Ennis re: her hairy arms

Lea la versión en español aquí.

PROJECT WWHA: How does your arm hair affect you?

ENNIS: Perhaps the only answer to that is how little emphatic many people are. Throughout my life, I have heard comments that are very out of place, which, well, growing up affect self-esteem, and perhaps many of those comments were disgusting or from people who should teach me to appreciate myself regardless of my characteristics. My body hair doesn't affect me at all because it shouldn't affect anyone at all. It is mine, and I decide over everything what is mine.

PROJECT WWHA: What’s the first time you remember noticing your own arm hair?

ENNIS: My mom told me that when I was born I looked like a monkey, I grew with my body hair in some way, but I don't remember it. Maybe when the boys start to look at you, or the people who claim to be your friends or family begin to point you out for having hair, those days were when I noticed my body hair, that I did not have smooth skin, was it nice? No, what girl of 7, 8 or 10 or I don't know, at any age, would like to be made to feel ugly just for having something different?

PROJECT WWHA: What did you feel when you first noticed your own arm hair?

ENNIS: Noted, when people started telling me about my body hair and their disgust about it, I didn't know whether to cry, run or ask to have my skin removed. It was a girl, a very little girl who was always very prominent in her body hair, the way something about me was not good for others, it makes you play against yourself.

PROJECT WWHA: How long have you removed your arm hair?

ENNIS: The first time I waxed my legs was for my 15-year party. I waxed my arms a few times, but it felt strange. It really is a strange process, I do not shave my legs unless it is something important, but I do not show them either, I have gone through many things that make me a contradiction, my hair is simply there, and that's it. Do I wax for a long time? No, did I go through several hair removal processes? Yes, well it is obvious that people wanted to like me, but today, I am this and I like this that I am.

PROJECT WWHA: What changed for you when you let your arm hair be?

ENNIS: I really did not leave my body hair because I decided to do it, for me it is very tedious to be removing my hair, if I wax after 10 days I already have hair growing in, if I shave the next day I already see stubble, so I only waxed when I wore shorts, skirts, dresses or went to the beach or pool, which I don't do much. I have had a very difficult time growing up; I have been stabbed in my self-esteem for so many things but today I know who I am and I am the way because of all the shit that I have had to live with, and my body hair does not embarrass me.

PROJECT WWHA: Wow that is a very powerful statement.

ENNIS: I have learned that it is part of me, that people are many times a great shit that don’t know how to respect others, and well, I live every day in a process of acceptance, because I do not have self-esteem, but I know that I am a queen , I tell myself every day in front of the mirror, my body hair has been there a long time, and I did not have to notice it because it is only body hair, I do not have to have a before and after "waxing" I should not, and still so I have it. It is not a sign of empowerment, it is nothing because it is only body hair, I have understood that it is mine, and if I can see it and say "you are a queen" it does not matter how long it was or not.

PROJECT WWHA: What did seeing other women with arm hair on Project WWHA do for you?

ENNIS: I did not know about the existence of this project, when they contacted me and I saw a little of everything that it is and it was reassuring, because there may be more girls like I was, girls who will not have to go through that ugly process of not knowing what to want or what to be or what to feel, that there are many women like that, that we are all beautiful, whether or not you have hair, you are beautiful and that is just a characteristic that makes you unique. I was very relieved that there is someone caring about something other than the created prototype of what a woman should be like.

PROJECT WWHA: What advice do you have for young women who are just noticing their arm hair and are feeling different?

ENNIS: Your body with scars, hair, spots, pimples or whatever, is yours. You decide on it, that you are free, that you do not listen to comments that really do not mean anything. It is more valuable to see the art that you are as a woman than to feel that sadness for not being like the girl you saw out there. Sometimes it is difficult to understand it, a lot, but it is a process, that there will be days when you hate with all your might as you see yourself, but there will be days when you admire how you are. Do not prevent you from wearing certain clothes because you have hair or something else, and if you hear something ugly about how you look, it turns out that you should be happy, you are a bomb that draws attention and perhaps that is what people fear, that we are a little more than many want us to be, real women who know how to love real women.

PROJECT WWHA: Thank you Ennis!!!