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Nieogolona pacha, widoczne owłosienie w miejscach intymnych. Ta sesja na nowo definiuje kobiece piękno

"Natural Beauty"
Instagram.com @benhopper
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Lansowany przez lata kult gładkiego ciała sprawił, że akceptacja owłosienia na kobiecym ciele jest wciąż kłopotliwa i społecznie nieakceptowana. Na szczęście powstaje coraz więcej inicjatyw mających na celu oswajanie z widokiem kobiecych nieogolonych pach, nóg czy miejsc intymnych. Jedną z takich ciałopozytywnych akcji podjął się brytyjski fotograf, Ben Hopper. Zobaczcie efekty jego projektu „Natural Beauty”.

O tym, jak bardzo potrzebne w przestrzeni publicznej są obrazy nieogolonych kobiet, świadczą choćby komentarze pod zdjęciami, na których owłosienie się pojawia.

„Bardzo niesmaczne. Są pewne standardy co do wyglądu”, „Dla mnie ohyda, zarośnięta niczym małpa w zoo”, „Nie, nie, nie – włosy tylko na głowie!” – to tylko kilka z nich.

To, co powinno być traktowane jako coś naturalnego i normalnego, nadal szokuje, wzbudza niesmak, prowokuje do krytyki. Naprzeciw tej tendencji postanowił wyjść londyński fotograf, Ben Hopper.

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Nearly 5 years ago on the day, I took what would become one of my most iconic photographs. It was a picture of a London girl called Maya Felix for my project 'Natural Beauty'. That picture reached millions around the world and inspired both women and men to be more tolerant towards female body hair – to even accept female body hair is a thing. The project later grew to inspire tolerance and acceptance of many other unique qualities we all share as humans; stretch marks, scars, gender and sexual orientation to name a few. Today I’d like to share another image from that session, it’s as good as the first one but when I published Natural Beauty in 2014, I felt it’ll be easier for people to perceive one picture at a time. ⠀ I'd like to dedicate this post to Melania and Chris, the gay couple who were beaten on a London bus last month after they refused to kiss. May we live in a world with less judgement. ⠀ Maya Felix photographed for ‘Natural Beauty’. London. June 19, 2014. See full project with words written by the models on therealbenhopper.com (link in my bio).

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„Choć włosy pod pachą to naturalny stan rzeczy, stały się manifestacją polityczną. Dlaczego? Od prawie stu lat branża kosmetyczna pierze nam mózgi, zachęcając do usuwania owłosienia. Tworząc kontrast między kobiecym „standardem” piękna a surowym, niekonwencjonalnym wizerunkiem z włosami chcę rozpocząć debatę na ten temat” – mówił Hopper, rozpoczynając swój projekt „Natural Beauty”.

Pomysł na sesję w nurcie body positive narodził się w głowie Hoppera już w 2007 roku, ale zrealizował go dopiero 5 lat temu. Projekt „Natural Beauty” miał być swego rodzaju protestem, niezgodą na lansowany kult gładkiego ciała i próbą przywrócenia naturalnego piękna do głównego dyskursu.

Do udziału w swoim projekcie fotograf zaprosił 45 kobiet. Każda z nich zapozowała z uniesionymi rękami, pokazując w ten sposób, że niewydepilowana pacha czy okolice bikini nie czynią je mniej atrakcyjnymi. Zdjęcia Hoppera nie tylko podkreślają kobiecą urodę z naturalnym owłosieniem, ale również przypominają, że te dwie rzeczy w żaden sposób się nie wykluczają.

Skoro włosy występują na ciele każdego człowieka, niesprawiedliwe jest, aby tylko żeńska część społeczeństwa była zobowiązana do ich usuwania. Tym niemniej cieszy nas fakt, że owłosienie nie tylko coraz częściej pojawia się w reklamach, ale również coraz więcej się o nim mówi.

Na polskim gruncie dużo dobrego w tym temacie robi Kaya Szulczewska, założycielka profilu Ciałopozytyw, na którym regularnie publikuje edukacyjne treści na temat ciała i jego akceptacji. Sama wyzwoliła się z presji depilacji w 2017 roku.

– Paradoksalnie owłosione pachy i łono są najbardziej kontrowersyjne, często pojawiają się komentarze, że są niehigieniczne, jednak ja nie mam z nimi w ogóle problemu i nie wstydzę się ich wcale. Dla mnie był to wybór wręcz prozdrowotny, ponieważ wrastające włosy i stany ropne nie były ani higieniczne, ani zdrowe. Odkąd nie golę włosów pod pachami, nie mam stanów zapalnych, nic mnie nie boli, ani nie swędzi. Włosy pod pachami sprawiły, że przestałam wstydzić się pach. Tak się z nimi dobrze czuję, że jest to dla mnie uwalniające – mówiła w rozmowie z nami.

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“I first stopped shaving while travelling solo around Mexico. With limited access to showers and too many adventures to be had, shaving became the least of my priorities. Once I realised that people didn’t care whether I had hair or not in addition to no longer having constantly itchy armpits due to stubble, I never looked back. Also having fibromyalgia, which is a chronic illness causing general fatigue and pain, I have to prioritise what activities I dedicate my limited energy to on a daily basis and shaving became something I choose not to do in order to save my limited energy for more important and enjoyable things. This was several years ago, and since then not shaving has been one of the catalysts for me to realise my gender-fluidity. There are days where quite frankly I wish I was more hairy, and at least had the option for a beard! In general, people’s responses have been accepting, either people are too concerned with their own lives to care about a small amount of inoffensive hair growing on me in places it should grow or they see my decision as an inspiration to follow suit. The only issue I have had being a hairy human is with performing at private members clubs, I had managers take me aside and ask me to wear sleeves as to not offend their clientele. I have had photos of me performing airbrushed so that my hairy armpits ‘would not become the focus of the event’. Yes, really, apparently my free flowing follicles are more interesting to these excessively rich people than their own enjoyment of a club night… people are way too concerned with judging other peoples personal choices in that area of society than their own lives. Either way, my hair is mine and no one can take it away from me.” ⠀ Samantha Louise Patchett for ‘Natural Beauty’. Photographed July, written September 2018.

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“I stopped shaving my armpit hair about 5 years ago, and the rest of my body hair 4 years ago. I was tired of constantly getting rid of my body hair since the age of 11.
I started wondering "Why?”
– Why do we go through a painful process to get rid of something we were born with that keep growing? Why is being shaved considered to be more feminine? Why is body hair seen as something dirty?
…It’s all about these ideas society has put into our heads and it doesn't even make sense, so that was it for me, no more painful process to remove my natural hair.
It made me feel more myself with body hair. I feel beautiful and it has helped me accepting and loving my body, feeling comfortable in my own skin.
At the start, I was scared of what people would say and I found most of my friends being really supporting about it. I've had people telling me I look "dirty", "smelly" and that no one would have sex with me if I didn't shave… But I've also had people encouraging me and telling me it's natural and beautiful.
I would like everyone to allow themselves to do what feels best for them instead of looking for someone else's approval.”

Sheila Santiago for ‘Natural Beauty’. Photographed & written October 2018.

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Kyotocat for ‘Natural Beauty’. June 2017. Words continue in comments due to IG character limit. ⠀ (1/2) “I stopped shaving completely when I was a teenager because of two instances. The first? I got tired of all the time wasted on maintenance and the discomfort that came with it. The second was when I went on a few multiple week-long backpacking trips; it would have been extremely inconvenient to spend hours ripping my hair out, so I let things grow. Being so close to nature let me dive deeper into and re-examine the relationship with myself and the world, acting as a mirror. In nature, there is wild; it is as beautiful as it is untamed. How could it be anything other than that? ⠀ I felt so relieved and free when I let it grow out. It felt like being able to breathe. It was incredibly comfortable too. I felt a confidence and boldness returning, like I was replenishing some kind of primal power. ⠀ People respond to it differently all the time. There are very encouraging/positive reactions—women who have messaged me to thank me for changing their mind and pushing them to challenge their motives/experiment with growing their body hair. Then there are people that start to fetishize it, which can be strange. ⠀ People revere my decision as a feminist and bold political statement, which is ironic, considering how almost everybody has some kind of body hair. It is also funny because I am lazy and keeping it is the path of least resistance. There are people who are exceptionally rude and who speak from fear. People who say it’s dirty and that I must be a man. The more important questions to ponder are rather why and how do we live in a culture/society that has deemed it acceptable for certain people to have body hair, and unacceptable for others? Isn’t it absurd that it is socially acceptable for humans to have lots of hair on their head, but not on other parts of their same body? Isn’t it ridiculous and ironic that what grows naturally on its own is seen as unnatural? How did we get here?”

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I'm looking for courageous confident fashion brands who are up for collaborating creating mini-campaigns with unshaved models. Tag in comments / DM to inquire! ⠀ “I stopped shaving my body hair as I realised that it is a choice, not a given. That it was unfair to have to spend so much extra time, sometimes money (if getting regular waxes) and energy in order to fulfil this conventional expectation to be hair free. This expectation seemed to be based entirely on my assigned biological gender, which was purely down to chance. Not choice. ⠀ At first, my 17-year-old self was exceptionally proud and liberated. Flashing my underarms and legs with a zesty vigour for pushing social boundaries. I still feel such a way often. However getting older, and becoming more of a ‘grown up woman’, so to speak, I have been more challenged wondering how it could affect others perception of me, mainly professionally. ⠀ Over the years I’ve had mixed responses. Some very gratifying, where other ‘women’ have expressed feeling inspired to stop removing their hair also. On several occasions ‘women’ have called me “so brave” and shared almost sorrowfully their personal inner conflict on the matter. I’ve had conversations with lovers and ‘male’ friends who claimed to find my body hair attractive, symbolic of freedom and nature; that they don’t even notice it/care. I mention this as I think that one of the biggest motivations to remove body hair is wanting to be considered sexually attractive. I’ve definitely also noticed what I think are looks of surprise in public places. But quite frankly I’m not surprised at that as despite becoming somewhat more acceptable, it is still pretty rare to see a ‘woman’ with hairy legs or a man with shaved armpits, for that matter. I too can find myself staring at unusual appearances.” ⠀ @chalafigue for 'Natural Beauty' (2018). Go to therealbenhopper.com to see the rest of the project.

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Naszym zdaniem włosy pod pachami to jedna z możliwych opcji. Można je golić lub nie. Niezależnie od tego, jaką opcję wybierzemy, ważne abyśmy robiły to dla sienie. A jakie jest wasze zdanie na ten temat? Dajcie znać w komentarzach!

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