glass of cold sick.

If you don’t like body hair, that’s fine. Personally I’m not a big fan of hairy chests on men. But I would never try to publicly shame someone for being hairy, nor would I expect another person to groom themselves to my taste rather than theirs, and that’s really what I'm talking about here.

The beauty myth, that there is one objective beauty ideal that can be bought, holds that for a woman to be beautiful her body must be completely hairless, you only have to sit through one ad break to know that this is true. There are a number of reasons I object to this;

1. It’s creepy. Really, really, creepy. Body hair is a sign that a woman has reached sexual maturity, and as Hadley Freeman points out (talking about the Hollywood wax trend in her book Be Awesome), if you don’t want women to look of age- that’s pretty messed up, yo.

There is a trend for the beauty ideal to be of an infantilised woman; thin- particularly on the hips and thighs, no body hair, big eyes, big forehead. Kate Moss is the classic example of this, to the point that my A-level psychology textbook had a picture of her next to a picture of a random little girl to show how similar they looked.

It’s an ideal sold to us because it is the hardest image for most of us to achieve, but it also means that youth is not just worshiped, but sexualised to an alarming degree. If you don’t think women should have any body hair, maybe you just don’t think there should be women, only little girls.

2. Full-body hair removal is time-consuming, expensive and painful. There is a stereotype about women that we spend ages in the bathroom, that’s never held true for me but I don’t find it hard to believe that on average women do spend more time in the bathroom than men. The things that a woman is expected to do to her body, let alone her face, on a daily basis include; cleanse, epilate, exfoliate, moisturise and then apply things like cellulite cream and tanning oil. And while the range of facial products for men is expanding, all men are really expected to do to their bodies is wash with a manly soap.

The methods of hair removal that take up the least time are the most painful and/or the most expensive; waxing, laser removal, threading etc. However a woman pays for her hairless body, be it in time, money or pain, she is sure to pay.

3. The assumption that we have to. The first two points are null and void if you have made a free choice about how you want to groom yourself, and do what makes you feel happy and comfortable.

I have been kidding myself for a long time now that thanks to second wave feminism, the fact that I shaved my armpits was a free choice, but really, this is one of the things they didn't quite manage to win for us. Of course nobody has to shave, but most girls start shaving as soon as there is enough hair to warrant it, at the time in their lives when they feel most acutely the pressure to be approved of and accepted as a woman, and continue with a regime of hair removal for most of their lives without considering the alternative.

This has certainly been the case with me, so how could I argue that shaving my armpits is how I feel most comfortable, if I've never experienced not shaving them?

The truth is I was scared of negative reactions if I didn't shave. The general acceptance of the beauty myth holds us to ransom in this way- you have to try to conform to it if you want anything you say to be taken seriously, otherwise you will be dismissed as an ugly, hairy feminazi whenever you try to make a point about anything, ever.

This is why an ingenious variation on Movember is making me so happy. Women taking part in Armpits4August are asking people to sponsor them not to shave their armpits for one month. Armpits4August is primarily a charity fundraiser for Verity- a charity that supports people with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, but it is also an attempt to de-stigmatise female body hair. A common symptom of PCOS is hirsutism, so acceptance of female body hair would alleviate some of the distress associated with this syndrome.  

 Without stigma on female body hair, women could feel freer to make choices about customising their appearance, or free not to think about it at all, without fear of being shamed by others.

Making it a fundraising event means opposition would have to be pretty mean-spirited to say the least, PCOS is a common condition with symptoms that aren't limited to appearances- it often causes mood, weight and fertility problems as well. People suffering from PCOS can get specialised support from Verity, which is run by volunteers.

Like Movember has done for moustaches, Armpits4August will hopefully cause unshaved armpits to sneak into mainstream culture, without everyone feeling they have to have them, but not view them as strange when they see them on others.

In conclusion I don’t expect every woman reading this to stop shaving next month, it’s your body and you should do what you like with it, that’s the point. But I do hope everyone will be supportive of those taking part, and on a related note, here’s my Armpits4August profile- http://www.justgiving.com/GrrAceArmpits4August