Kim Kardashian’s brand Skims recently launched a new type of underwear—thongs with faux pubic hair. Costing £34 a pair and currently being sold out on her website, the question must be asked as to where this idea came from. Is it an authentic attempt at subverting patriarchal views on body hair?
Or is it just a lazy cash grab? For decades, women have been shamed and essentially forced into shaving, waxing, or lasering off any hairs that dare appear on their skin. This sudden and almost radical change in tune from someone such as Kim Kardashian is quite a shock, given her notability for enforcing conventional beauty standards.
For this reason, I find it incredibly hard to believe in the authenticity of such a product. The symbolism of pubic hair (in this instance, a “bush”) is historically associated with feminist, queer, and lesbian culture. In times of such uncertainty for these groups of people all across the world, there is something disingenuous in a woman whose net worth is over $1 billion to profit from a symbol of a liberation movement for the marginalised.
Such a tasteless product deriving from such a historically rich symbol makes it hard to see this launch as anything more than a humorous cash grab. Historically, the merkin garments were used as a way to shame women—predominantly sex workers and poor women—who had to remove the hair on their body due to disease or infestation. It allowed these women to continue to work and saved them from absolute poverty.
More recently, it was claimed by feminist and queer liberation movements as a reclamation of our bodies and autonomy. The difference between various liberation movements’ reclaiming of the bush and Kim Kardashian’s is all about what purpose it serves. Feminists, queer people, and lesbians alike are taking what was once used to hurt and ostracise and making it theirs.
There is a lack of authenticity with Kim doing this, knowing she has relied on Western beauty standards to keep herself relevant. No matter how progressive or liberating Kim Kardashian paints this campaign to be, that’s what it is—a campaign. Whether it’s waxing, laser hair removal, or a thong with fake pubic hair, it all serves the same purpose in a culture built up on dictating how women ought to look.
Kim Kardashian has done nothing other than offer another example of the commodification of the female body and its natural growing hair to put more money in her pocket.