u/Intrepid_Ninja_2266

a poem about the stakes when it comes to body hair removal and feminism - published in Unlikely Stories: https://www.unlikelystories.org/content/unholy-matrimony-bigger-fish-to-fry-and-fuck-choice-feminism

Bigger Fish to Fry

 

Each morning greets me

with news of death and war,

stories of hunger and poverty

trickling out of my earbuds

as I brush my teeth in the safety

of my San Francisco apartment.

 

I am angry.

Then I turn on the shower and

I am angrier still.

I dread taking showers because

now I must confront

the everyday patriarchy:

Do I keep my body hair

and rebel against misogyny,

stick to my values, weather the backlash?

Or do I pick up my purple glittery razor,

perpetuate the expectation of hairlessness,

and reap the benefits of conformity?

 

My phone still blares the news

of governmental collapse

and dire funding cuts,

so when I look at my razor

a tiny voice in my head whispers:

Are there not bigger fish to fry?

I look back at my naked hairy body

and think of all of my fellow women

who have never had the chance

to see their natural adult bodies,

body hair fully grown out,

because the world tells us that

our natural bodies are

Disgusting,

and eventually we believe them.

 

When the NPR news segment ends

I am left alone with

my own body,

my own indignation because

50% of the population is

denied the basic right

to exist in our human bodies

without facing debilitating stigma:

slim job prospects, dating prospects,

disgusting comments in public,

disgusting comments in private,

rape threats.

 

It sticks with me in my bones:

Women are not allowed

to exist in our natural

human bodies.

 

That’s a large god damn fish.