When the above image of a baby Leonardo DiCaprio on his parents’ shoulders went viral recently, the response was truly staggering. The few cries of “how adorable” and “that baby has an Oscar” where drowned out by the collective horror at Mama DiCaprio’s furry pits.
There were gasps of how disgusting she was, how gross it was, from both men and women. A) It was the 70’s, and B) they’re her pits, so it’s her choice, but why the repulsion at a little thatch of downy hair?
Body hair is something that all women have. Depending on ethnicity and genetics some may have a little and some may have a lot, but somewhere along the way it was deemed unladylike to be hirsute.
Hair must be removed or you will be less attractive.
It started with legs around the time of the First World War when our hemlines crept up exposing our previously hidden pins. Next, came armpits as the cut of our clothes removed sleeves and showed upper arms and shoulders and the pale flesh that resides underneath.
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Slowly the hair-free obsession overtook our pubic region with trends abolishing whatever was outside the bikini, before leaning towards the landing strip, then the Hitler, followed by the bald-as-the-day-you-were-born movement.
Imagine if it had gone the other way; hairless women were made to feel less attractive than a woman with sumptuously matted, pheromone filled armpit hair, and the full muff was a thing of desire rather than a locker room joke.
Imagine entire websites dedicated to the styling of glorious tufts of “personal hair,” and YouTube channels how-toing dyes and occasion dos … how did it become de rigeur that lady hair was unacceptable and unattractive?
Are we as women conforming to a male beauty ideology or are we perpetuating this ourselves by following societal norms just because that’s what we’ve always done; removed our hair since we were teens, because our friends did it, because our mothers did it?
Why do we find our own body hair disgusting, yet we find a patch of hair on man’s chest manly and masculine, his armpits sexy at best (provided they haven’t just done a marathon), or just normal at worst?
The female body is quite a magnificent thing. Men’s bodies are pretty good too, it’s not a competition, but women’s bodies work magnificent miracles whilst looking less ridiculous than their male counterparts by being created more discreetly with all of the important bits tucked away.
Although women are the creators of the species there is still much about our bodies that is considered gross or unmentionable in certain company which, in an era when we can fly monkeys to the moon, and have video conversations on our mobile phones, is a rather archaic attitude.
The other, greater unmentionable is the monthly shedding of the uterine wall. The nest that is created by your body just in case you feel like falling pregnant this month and growing a human being inside your womb.
The nest is expelled every 28 days so you can continue walking around nonchalantly as if you’re not some supreme alchemist who turns sperm and eggs into people that will grow up and wear shoes and design technology.
This monthly shedding is perfectly natural and normal, as are all of the crazy hormonal additions that accompany it and yet we are made to feel that it should be only spoken of in hushed tones, and only if truly necessary.
Our hormonally charged emotions are to be hidden as much as possible, and the fact that for a few days a month we feel like utter poo needs to be swept under the proverbial as we soldier on regardless.
As women we need to rejoice in our bodies, support each other and celebrate the various choices available to us with pride because how can we expect equality in a world that is more vocal about our armpit hair than our pay structure?
