Recently, I posted a photo of myself that exposed a small patch of my pubic hair along with a body positive caption. Over the course of the last couple years, I’ve posted some content that is meant to challenge the norms of society. It’s generally been accepted and uplifted within my online community. My goodness did this post get some people talking on Facebook, though (both men and women, by the way). So let’s have a conversation about women’s body hair. To start, let’s feature some of the comments from the post:

“That’s not cute.”

“I was totally on board til the pubic hairs 🤦‍♀️😩🤮”

 “Thats f*cking gross. She needs to shave that sh*t”

“I agree with everything but the pubes! That’s kinda gross & unattractive. If u wanna do that more power to ya, but don’t wear a bikini!”

These passionate responses from people I don’t personally know got me thinking, what is it about women’s body hair that gets people so fired up? What offends them so much about it, and why? Even my mom, a woman who was no-frills and went au naturale down there all of her life scoffed when she saw Paula Cole raise her arm, exposing her unshaved armpits, when accepting her Grammy in the 90s.

Historical Context On Women’s Body Hair:

• In 2 B.C. Roman poet Ovid urged women to groom so “that no rude goat find his way beneath your arms and that your legs be not rough with bristling hair.” (Who put this dude in charge?)
• Apparently it was considered to be low class for women to have pubic hair in Greek society.
• If you look at historical Western art featuring the female form? Zero pubic hair in practically 99% of it.
• In the early 1900s sleeveless dresses were all the rage. Gillette got in the game and started selling razors for women because society deemed hairy armpits a faux pas.

It seems like there’s been a long history of society telling women they need to be smooth and hairless everywhere else but their head. It also seems that there has been a major capitalization of shaming women into thinking their bodies aren’t perfect as they are. Rather, selling products telling them they’re only acceptable when they’re modified in some way.

Pubic hair became a badge of honor for feminists in the ’70s (and today). But why can’t women’s pubic hair (or lack there of) just be? Why can’t it just be a personal choice that has no stigma attached to it? Personally, I’m all over the place with my body hair. Sometimes I wax, sometimes I shave, and sometimes I let it grow out. Sometimes that’s intentional, and sometimes it’s because waxing and shaving all the time is annoying (and painful!) to keep up with.

Let’s Talk About This!

This post isn’t about me having all the answers (I don’t.). It’s more to open up a conversation about the stigmatization of body hair on women. Maybe if we finally talk about it, we can start to accept it as an okay thing for women to have if they want to. And still be able to wear a bikini. Drop a comment below with your thoughts or experience with it!