Furry
Body Issue. 1
A Zine about Body Hair. All images created by me.
Articles:
Do People Still Care About Pubes?, Samantha Howard︎︎︎
5 Revealing Stats About Our Hair Down There, Kristen Sollee︎︎︎
I realised that if I wanted to depict the human body in its natural form that I would have to grow out all of my body hair. I felt that this was necessary to show what the body actually looks like. In order to normalise nudity we have to accept the naked body in all its forms. Depictions of the body being smooth and hairless are false and misleading. These images make us feel like our bodies are “wrong” for having hair.
I remember when I was fourteen a boy in school asking my friend and I if we shaved. My friend scoffed and immediately answered “yeah obviously,”. I quickly echoed her answer but internally I was mortified. I hadn’t known that girls our age were supposed to shave. I knew that women shaved but I didn’t know that I was expected to. Whenever I went swimming I knew to shave or use hair removal cream on my “bikini line” but I didn’t get why I should be shaving all of my pubic hair, all of the time. I was so embarrassed. When I would shave I would always be left with anrgy red spots instead of the smooth, poreless surface that I saw in the media. I naively believed that that was what it should have looked like and I hated my body for not conforming to my perceived idea of beauty.
I felt uncomfortable and self-conscious. I was surprised by the unease that I felt about my body’s hair growth. As the hair grew longer I found that although I was not physically uncomfortable I was definitely emotionally distressed by it. I worried about what people’s reactions would be like if they saw the body hair I had been implicitly conditioned to believe that pubic hair was unhygienic (for women) and something to be ashamed of. I worried about the reaction of my boyfriend and whether or not I would still be attractive to him. I worried about the hair peeking out at my ankles and armpits and shouting their presence to everyone. On hot days I wore long sleeves and trousers. I couldn’t actually feel the hair under my arms but I kept imagining the hair dripping disgustingly and being matted with sweat. Then I realised that this was not happening. That it was only because of social conditioning that I felt deeply repulsed by my own body hair. Physically I felt no different being in my body with or without hair. I had spent my years since puberty living in fear of being judged for growing hair in usual places. For some reason it didn’t enter my mind that other girls (and boys) could be feeling this way. We act as if pubic hair is some worldwide conspiracy. Why is it that we all grow hair all over our bodies yet we painstakingly pretend that we don’t?
This experience taught me not to hate my body for doing something expected and natural. I no longer feel panic at the possibility of another person seeing some hair on my body. Stubble no longer fills me with shame and I realise that no one was looking that close anyway. I felt that the world was looking at me under a microscope. Now I know that the only person
that should care about my body hair is me.
I support anyone’s personal hair preferences. What I disagree with is that fact that in Western culture pubic hair is seen as unclean, lazy and shameful, particularly for women. Images of the body unblemished and hairless have manipulated our thinking and cultivated a self-hatred regarding body hair. By displaying the body unedited and natural we can encourage people to be more comfortable in their own skins and to have a positive and realistic body image for themselves.
I remember when I was fourteen a boy in school asking my friend and I if we shaved. My friend scoffed and immediately answered “yeah obviously,”. I quickly echoed her answer but internally I was mortified. I hadn’t known that girls our age were supposed to shave. I knew that women shaved but I didn’t know that I was expected to. Whenever I went swimming I knew to shave or use hair removal cream on my “bikini line” but I didn’t get why I should be shaving all of my pubic hair, all of the time. I was so embarrassed. When I would shave I would always be left with anrgy red spots instead of the smooth, poreless surface that I saw in the media. I naively believed that that was what it should have looked like and I hated my body for not conforming to my perceived idea of beauty.
I felt uncomfortable and self-conscious. I was surprised by the unease that I felt about my body’s hair growth. As the hair grew longer I found that although I was not physically uncomfortable I was definitely emotionally distressed by it. I worried about what people’s reactions would be like if they saw the body hair I had been implicitly conditioned to believe that pubic hair was unhygienic (for women) and something to be ashamed of. I worried about the reaction of my boyfriend and whether or not I would still be attractive to him. I worried about the hair peeking out at my ankles and armpits and shouting their presence to everyone. On hot days I wore long sleeves and trousers. I couldn’t actually feel the hair under my arms but I kept imagining the hair dripping disgustingly and being matted with sweat. Then I realised that this was not happening. That it was only because of social conditioning that I felt deeply repulsed by my own body hair. Physically I felt no different being in my body with or without hair. I had spent my years since puberty living in fear of being judged for growing hair in usual places. For some reason it didn’t enter my mind that other girls (and boys) could be feeling this way. We act as if pubic hair is some worldwide conspiracy. Why is it that we all grow hair all over our bodies yet we painstakingly pretend that we don’t?
This experience taught me not to hate my body for doing something expected and natural. I no longer feel panic at the possibility of another person seeing some hair on my body. Stubble no longer fills me with shame and I realise that no one was looking that close anyway. I felt that the world was looking at me under a microscope. Now I know that the only person
that should care about my body hair is me.
I support anyone’s personal hair preferences. What I disagree with is that fact that in Western culture pubic hair is seen as unclean, lazy and shameful, particularly for women. Images of the body unblemished and hairless have manipulated our thinking and cultivated a self-hatred regarding body hair. By displaying the body unedited and natural we can encourage people to be more comfortable in their own skins and to have a positive and realistic body image for themselves.
Jessie de Boe 2022 ©