Camel toe shaming is a feminist issue and it definitely needs to end
From body hair acceptance to the #FreeTheNipple movement, feminism is making great progress by reclaiming female body autonomy. So while we’re on this wave of gender equality, breaking taboos and eradicating the male gaze, there’s one more by-product of the female form we need to destigmatize: the camel toe.
Camel toes, or front wedgies, are an inevitable part of being a woman. Any one of us who’s ever worn leggings, skinny jeans, or those cycling shorts every celebrity is suddenly wearing for some reason, has had a camel toe. You might think it’s nothing more than a fashion faux pas on par with VPL (Visible Panty Line), but the disdain of camel toes represents a culture of pathologizing the female body, specifically our genitals, and society’s penchant for policing us.
Women are brought up to understand, in no uncertain terms, that having a large-and-in-charge vulva is mortifying and something to be avoided at all times, even at the cost of shoving strange devices in between our legs. The debilitating truth is that camel toes have been unnecessarily ridiculed, sexualized and obsessed over, when they could have been simply ignored this whole time.
Vagina shame
We’re constantly told our vulvas are dirty, ugly, and something of which to be embarrassed. Whether it’s something daily, like intimate washes and douches that are specifically targeted solely to women, or cosmetic surgery like labiaplasty and vaginal rejuvenation, we’re sold “solutions” to “fix” the natural state of our vulvas… because apparently, we have gnomes living between our legs.
Companies that sell these products market them as “empowering,” telling us they’re liberating our bodies by concealing their natural state. And yet, there’s nothing more liberating than embracing your body as is. Sans perfumes, washes or underwear that hides your labia.
Not only is there nothing wrong with your vulva, but *plays double standard trumpet* if men can proudly walk around with a bulging crotch and visible dick print, women should have that same right. We lust over men in grey sweatpants, but freak out over some c*nt crease? Not that it matters what they think, but given cishet men’s obsession with being inside our vaginas, you’d think they’d be ok with occasionally seeing the outline of our vulvas. Some womxn have puffy pussies, get over it.
Ultimately, being ok with camel toes doesn’t mean you have to suddenly find them appealing, after all, genitals, male or female, aren’t attractive - and that’s ok, because it’s not their job to be aesthetically pleasing. Being ok with camel toes means eliminating yet another way women’s bodies are scrutinized, sexualized and shamed. It means fighting the taboo around female genitalia and reclaiming power over our bodies.
Camel toe-shaming is downright body-shaming and represents the negative connotations misogyny has attached to the female anatomy. Instead of letting everyday sexism like this get in our pants (pun very much intended), we should be treating camel toes as we do actual camels’ toes: with complete indifference.
Cover image source: Sisi & Seb