I'm hairy...deal with it.

The saying always went "if she is hairier than you, she is Persian." And listen, it was true. But sadly, our society does not accept hairy women, and unfortunately for a young Yazzyjazzy, they also do not accept hairy children.

I can remember a time in the fourth grade when all my non-Persian girlfriends were comparing their arm hair. Stacy began, "you guys, my arms are sooo hairy!" and all of our friends would shake their heads and tell her it was not true. "No way Stacy, look at MY arm hair," Tiffany would say. And everyone would be appalled with that statement. "You and Stacy have NOTHING, just look at my arms! I'm like a gorilla," Suzanne would say while the girls kindly denied that it was even a possibility.

I always had suspicions that I was a hairy little girl, but thought to myself that this is the perfect opportunity to find out the truth. I even thought these girls would deny my hairy-ness even if I was hairy, and then at least I would have a false hope that I was like everyone else.

So I went into the middle of the group, and said "you guys, look...I am so hairy!" However, instead of the support I was hoping for, Suzanne said "ooh...yah, you should do something about that."

There began the obsession with waxing, tweezing, nairing, epilatying, shaving, threading...you name it, I did it. It also began the discussion with other Persian girls my age about how we were alike, and how we suffered the same teasing because we were different from the kids at school. This is reminiscent of a feminist legal theory known as essentialism. Essentialism theorizes that people of the same gender and/or with the same racial features have a common bond. And that was exactly the case here. In this group, I did not get teased and I was understood, not only for my outside appearance, but also for my cultural differences. I could be considered "cool" for my personality and interests, instead of "uncool" because I was different on the outside.

I’d like to say that today, we Persian women embrace our hairiness, but that would be a lie. On the inside, I am well aware that it is illogical that women have to shave or wax certain parts of their bodies to be considered attractive, and definitely that becoming hairless was a man’s idea. But until you have had gorilla arms and have gone through fourth grade teasing, do not judge.

By the way, I was recently told that being Persian "is so cool now" because of the show "Keeping up with the Kardashians," which is a reality show that follows a rich and beautiful, half-Armenian family. This was pretty exciting for me, and my fellow Persies. They talk about how they are pretty hairy too, and they make it seem fun to go laser it all off, so I just wish they were around when I was a kid.