Trends 31st March 2017 by Grace McGettigan
Double Standards! An American Teen Shared Pics Of Her Body Hair Because Why The Hell Not?
"I do what I want with my body and it’s okay for anyone else to do that, too."
Lalonie, a 17-year-old-girl from the United States, has uploaded pictures of her body hair online to highlight the double standards for men and women.
The teen was responding to negative comments she’d received on YouTube, in which she was criticised for not removing her body hair.
It’s been a societal norm for women to shave or wax their underarm hair, while men are culturally accepted to have as much hair on their body as they want. Talk about inequality!
Lalonie tweeted, “Body hair positivity post [because] I’d never let misogynistic opinions dictate what I do with my bod.”
https://twitter.com/SLAYLONIE/status/844698655563001857?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.huffingtonpost.com%2Fentry%2Fteen-posts-beautiful-photos-of-her-body-hair-to-prove-an-important-point_us_58dac5a0e4b054637062c4c2
She later explained to Huffington Post “I thought about how such negative backlash could affect a girl’s self-esteem and personal choices to the point where they completely let the misogyny and double standards of our society dictate their choices.
“I posted that picture to let everyone know that I do what I want with my body and it’s okay for anyone else to do that too.”
Lalonie continued, “Men can post plenty of pictures of them shirtless with chest hair and armpit hair, but a girl posting a positive picture about her armpit hair and a happy trail? Absolutely unheard of!”
She’s got a point. When was the last time you went out with stubble on your armpits?