Nike Women’s latest Instagram post has got a lot of attention, not for its sturdy-looking sports bra, but for the model wearing it displaying her armpit hair.
Nike used Nigerian-American singer Annahstasia in the new advert, accompanied by the words ‘big mood’.
However, it was her pose, which revealed an unshaven underarm, that quickly became the main topic of discussion.
The tiny amount of hair was enough to anger Instagram trolls who branded it ‘disgusting’. Some simply commented ‘ew’ while others said that the image sent us back to ‘cavemen’ times.
The post, which received more than 5,000 comments, seemed to spark fury, with anger on both sides coming from some who felt it was either unhygienic or gross and others who felt it was completely natural.
Enough decided there was nothing wrong with showing off a bit of fur as the image has so far amassed more than 16,000 likes.
A lot of the comments which were hating on the image seemed to come from women, something that was was pointed out by other commenters.
One woman wrote: ‘Let me tell you.. disgusting,’ while another said: ‘Need to shave that armpit. Ewww.’
Other comments included: ‘It doesn’t look hygienic’, ‘this is not freedom, this is not a type of “I love my body”, this is bullsh*t, shave that sh*t’, and ‘let’s go back to be cavemen and women. Because it’s natural’.
The picture gave misogynist trolls the chance to denounce feminism too.
One person wrote: ‘No! That’s disgusting. Horrible. It’s not cute. Stop this feminist bullsh*t saying it’s ok. It’s not. It’s wrong. There are some things that women could do but just really f*cking shouldn’t cause it looks rotten and disgusting and this is one of them.
‘I get that it’s natural but it’s not cool. I bet all of you people saying “oh this is natural” “oh this is amazing” “oh I’m a feminist”, wouldn’t dare leave the house with an ounce of hair on you other than your head.’
After the negative came the positive messages. One person’s comment got a lot of likes: ‘Why is there so much hate? This photo is beautiful on so many different levels. Love the bra and the model’s confidence’.
‘I think this beautiful woman deserves more love… the hate is unnecessary,’ wrote another.
‘This doesn’t make anyone disgusting or less of a woman because you are hairy,’ urged another user.
‘I saw many people say to stop trying to make this a “thing”; that’s not the point. The point is having a choice and how it’s not a bad thing if you choose not to shave.’
Nike is not the first sports brand to use models showing off body hair, as Adidas has previously used similar imagery.
Sadly Arvida Byström received death threats after posing with her hairy legs.
It seems we still have a long way to go to truly accept female body hair.
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