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Anna C. Paul

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Anna C. Paul (born 1992) is a German script supervisor1Script supervisors document and monitor all technical and artistic aspects of filming during a film or television production (see also: author unknown (n.d.): Berufsbilder: Script Supervisor. In: Webseite des Bundesverbands Script Supervisor. Available at: https://berufsverband-scriptsupervisor.de/script-supervisor/ (accessed 10.10.2022)). and body hair activist.2Deutsche Nationalbibliothek (n.d.): Anna C. Paul. Datensatz der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek. In: Webseite der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek. Available at: https://d-nb.info/gnd/124326506X (accessed 06.10.2022).3author unknown (n.d.): Autorinnen/Autoren. In: Webseite des Ventil Verlags. Available at: https://www.ventil-verlag.de/autor/1582/anna-c-paul (accessed 05.10.2022). In her blog project “Super(hairy)woman*,” she brings together opinions and experiences concerning body hair.4Wieser, Barbara (2022): Weibliche Körperbehaarung im Fokus. In: Weiberdiwan, post dated 13.06. Available at: https://weiberdiwan.at/weibliche-koerperbehaarung-im-fokus/ (accessed 05.10.2022).

Super(hairy)woman*: Blog and Book

After various personal experiences with body hair and its visibility or invisibility on people perceived as female,5In the prevailing binary gender system, people are generally assigned to one of two gender categories: male and female. This categorization is often based on outward characteristics; some people are perceived as female or male but do not identify with that gender. The binary gender system excludes intersex, trans, and nonbinary people (see also: author unknown (n.d.): Binäres Geschlecht. In: Queer Lexikon. Available at: https://queer-lexikon.net/2017/06/15/binaeres-geschlecht/ (accessed 29.12.2022) and Women Engage for a Common Future (n.d.): Sprache und Gender. In: Webseite von WECF. Available at: https://www.wecf.org/de/sprache-und-gender/ (accessed 29.12.2022).) Anna C. Paul began engaging more deeply with the subject in 2018. Many people think of the artist Frida Kahlo as a “famous” example of visible body hair; Paul looked for other role models.6Ufer, Gesa (2021): Emanzipation behaarter, weiblicher Körper: Projekt Super(hairy)Woman*. In: Kompressor, Deutschlandfunk Kultur, Podcast, episode dated 01.11. Available at: https://www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/emanzipation-behaarter-weiblicher-koerper-projekt-super-hairy-woman-podcast-dlf-kultur-bde60a15-100.html (accessed 06.10.2022).
According to Paul, various media—advertising, films, television series, and social media—usually portray body hair on people perceived as female as negative or unattractive.7Paul, Anna C. (ed.) (2021): Super(hairy)woman*. Erfahrungsberichte im Zeitalter der Haarlosigkeit. Mainz: Ventil Verlag, ISBN 978-3-95575-158-6, p. 12. As an example of others judging body hair negatively, Paul cites the experiences of the two artists Arvida Byström and Molly Soda. In 2017, their book Pics or It Didn’t Happen. Images Banned from Instagram brought together photos that Instagram had removed for violating the platform’s rules, including images of hairy body parts. Yet, according to Paul and Byström/Soda, hairless bodies and body parts, including lower bodies, appear uncensored on such platforms.8Paul, Anna C. (ed.) (2021): Super(hairy)woman*. Erfahrungsberichte im Zeitalter der Haarlosigkeit. Mainz: Ventil Verlag, ISBN 978-3-95575-158-6, p. 13.9Byström, Arvida/Soda, Molly (2017): Pics or It Didn’t Happen. Images Banned from Instagram. Munich/London/New York: Prestel Verlag, ISBN 978-3-7913-8307-1. Byström herself, who also works as a model, was subjected to widespread online insults and threats after an advertising campaign showed her leg hair.10author unknown (2017): Model zeigt Haare an den Beinen – und wird mit Vergewaltigung bedroht. In: Stern Online, article dated 07.10. Available at: https://www.stern.de/neon/magazin/arvida-bystroem–model-wird-mit-vergewaltigung-bedroht-wegen-foto-mit-haaren-an-den-beinen-7651372.html (accessed 05.10.2022).
In an interview with neues deutschland, Paul explains that the “age of hairlessness in Germany began at the end of the twentieth century” and “reached its peak around 2009. At that time, the hairless female body was presented as the standard in all media. Hair was not allowed on the upper lip, under the arms, on the vulva, or, of course, on the legs. Around 2009, therefore, not shaving was more frowned upon than ever. Since then, attitudes have relaxed somewhat, and countermovements that question this hairlessness have emerged. Nevertheless, it remains the norm.”11Berghöfer, Birthe (2022): Im Zeitalter der Haarlosigkeit. In: neues deutschland online, article dated 27.01. Available at: https://www.nd-aktuell.de/artikel/1160604.koerperbehaarung-im-zeitalter-der-haarlosigkeit.html (accessed 05.10.2022).12Further discussion of this subject can be found in the work of sociologist Ada Borkenhagen: Borkenhagen, Ada/Mirastschijski, Ursula/Strauß, Bernhard/Gieler, Uwe/Brähler, Elmar (2020): Body hair removal – prevalence, demographics, and body experience among men and women in Germany. In: Journal of cosmetic dermatology, 19(11), pp. 2886–2892; Borkenhagen, Ada/Brähler, Elmar (2017): Schamlos – der Trend zur Entfernung der Intimbehaarung in Zeiten medialer „Schamlosigkeit“. In: Sozialmagazin: die Zeitschrift für soziale Arbeit, 42(1/2), pp. 84–89. According to Paul, this norm is further reinforced by an industry of hair removal products and methods, rooted in a “large commercial market built around the female body [that emerged] with the advent of advertising.”13Berghöfer, Birthe (2022): Im Zeitalter der Haarlosigkeit. In: neues deutschland online, article dated 27.01. Available at: https://www.nd-aktuell.de/artikel/1160604.koerperbehaarung-im-zeitalter-der-haarlosigkeit.html (accessed 05.10.2022).
Paul observes that “body hair on women*14Paul prefaces her blog and book with an explanation: “The asterisk after women* and men* in this project means ‘perceived as female or male,’ respectively. It is intended to draw attention to the construct whereby judgments about body hair are shaped by a clear division into ‘female’ and ‘male.’” (Paul, Anna C. (2022): Über Super(hairy)woman*. Worum geht’s? In: Super(hairy)woman*. Available at: https://superhairywoman.com/ueber-shw/ (accessed 06.10.2022).) […] is a subject that is often judged but rarely discussed. It is associated with feminism, but is viewed unfavorably in that context. The frequently invoked stereotype of the ‘unshaven feminist’ disparages hairy women*’s bodies and the pursuit of equality alike.”15Paul, Anna C. (ed.) (2021): Super(hairy)woman*. Erfahrungsberichte im Zeitalter der Haarlosigkeit. Mainz: Ventil Verlag, ISBN 978-3-95575-158-6, p. 13. So far, body hair has played no major role in the “body positivity” movement.16Ufer, Gesa (2021): Emanzipation behaarter, weiblicher Körper: Projekt Super(hairy)Woman*. In: Kompressor, Deutschlandfunk Kultur, episode dated 01.11. Available at: https://www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/emanzipation-behaarter-weiblicher-koerper-projekt-super-hairy-woman-podcast-dlf-kultur-bde60a15-100.html (accessed 06.10.2022).17Zafronskaja, Tanja (2022): Super(Hairy)Woman: Eine haarige Auseinandersetzung mit Schönheit und Körperlichkeit. In: frauenseiten.bremen, post dated 13.01. Available at: https://frauenseiten.bremen.de/blog/superhairywoman-eine-haarige-auseinandersetzung-mit-schoenheit-und-koerperlichkeit/ (accessed 05.10.2022).
After doing her research, Paul decided to establish the blog “Super(hairy)woman*,” which aims to “make body hair more visible and offer a place where people can explore all things hairy creatively.”18Paul, Anna C. (2022): Über Super(hairy)woman*. Worum geht’s? In: Super(hairy)woman*. Available at: https://superhairywoman.com/ueber-shw/ (accessed 06.10.2022). The blog brings together different contributions, from personal memories and poems to images and photographs. Contributors can share their thoughts and experiences there and draw attention to discrimination against body hair on the basis of gender, helping to reduce the stigma attached to body hair.19Paul, Anna C. (2022): Beiträge. Wir erzählen über Körperhaare. In: Super(hairy)woman*. Available at: https://superhairywoman.com/beitraege/ (accessed 06.10.2022).
The blog gave rise to the book Super(hairy)woman*. Erfahrungsberichte im Zeitalter der Haarlosigkeit, published in 2021. Alongside Paul’s own account, the book contains 51 personal accounts in the form of prose, poetry, interviews, comics, and images by people aged between 12 and 81. To conclude, Paul surveys hairless bodies in their historical context and shows how “diverse beauty ideals and approaches to hair removal have been in the past.”20Zafronskaja, Tanja (2022): Super(Hairy)Woman: Eine haarige Auseinandersetzung mit Schönheit und Körperlichkeit. In: frauenseiten.bremen, post dated 13.01. Available at: https://frauenseiten.bremen.de/blog/superhairywoman-eine-haarige-auseinandersetzung-mit-schoenheit-und-koerperlichkeit/ (accessed 05.10.2022).
Perceptions of bodies perceived as female have changed over the centuries, as have beauty ideals. For a long time, a woman’s beauty and body were regarded as her only “capital.”21Dangel, Elena (2022): Haare und Weiblichkeit: Wieso rasieren wir uns eigentlich? In: ChaosQueen Podcast, episode dated 28.07. Available at: https://chaosqueen.blogs.julephosting.de/101-haare-weiblichkeit (accessed 06.10.2022).22The Italian activist and philosopher Silvia Federici also explores this subject, observing that “in patriarchal capitalism, the principal site of oppression (and resistance!) for people perceived as female is always their own body” (for further discussion, see: Federici, Silvia (2012): Caliban und die Hexe: Frauen, der Körper und die ursprüngliche Akkumulation. Vienna: Mandelbaum Verlag, ISBN 978-3-85476-615-5). Examples include the fight for abortion rights, femicides, and the social dictate governing where hair is permitted on bodies perceived as female (see Spilker, Anouk (2022): Die Kleidung wird kürzer und die Beinhaare länger. In: Litaffin, post dated 24.07. Available at: https://www.litaffin.de/die-kleidung-wird-kuerzer-und-die-beinhaare-laenger/ (accessed 06.10.2022)).
The central message of the accounts on both the blog and in the book is that “bodies always exist in a social context, and it is therefore very worthwhile to ask ourselves how independently of others we can really shape our relationship with our bodies, and in particular with our body hair.”23Triplat, Ojdana (2022): Lesetipp: Anna C. Paul (Hg.), „Super(Hairy)Woman*”. In: Denkträume, post dated 14.01. Available at: https://www.denktraeume.de/2022/01/14/lesetipp-anna-c-paul-hg-superhairy-woman/ (accessed 05.10.2022).
Besides the contributors’ images and comics, the theme of “hair” also runs through the book’s visual design. In addition to the cover illustration by artist Moni Port, fine strands of hair are drawn on the book’s inner margin and EAN barcode.

Publications

  • Paul, Anna C. (ed.) (2021): Super(hairy)woman*. Erfahrungsberichte im Zeitalter der Haarlosigkeit. Mainz: Ventil Verlag, ISBN 978-3-95575-158-6.

External Links

Machine translation: This article was translated automatically from the German original.

Anna C. Paul © D. Birk
Empfohlene Zitierweise
  • Jessica Zeltner
  •  (2022)
  • : Anna C. Paul. In: Equalpedia. 
  • Online unter: 
https://www.equalpedia.org/en/anna-c-paul-2/
  • (Zugriff am 26. September 2026).