Here's the official blurb:

Armpits4August is a month long charity event for women and everyone with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), which started in August 2012.

We are growing our armpit hair for one month and fighting narrow beauty standards popularised by the media the whole year round!

PCOS affects up to 10% of women and is even more prevalent amongst trans* men, yet it’s hardly ever talked about. A common symptom of PCOS can be hirsutism(excessive hair growth), so by growing our body hair we are working towards having pride in our body hair, not shame. Armpits4August will provide a stimulus and safe space to discuss the complicated, emotional, or embarrassing experiences of body hair that women, trans* and non-binary people often have. We believe the shame a lot of people feel about their body hair is a consequence of living in a society that regulates, controls and dictates that female-assigned bodies must conform to incrediblynarrow beauty standards, and which upholds a rigid gender binary that deems body hair a ‘masculine’ trait. This creates a physically, socially, and mentallydamaging image of what is ‘natural’ – an image that turns out to be no more than an idea. There is no standard, universal, typical – let alone ‘normal’ – pattern of body hair for women, men, or anyone else. 

We welcome comment, debate and encouragement on Twitter, Facebook or through email: enquiries@armpits4august.co.uk

Thank you very much for your donation and support.

 

Personally, I am doing this for all those reasons above, but also because not hating my own body is a daily struggle and it is a fight I want to win. People can assume that women who let their body hair grow out are confident & unbothered about it, but that is not true in my case. The internalised hatred for your own body that society implants in you like a virus is very difficult to overcome. It's even harder when so many people are happy to publically body shame you. 

I don't shave my legs for a while and then the pressure & self-consciousness overwhlems me. I shave every time I have an audition because I fear casting directors will be put off if I don't make myself look as much like every other woman you ever see on screen.  

As I'm up at the Edinburgh festival during August, I don't think I will have any auditions. I will just be doing my own shows. So, hopefully I will not crumble & I can just be myself in my own body for the month.