A Swedish women’s Facebook rant about her friend’s 12-year-old daughter being teased for having hairy armpits has gone viral.
Ida Nygren Hansson was outraged when a friend told her that her daughter had come home from school and asked for help shaving her underarm hair after classmates had made fun at her for having hairy armpits.
Nygren Hansson, 23, said that she was “So fucking sad and upset” that her friend’s daughter felt she needed to shave because she was being teased. She noted that she was too scared to raise her hands in class, which made her feel hurt all over, before asking if feminism was unnecessary.
After a number of Swedes showed their support for the post, feminist group Supersnippan reposted it, getting more than 1,500 ‘likes’. It later made national headlines after Swedish newspaper Expressen picked it up.
Nygren Hansson said later that lots of people agreed with her and could relate to the young girl after having experienced similar things during their childhoods. She explained that when you were told something at that age, you felt like you had to grow up instantly.
She also noted that people may view Sweden as an equal country, but that this showed it was not perfect yet. She went on to say that grown-ups needed to tell children that they could look as they wanted to, and if they didn’t want to shave that was fine.