January 20, 2018

About hairy women.

The world will never change if we don't have the courage to change ourselves. To go out of our comfort zone, to go against and question the norm. There is such great injustice in so many things in this world. So much inequality. And I know body hair might not seem like the biggest of them all. But it is actually huge. It is a great injustice; the woman cannot feel accepted in her natural state, whilst the man is free to do so. The man can walk the street with armpit hair sticking out, and no one would ever think to question or point it out to him. But if a woman has the audacity to do so, the whole world feels they have the right to point out how disgusting she is. How unsanitary, how provocative. How she should feel ashamed.

I started shaving when I was about 12 or 13 years old. I started because I was told (by example, by society, by commercials, magazines....) that my bodily hair is absolutely disgusting. And ever since, I have never done anything not aware of my body hair. I have never been close or intimate with someone and not thought about if the my stubby legs or armpits or whatever were off putting. And if I was newly shaved, I thought about how I luckily was so. I have never put on a bikini, worn shorts or gone to the sauna not thinking about my body hair. Not even if I was alone. I have never raised my arms in front of someone not thinking if my armpits are shaved enough. My body hair has been a prison for me my whole adolescent and adult life. And now I'm looking at Grace, thinking: Is this something I want to pass on? The answer is: absof*ckinglutely NOT. I want her to be free from this prison. To enjoy, to feel empowered, beautiful, accepted - just the way she is. To never have a doubt. But I cannot simply teach her that by telling her, if I don't lead by example, because she will imitate all I do. She already does. And there's no escaping the fact, that if I shave, she will shave. This is actually a major issue for me right now, as it's the most scariest thought ever: to be hairy. In public. In front of Sam. In front of my friends and family. Even in front of myself. 
So the question now is: Will I be a coward and just put the responsibility of being brave enough to brake free onto Grace, or will I step up and be the change I wish to see...


Lovelovelove,

Carolina


No comments:

Post a Comment