Episode 35: Let it Grow – Body Hair Stigma and the Fight against it

Grab all your pre-Christmas chocolate and cookies and listen to Liz and Bea discuss (gendered) body hair, the history of its removal and the fight against body hair stigma.

Sponsored by FUR.
Our listeners get 15% off FUR products: visit www.furyou.com and enter the code “PERSIST15” at check-out.

Check our Instagram for pics: https://www.instagram.com/shewhopersisted/

Please support SWP on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/shewhopersisted

Sources:

Ajaka, Nadine. “The Casualties of Women’s War on Body Hair.” The Atlantic, February 8, 2017. https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/02/the-casualties-of-womens-war-on-body-hair/514983/.

“Dispelling Beauty Myths: Body Hair.” Allure Videos. Accessed November 18, 2018. https://video.allure.com/watch/dispelling-beauty-myths-body-hair.

“French Women Are Breaking The Body Hair Stigma On Twitter.” Grazia, July 13, 2016. https://graziadaily.co.uk/life/real-life/underarm-body-hair-stigma-twitter/.

Herzig, Rebecca M. “America’s Hair-Removal Insanity | Salon.Com,” February 15, 2015. https://www.salon.com/2015/02/15/americas_hair_removal_insanity/.

———. Plucked: A History of Hair Removal. New York: NYU Press, 2015.

Hickman, Janell M. “3 Girls Share Why They Are EMBRACING Their Facial and Body Hair.” Teen Vogue. Accessed November 18, 2018. https://www.teenvogue.com/story/girls-challenging-body-and-facial-hair-stigma.

“How Living in Paris Made Me Way Less Self-Conscious About Body Hair | Glamour.” Accessed November 18, 2018. https://www.glamour.com/story/french-beauty-body-hair.

“How to Deal with the Misguided Stigma Against Women’s Body Hair.” Everyday Feminism, September 16, 2015. https://everydayfeminism.com/2015/09/dealing-with-body-hair-stigma/.

Mansoor, Maryam. “The Stigma About Body Hair – What’s The Big Deal?” Feminism In India(blog), April 11, 2017. https://feminisminindia.com/2017/04/12/stigma-body-hair/.

Moore, Tracy. “400 Years of Women Removing Their Body Hair.” Jezebel. Accessed November 18, 2018. https://jezebel.com/5969490/400-years-of-women-removing-their-body-hair.

“PODCAST: From Academia to Pop Culture to Body Hair, Porn Culture Has Permeated Almost Every Aspect of Our Lives.” Feminist Current(blog), February 22, 2017. https://www.feministcurrent.com/2017/02/22/podcast-academia-pop-culture-body-hair-porn-culture-permeated-almost-every-aspect-lives/.

Savini, Loren. “The Complex History of Women’s Body Hair and Hair Removal – Allure.” allure. Accessed November 18, 2018. https://www.allure.com/gallery/history-of-womens-body-hair-removal.

“The Stigma Surrounding Body Hair.” The Odyssey Online, May 30, 2016. https://www.theodysseyonline.com/stigma-body-hair.

“The Unusual and Deeply Sexist History of Women Removing Their Body Hair.” Accessed November 18, 2018. https://mic.com/articles/151191/the-unusual-and-deeply-sexist-history-of-women-removing-their-body-hair#.YXEhgyRzp.

“These Women Are Shattering The Stigma On Body Hair.” Accessed November 18, 2018. https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2017/03/147544/teen-vogue-body-hair-polycystic-ovary-syndrome.

Vagianos, Alanna. “Poet Calls Out Our Culture’s Absurd Ideas About Body Hair.” Huffington Post, July 31, 2015, sec. Women. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/poet-calls-out-our-cultures-absurd-ideas-about-body-hair_us_55bb7c61e4b0b23e3ce24c33.

Wood, Fabia. “Body Hair: Why the Stigma?” Luna_fb(blog), November 20, 2017. https://medium.com/luna-fb/body-hair-why-the-stigma-15b54f2c457e.

 

Other Literature

Karin Lesnik-Oberstein: The Last Taboo: Women and Body Hair

Breanne Fahs Perilous Patches and Pitstaches. Imagined Versus Lived Experiences of Women’s Body Hair Growth: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0361684313497924

Meredith Suzanne Dault: The Last Triangle: Sex, Money and the Politics of Pubic Hair  

Sarah Ramsey, Clare Sweeney, Michael Fraser and Gren Oades “Pubic Hair and Sexuality: A Review,” Journal of Sexual Medicine

Basow, Susan A. “The Hairless Ideal: Women and Their Body Hair.” Psychology of Women Quarterly 15 (1991) : 83-96

Anneke Smelik Radboud University Nijmegen A close shave: The taboo on female body hair. http://www.annekesmelik.nl/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Hairless-Body_Smelik.pdf

About Author