Seventeen year old Lalonie Davis may be young, but she's ready to put just about anyone in their place for trying to shame her body hair.
After sharing a thread on Twitter in late March in an effort to empower women to embrace their body hair, Davis was met with a number of demeaning replies, and said she was even told to kill herself.
In response, the Los Angeles native, who also works as an illustrator, posted the same photo flaunting her unshaved armpits to Instagram with a similar caption. Making it clear that a woman should not be shamed for her choice to rock body hair.
"A body hair positivity post to remind you all that what I do with my body is MY choice," the teen penned. "You don't have to like it, but please know that misogynistic opinions that shame girls for having body hair while ignoring boys who do will never get me to change who I am."
She continued:
You are lame af if you take time out of your day to police someone's body. I will post what I want and do what I want with my body. Baby girls don't ever let anyone ever make you feel bad for being who you are or doing what you want to do. You are deserving of self respect and love no matter the decisions you make with your body. Body hair is normal and so are you. It's okay to do what you want to do with your body.
But while Davis' words were encouraging, some of the comments she got from other users on the 'gram were the exact opposite. Leaving replies like, "Fucking gross," and "Grow out your leg/arm pit hair and see if your man stays with you."
Thankfully, a number of Davis' followers came through to spread messages of love and positivity.
"You're perfect, and strong, and an amazingly beautiful woman," a user said.
"Slayyyy queen," wrote another.
Unfortunately, the following day, Instagram user prince_don_ made a video about Davis' post, which he claims was not "intended to shame any women or their bodies" — but did just that by calling her photos "nonsense" and "highly un-fucking-attractive."
The part-time artist regrammed the post and left some harsh words for the body shamer.
"I AM SO FLATTERED THAT THIS BOY TOOK TIME OUT OF HIS DAY TO MAKE THIS WHOLE ASS VIDEO EDIT TO DEMEAN WOMEN!!!!," she wrote. "ALSO 'IT'S NOT MISOGYNY' BUT I'VE NEVER SEEN SOMEONE TELL A BOY TO KILL THEMSELVES FOR HAVING ARMPIT HAIR AND GET DEATH THREATS!!!!!"
Later speaking to Yahoo Style, Davis told the platform that she never intended for the post to become as big of a deal as it did. She simply wished to "show girls that it’s normal to have body hair even though it’s often shamed and overlooked."
But despite the unwarranted backlash the teen received, it seems as though more people are learning to embrace women's body hair.
Last week, Wonder Woman fans were pretty pissed off that Gal Gadot's armpits were blurred out, and argued that judging by the story's setting, which takes place in Ancient Greece, the character's underarms should have been a little bit more fuzzy.
Hopefully as time goes on, women's body hair won't even be worth discussing at all. Until then, keep flaunting yourself in whatever way makes you most comfortable, ladies.
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