Why Does Society Care So Much About My Body Hair?
Crash Reynolds & Edd Castillo
8 pages
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Why Does Society Care So Much About My Body Hair? is an 11cm x 14cm black text on coloured paper zine about feelings around body hair and body hair expectations.
Razors, waxing, societal expectations… Never the makings of a good thing.
This mini opens with Crash writing about body hair embarrassment when they were younger. Crash was prevented from shaving and required to wax if they wanted to remove body hair. Crash writes briefly about the shame around body hair and how that goes against the traits that we’re trained to believe society expects. After this, in the middle of the zine on neon orange paper, Edd shares their body hair experiences from youth in comic form. From there we go back to Crash who struggles with their feelings around their leg hair but is starting to face it.
As a person with PCOS, I am well-acquainted with the trials and horrors around body hair, so I already empathised with Crash and Edd on the subject. Crash’s writing is thoughtful and to the point whereas Edd features a setting I’ve never been in: the boys locker room for the opposite kind of experience I have faced.
I loved that Crash and Edd teamed up to share both of these experiences though because it makes it oh so clear that so many people experience this kind of pressure. Two sides of a coin, if you will. I think it was a great way to handle a big picture with only two authors.
Why Does Society Care So Much About My Body Hair? left me feeling a bit sad about why humanity continues to demand things of each other that don’t really matter in the end. (Your body, your choice.) But I am glad to see zines like this because body hair is still very much a discussion in media for various reasons. This is definitely worth picking up, reading, and pondering. And, perhaps, making your own zine on the topic.