Bel Olid is a Catalan writer and translator who stopped trying to be the woman the world demands and started trying just... to be.

‘Insightful, ferociously feminist and always humane. I devoured this.’Kerry Hudson, author of Lowborn: Growing Up, Getting Away and Returning to Britain's Poorest Towns‘This smart, funny, thought-provoking book tackles a serious social and political problem: once you start reading it, you won't want to put it down.’Aurélie Vialette, Stony Brook University‘Excellent, snappy treatise. Olid pulls off a masterful balance of academic erudition and accessible, crisp prose. Persuasive and thought-provoking, this brisk volume deserves a broad audience.’Publisher's Weekly“Olid’s account is thoughtful and thorough: through the prism of her own experience, she convincingly articulates the stakes of this ordinary predicament and makes a robust case for the centrality of body hair to interlocking forms of oppression, both real and symbolic.’Times Literary Supplement

• 1 History of an Obsession 1 2 From Happiness to Shame 93 Is a Hairy Femininity Possible? 214 Because I Want To, Sure. But Why Do I Want To? 395 A Hairy Road to the Future 55

Bel Olid is a Catalan writer and translator who stopped trying to be the woman the world demands and started trying just... to be.

‘Insightful, ferociously feminist and always humane. I devoured this.’Kerry Hudson, author of Lowborn: Growing Up, Getting Away and Returning to Britain's Poorest Towns‘This smart, funny, thought-provoking book tackles a serious social and political problem: once you start reading it, you won't want to put it down.’Aurélie Vialette, Stony Brook University‘Excellent, snappy treatise. Olid pulls off a masterful balance of academic erudition and accessible, crisp prose. Persuasive and thought-provoking, this brisk volume deserves a broad audience.’Publisher's Weekly“Olid’s account is thoughtful and thorough: through the prism of her own experience, she convincingly articulates the stakes of this ordinary predicament and makes a robust case for the centrality of body hair to interlocking forms of oppression, both real and symbolic.’Times Literary Supplement

• 1 History of an Obsession 1 2 From Happiness to Shame 93 Is a Hairy Femininity Possible? 214 Because I Want To, Sure. But Why Do I Want To? 395 A Hairy Road to the Future 55

Bel Olid is a Catalan writer and translator who stopped trying to be the woman the world demands and started trying just... to be.

‘Insightful, ferociously feminist and always humane. I devoured this.’Kerry Hudson, author of Lowborn: Growing Up, Getting Away and Returning to Britain's Poorest Towns‘This smart, funny, thought-provoking book tackles a serious social and political problem: once you start reading it, you won't want to put it down.’Aurélie Vialette, Stony Brook University‘Excellent, snappy treatise. Olid pulls off a masterful balance of academic erudition and accessible, crisp prose. Persuasive and thought-provoking, this brisk volume deserves a broad audience.’Publisher's Weekly“Olid’s account is thoughtful and thorough: through the prism of her own experience, she convincingly articulates the stakes of this ordinary predicament and makes a robust case for the centrality of body hair to interlocking forms of oppression, both real and symbolic.’Times Literary Supplement

• 1 History of an Obsession 1 2 From Happiness to Shame 93 Is a Hairy Femininity Possible? 214 Because I Want To, Sure. But Why Do I Want To? 395 A Hairy Road to the Future 55