“I hit puberty at a really early age and had body hair before a lot of other kids, and was bullied for this ... My mum used to painstakingly pluck and wax my bushy eyebrows for me because I was so worried about fitting in. Now I just let them do their thing.”
“My hair on my head is praised for being so long and beautiful, but my body hair is seen as ‘disgusting.’ Why? They both grow out of my skin.... If someone is offended or disgusted by my natural body hair, then in all honesty, I’m glad it repels them from my life.””
This week we welcome Tim Jurney to discuss ideas surrounding body hair. Scientific research has not concluded its every purpose on the body, though several hypotheses have been put forth. Nonetheless, people and cultures around the globe have made statements of approval or dissatisfaction with gendered and socioeconomic motivations. How do we consider body hair on others and on ourselves? Are our views ever independent of the societies in which we live?
