Body hair as a site of resistance: A qualitative study on how something as intimate as body hair has become so political and how it has the potential be reclaimed as something intimate again through relation building and coalition

Abstract

Body hair is one of the body manipulations that society requires women to undergo in order to comply with predefined beauty standards that reinforce the differences between women and men and therefore uphold the gender binary. It is a practice that is deeply rooted in our everyday life and reveals the reductive and unimaginative idea of the current dominant understanding of beauty, gender and humanity and cultural imposition of norms that often prompt internalized homophobia, transphobia, misogyny and racism. Women and gender nonconforming people often find themselves conflicted between resistance and compliance because of the consequences that are either attached to stigmatization and discrimination or to the maintenance of the system in place. Therefore, this study applies an intersectional lens that outlines the issues of the current understanding of body hair that continues to uphold unattainable standards for femininities and beyond. Autoethnography is used to narrate the temporality of body hair by connecting the past, present and future together. Toxic systems that are deeply ingrained in society and are intertwined, therefore we need to invite new ways of thinking. This study explores the potentiality of body hair by understanding the power of imagination that relies on temporality through the exploration of creative self-expression and artistry. It connects notions of deconstruction, reflection, imagination and healing to reflect on the restricting structures in place but also to explore queer heterotopias that allow for body hair and enables the acceptance and appreciation of one another’s complexity and that make the world a little more loving and equitable place for all.