Why is there shame in having natural hair?
"Over half of the young women surveyed across studies experienced at least one physical complication due to pubic hair removal [5–7]. The most common side effects found were epidermal abrasions, infected ingrown hair, severe itching rashes, and other skin infections such as molluscum contagiosum. Complications specifically associated with laser hair removal include blistering, hypo/hyper-pigmentation, scarring, textual changes, uveitis, iritis, and infections such as herpes simplex and bacterial infections [8]. When exposed to societal expectations regarding body image and hairlessness, young women may also experience psychological harm. In Kitzinger and Willmott’s [9] study of women with an increased growth of body hair due to Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, participants reported feeling ‘freakish’ and ‘unfeminine’ due to their hair growth. They referred to their hair as “unsightly, distasteful, upsetting, embarrassing, and dirty” (10, page 353). Qualitative studies by Fahs [10, 11] indicate that, while the women in their studies stated that body hair removal was their ‘choice’, they expressed disgust towards women who did not remove body hair labelling them as ‘unclean’, ‘dirty’, ‘gross’, and even ‘unnatural’. In Fah’s second study [10], participants were required to not remove body hair for 10 weeks. Participants reported feeling dirty, sexually unattractive, and disgusting, admitting that other people had expressed disgust at their body hair. Such findings indicate how strongly internalised this social norm is for many women and the strong negative feelings associated with their natural body hair"
Clearly 'choice' doesn't capture what's going on here. Liberation is needed because there is nothing wrong or shameful with a woman's natural body. Who needs to liberate whom here? Is this oppression coming from men/boys? And/Or are the womenfolk right on board with imposing the socially enforced 'need' to be hairless?
A woman's natural body is manifestly adequate (and also beautiful).
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