A Pakistani Instagrammer has shared a post aiming to normalise body hair on women.

Bihamaal Zurqa, known as ‘Baemissal’ shared photos of herself on Instagram with body hair, challenging the expectation of Pakistani women feeling compelled to be ‘hairless.’

Baemissal wrote, “Most of you will cringe and even unfollow. Please go ahead. My life and actions do not exist to define yours. I simple vow to live my life unafraid and carved out of the molds you’d have me fit into. 

"My girls, those reading this, I face the same brunt’s you do. I fight the same battles if not all. I’m sick of apologizing for and being guilty of hiding parts of me that I am made to be ashamed of. Too often, who am I kidding, every damn day, we are told to be who we are not.”

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Most of you will cringe and even unfollow. Please go ahead. My life and actions do not exist to define yours. I simple vow to live my life unafraid and carved out of the molds you’d have me fit into. My girls, those reading this, I face the same brunt’s you do. I fight the same battles if not all. I’m sick of apologizing for and being guilty of hiding parts of me that I am made to be ashamed of. ••• Too often, who am I kidding, every damn day, we are told to be who we are not. It took me a month to love myself with hair on my body. It was HARD. I put so much pressure on myself to look good not because of society but because I like looking a certain way. This includes the hair on my body. Something I was born with. Something men are told to have to be manly, something we are told to remove to be women. I will remove it on my own terms. I will grow it on my own terms. ••• Lastly, if you’d like to continue this little deviance of mine, #GoFigureMyFigure in your stories or posts and tag me. ••• Let’s redefine what it means to be a woman or a man.

Baemissal went on to admit it took her a while to embrace her body hair.

“It took me a month to love myself with hair on my body. It was HARD. I put so much pressure on myself to look good not because of society but because I like looking a certain way. 

This includes the hair on my body. Something I was born with. Something men are told to have to be manly, something we are told to remove to be women. I will remove it on my own terms. I will grow it on my own terms.”