French women have launched a campaign on Twitter to fight the stigma over female body hair.
Posting pictures of their arm and leg hair under the hashtag #LesPrincessesOntDesPoils (Princesses have hair), it was the top trending topic on French Twitter with over 25,000 mentions, as a heated debate erupted over whether women should remove body hair or not.
The trend started after 16-year-old Adele Labo was bullied for not shaving and confessed she had ‘suffered enormously’ from cruel comments after refusing to get rid of her body hair.
She said: “I think society stigmatises women, there is massive social pressure over body hair.”
The pressure on young women to conform to beauty standards and the ‘perfect body’ is nothing new.
A study conducted by the University of York found that 99 per cent of women rid their bodies of hair, the Daily Star reports.
And womens’ hair removal habits seem to be lining up with what men want.
Nearly a third of men said they liked barely-there pubic hair, and 47 per cent of women are doing just that by shaving all of their hair away. Apparently, just 4 per cent of young women let their lady gardens grow freely.
On the flip side, men aren’t really that bothered about their pubes – only 6 per cent of guys between the ages of 25 and 49 would shave completely.
While the campaign makes a great point, not every woman needs to grow their hair or wants to.
And Labo reiterates this.
While many praised her initiative, she was also the target of insults from both men and women who called the pictures ‘disgusting’ and the work of ‘feminazis’.
The teenager said she did not think all women should steer clear of razors and wax, but they should be allowed to freely choose how to treat their bodies. Which is a fair point. If a woman wants to get rid of her body hair, let it be her choice and not someone else’s.
