With women empowerment week coming up, it is important to remember to value one self and love our bodies and image of who we are. Lalonie Davis is a 17 year old girl, you've probably seen her on a meme on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. A lot of people didn't have nice things to say about Davis selfie where she shows off her armpit hair with the caption. "A body hair positivity post to remind you all that what I do with my body is MY choice".
A caption with such a positive and inspiring message turned out to be a caption that a lot of people decided to bash on, according to Cosmopolitan Davis stood up for herself as well as people with the same mind set about hair positivity with her reply, "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, You are lame af if you take time out of your day to police someone's body. Baby girls don't ever let anyone make you feel bad for being who you are or doing what you want to do. Yo are deserving of self respect and love no matter the decision you make with your body". Although a majority of the comments called Davis gross, she is right about everyone having a say on how they want to physically look and even if it is different from what everyone in society looks like, no one should shame another person and make them feel bad about themselves because of appearance.
Growing up, my biggest fear was shaving my arm hairs because I grew up with the mentality that if I shaved my hair, it would grow back twice as much. Eventually I did what I wanted to do despite the risk of becoming more hairy and shaved my arms, five years later I still shave my arms but every time I come across a young girl who has hairy arms as I did, I have respect for her. I respect anyone with hairy arms because they embrace it, don't let it bother them , and because they are being natural with their bodies. If I was more strong minded when I was younger and didn't care so much what boys would think if they saw my arms, I would have kept them hairy.
At the end of the day, everyone makes their own decisions, it is just sad when individuals have to take time out of their day to make someone feel bad about themselves. Some would blame it on social media, but who are the ones behind the screens? Us! Davis has become very inspiring to young girls after this incident because she reminded and gave them a little extra boost of confidence that they are fine just the way they are despite what others think. Beauty is define first with ourselves before we allow others to define it for us!
