For such a natural thing, body hair sure does elicit quite a lot of strong reactions and feelings of concern, something that photographer Ashley Armitage knows only too well. “Every photo I post of individuals with body hair who aren’t cis-men gets hostile reactions,” she says. “I’ve posted photos of non-binary people, trans women, and cis women with body hair and so they were all met with anger. It doesn’t appear to matter what style of hair, either. Pubic hair, armpit hair, stomach hair, leg hair, all of it makes people mad.”

Earlier this 12 months, Ashley shot a campaign for the female-first razor brand Billie. It was the primary ever advert to feature women’s body hair. Gorgeous and dreamy, Ashley’s photographs were an intimate have a look at natural femininity, showing women with underarm hair, leg hair, hair below their navels, their bikini line. Though widely praised online, not everyone was pleased with the pictures of ladies of their natural state, and when an Instagram account with quite a lot of followers recently posted one in every of the Billie campaign shots she encountered a strongly negative response. We spoke to Ashley about what happened.     

One among your Billie campaign shots recently caused some drama on Instagram. Are you able to tell us what happened?
Ashley Armitage: My posts are mostly crammed with positivity and support because that’s my audience. Nonetheless, this time around an Instagram account with hundreds of thousands of followers posted the Billie industrial and opened the floodgates. There have been super vile and toxic comments (mostly from men) saying literally, I quote: “I’d somewhat die than watch a lady run a comb through her armpit hair again”, and the worst, “Wtf is that this…you come over here with armpit hair I’m fuckin punchin you within the pussy”. Sexual violence towards girls with armpit hair? That’s terrifying. Reading these comments shows me that we’d like this sort of imagery. We’ll only normalise body hair through exposure.

What was the concept of the shoot?
Ashley Armitage: The concept was to point out that body hair removal is a selection. We made it to say, “If you desire to grow out your body hair, amazing! We support that. When you decide to remove your body hair, then Billie has great razors!” To my knowledge, we were the primary industrial to ever show women with body hair. In shaving commercials, for some reason, women have already got perfectly smooth hairless legs. How is body hair so taboo that we will’t even show it in an ad literally about body hair?

Why do you’re thinking that people have such a powerful response to body hair? Particularly because it’s such a natural a part of the body.
Ashley Armitage: I believe media has ingrained the sexist beauty standard into all of us so heavily that when women fall outside of it, some men feel they’ve the precise to retake control of our bodies. I believe they feel threatened by an “unruly” woman and that it’s their duty to re-exert their power over us. On the Instagram post of the Billie video I discussed above, there have been so many men commenting calling women who grow their hair “Feminazis”. Sometimes I forget that I live in such a liberal bubble, and that these people exist. After I get those violent comments on my work, it’s depressing but it surely encourages me to work even harder to get these images out into the world.

You repost the image every few months. Have you ever noticed reactions changing?
Ashley Armitage: Yes, actually! At first, after I first began posting the photo of my friend, Irene Bowen, with a bikini and pubic hair poking out, there was an enormous amount of people that were outraged. I believe over time, with all of the body hair pictures I’ve posted, I’ve weeded out the sexist people and kept the great people. Now after I post that photo the comments are 95% supportive.

The image has been reported and brought down several times. How does this make you are feeling?
Ashley Armitage: Truthfully, it doesn’t surprise me. It looks like one more way for agency to be stripped from me. My art is silenced. It’s disappointing but it surely’s an indication that there continues to be much progress to be made.

What do you see because the primary arguments on either side of the body hair debate?  
Ashley Armitage: My side of the argument is that body hair preferences are personal decisions. If it’s your body, it’s your selection. Nobody else has the precise to comment on it or control it. Body hair is similar exact thing on any body of any gender. It isn’t suddenly unhygienic when it grows on a lady.

I suppose the opposing side of the argument is that girls mustn’t have body hair since it’s “gross”. I see that this angle stems from the sweetness standard telling us to be hairless. That’s why I need to flood the media with body hair pictures. I need women and girls around the globe to see that we’ve options. I need men to see that this exists and it’s natural and normal.