Last month, Kim Kardashian launched a new item of ‘clothing’ for her brand SKIMS, and it’s certainly got people talking. The ‘Faux Hair Micro String Thong’ was released on the 14th of October, and sold for £34 each, selling out globally in under 24 hours. With all of the conversation and buzz surrounding the new product, my biggest question is why? What was the point?
Body hair, particularly that grown by women and feminine presenting individuals, has long been a topic of contention. Unlike men, women’s body hair has been treated as an extension of fashion, where the answer to society’s question ‘to shave or not to shave’ has always had a varying response, informed by quick trends and external opinions on a matter that shouldn’t really concern anyone but yourself (no – not even your partner). Throughout history, attitudes to shaving – how much, what is acceptable etc – have changed, and with the rise in media – physical and now digital – in the last century, the concept of shaving has become far more widespread and fed to society as ‘the norm’, or even the expectation.
With women’s appearances being continuously scrutinised, even down to their most intimate grooming choices, it is unsurprising, perhaps unavoidable, for capitalism to do exactly what its name would suggest: capitalise on insecurity. Brands are able to promote new fads for weight loss, or hair removal, or age reversal to promote the most desirable yet unrealistic body standard for women. Pink tax on hair removal or hygiene products keeps the money flowing in whilst women try to meet society’s constantly in-flux image of what it means to look like a woman.
Maybe I’m just not understanding how camp this is, but the motivation behind this product release is ambiguous, and I’m not sure that this ‘Ultimate Bush’ promotes the body positivity that is associated with the ‘full bush in a bikini’ movement as much as it might appear to at first glance. It seems to show that brands will take any new trend that they can capitalise on, including – perhaps pervertedly – how women’s naked bodies look, and if the latest trend is to shave, that is what is shoved down our throats, but now that it seems trendy not to, brands – like SKIMS – will use this to make a buck. While we could read the new product as a celebration of the bush being more widely accepted in society (finally!), with SKIMS CEO being Kim K herself – the epitome of modern hegemonic beauty standards – this idea can arguably fall a bit flat. At the end of the day, the concept of the pubic hair thong is still removable, merely like an amusing accessory of sorts, and the appearance of the hair is very generic, idealised, and symmetrical, which further contributes to the commonly held discourse that only certain types of body hair on women can be desirable or ‘trendy’. Fundamentally, it makes the natural function of the human body to produce hair a commodity that can be bought, and satirises or downplays the issue that society has with female body and pubic hair, something that most women will agree has impacted their life since puberty.
I also take issue with the language used in the product launch, and the thong’s tag line being ‘your carpet can be whatever colour you want it to be’ doesn’t sit quite comfortably. The noun carpet has been used more recently in adjectival senses, and specifically with more negative connotations; it has been used as part of a derogatory term for wlw individuals, and also connotes to the insult of ‘being walked all over’, which is certainly an uncomfortable image.
I don’t know if we will ever find out Kim’s motivation for this new product, or if it was even her idea in the first place, but the reality of the launch is that it raises a lot of questions when looked at from a critical feminist point of view.
I am absolutely all for ‘full bush in a bikini’, but I think it’s important to consider who and what we’re giving our money to, and how brands contribute towards society’s wider expectations towards women.
Grow out your bush for free, and don’t let society tell you what to do with your body.