"She has facial hair, big deal?"

Saint Wilgefortis

    Countless stereotypes and generalizations toward different topics that were considered taboo ages ago have been obliterated –bulldozered  today, especially topics that concern  women such as women having the right to vote, right to work,  and a lot of applauding changes. But even though we’ve come so far, there are still things that are inherent or natural to women that are still frowned upon, and one example is having facial hair, or going broader, women being hairy.

    Contrast to white countries where women  have golden (stereotypically) “peach fuzz” in their arms and legs and other parts of the body, in my country in South East Asia, most women have long, black and twice the amount of normal body hair (looking at my arm as I type this) with thin, sometimes thick moustache, a spontaneous single strand of beard peeking out almost every month, and bushy caterpillar-like eyebrows, I grew up like this, but growing up I was never prejudiced as what I often hear on social media about facial hairs, in fact people around me –my relatives, neighbors and friends, would tell me that having a slightly hairy arm or in Filipino being “balbon” is an asset that I should be proud of.

    However as I step into college, that thinking was crushed, not because I go to college with bunch of bullies who would point at me whenever they would see a…monkey or something, but because I see these classmates of mine being terribly conscious and irritated with their own body type, again not because they’re afraid of bullies or getting teased on but actually because they are aware that after college,  corporate world would see that having body hair as a woman is unpleasant and “dirty”. And I can’t help but think, Why?

 There are several reasons why women grow hair in certain parts of their bodies.  

 According to WebMD, “Hirsutism is a condition in women in which you have a lot of hair growing in places where it usually does just for men. The hair is often dark and coarse instead of the light, fine “peach fuzz” that covers most of the body.” But also, It could be hereditary, result of a pregnancy, taking medications, it is also a one of the natural parts of aging, associated by menopause, and in some cases, signs of diseases like (PCOS) Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, or and Ovarian tumor. To sum it all up, it just basically means that women having body hair in places that they “weren’t ought to be”, is as natural as men having hair to places that are expected to be.

    On the same note, where and when did the urge of women to remove body hair/facial hair even emerge? According to an article published in The Conversation by Helen King called “An Ancient Greek Bearded Lady’s Role in the Evolution of Feminism” ladies with facial hair have been a source of spectacle and that medical writers at that time sees facial hair on men as a healthy thing whereas women who has it were treated as freaks.  Similarly, hair removal practices were a prevalent theme within women predating ancient Egyptians, Romans, and Indians, some of which used modern methods of hair removal like waxing and hair plucking. In addition, ancient Romans used to relate body hair as a sign of class, “the more prestigious one’s place in society, the less hair they were expected to have.” Georgia Nelson of Period the Menstruation Movement, stated. Makes one wonder if such themes still exist in today's society. Takes me back to my poor classmates who shave their legs more or less every week, spend money for waxing, go through all these painful processes just to eliminate a natural thing, just to live up to the expectation of the society that a woman should be flawless shining glass-like Barbies.

Source: The Vintage Toy Advertiser

    One big thing responsible for these expectations is the constant representation of flawless women in the media. 

“the purpose of publicity is to make the spectator marginally dissatisfied with his present way of life” (John Berger, Ways of Seeing, 1970)

    Advertisements feed on one’s anxiety. Through countless of bikini posters, billboards, laser hair removal TV ads and etc. that showcases a close-to-unrealistic women bodies, bombarded towards people’s faces, making them think that, that is what is right, what it should be, what they should be like, and if they’re not, then something is wrong. Berger added, “It [Publicity] suggests that if he buys what it is offering, his life will become better. It offers him an improved alternative to what he is'' consequently saying that publicity of showing shining shimmering splendid skin makes women with natural facial and body hair feel like not enough and if you buy what it promotes, you will return to liking yourself again.

    Another factor that urges the ladies to remove body and facial hair is the fact that women were always associated with demure “lady-like” attitudes. Throughout the centuries, there is a more superior outlook towards men than that of women, there's no debate on that. In the same book by John Berger he stated “A man’s presence is dependent upon the promise of power which he embodied…its object as always exterior to the man” he added “By contrast, a woman’s presence expresses own attitude to herself, and defines what can and cannot be done to her” briefly,  every movement, attitude, action and just the way a woman carries herself is scrutinized and is the rubrics of judgements and of what the future has in store for her. On the contrary, men, whatever actions they do because they carry a pp they would be gravitating towards the word “power” in the same way that a beard for a man signifies strength and power, whilst facial hair for a woman signifies, dirty and lazy.

    To summarize, Body hair on women is a natural thing and is not something to be alarmed, or confused or shocked for. Even though some women may prefer having shaved leg hair or facial hair (like Queen Elizabeth I where she shaved some of her facial hair to have a longer-looking forehead. Apparently that makes one pretty before) or just for the sake of being comfortable,

Source: Biography.com

-Keeping this innate human fur is not something to be ashamed of and get criticized for. A lot had changed throughout the centuries, and for this reason, these pedantic views of the patriarchal society could also be changed, not by war, sacrificing lives, or by creating a protest, but by learning how to love one’s beautiful self despite the roaring criticisms of the society.