It’s clear that Chappell Roan’s fandom has no room for people who police her body hair. The singer is busy and making waves on her latest tour, connecting and inspiring her fans across North America. While most worship her music, some are too busy criticizing her looks instead of listening to her thought-provoking songs. While fans applaud Roan’s stage presence, singing skills, and impressive choreography, one viral X post is focused on something else.
A Chappell Roan fan account called @inmycomfychair shared two screenshots of posts criticizing Roan’s armpit hair in a photograph from a recent concert. One hateful post shows a red arrow pointing to her armpit, saying “bad hygiene.” @inmycomfychair responded, defending the artist, firing back, “Why are you zooming in to begin with? Sorry a lesbian just existing is icky to you.”
Unfortunately, this is far from new; insecure people have always had an opinion on powerful and successful women’s bodies. A new documentary on Lilith Fair recalls a time in 1998 when singer Paul Cole was criticized for having armpit hair after winning a Grammy award for “Best New Artist.” Entertainment Weekly even airbrushed her armpit hair out of an issue.
Women, especially successful women, are subject to hatred and backlash regarding their bodies, but why? Ultimately, this is a systemic issue; however, people criticizing Chappell’s armpit hair forget she’s a lesbian. In 2017, a study titled An exploration of bisexual, lesbian, and heterosexual women’s body dissatisfaction, and body hair and cosmetics practices ” by Nikki Hayfield, Victoria Clarke, and Emma Halliwell of the University of the West of England, Bristol, found that queer women have much more favorable views of body hair than straight women. The report reads, “Lesbian and bisexual women had more positive attitudes to body hair and lower scores on body hair removal from their underarms, legs, and eyebrows, compared to heterosexual women.”
As a matter of fact, gay or straight, most women have been critiqued for their body hair at least once in their lives. This problem did not start with Roan, although backlash does bring up a systemic double standard that women have faced for decades. No matter who you are or what you do, famous singer or not, we are all entitled to our own bodies. Express yourself for you; grow out your armpit hair, or don’t grow your armpit hair—Do what makes YOU happy. And don’t forget to ignore internet trolls. 🙂
Photo Courtesy of social media
