‘Disgusting’, ‘F***ing gross’, ‘Bloody ugly’ and ‘Feminazi’. It started with a barrage of hateful comments, unfortunately all too common on social media. Then came the rape threats.
The trigger? A little body hair.
26-year-old Arvida Bystrom is a photographer, model and an online influencer from Sweden. On Instagram, she often displays (and proudly so) her unwaxed armpits, unshaved legs and cellulite on her thighs, reports NDTV.

So, when Adidas picked her as one of the faces to launch their new collection, she seemed like a bold choice. Trolls, however, didn’t like it one bit.
The internet sensation, with over two lakh Instagram followers, proudly showed off her unshaved legs in the ad campaign while speaking about her idea of femininity. The operative word here being ‘her’.

Trolls on YouTube and Instagram alike responded with a string of vile comments, asking her to shave and how her hairy legs weren’t ‘feminine’. On her Instagram page, the photographer and model revealed she had even received rape threats.
‘My photo from the @adidasoriginals superstar campaign got a lot of nasty comments last week. Me being such an abled, white, cis body with its only nonconforming feature being a lil (sic) leg hair. Literally I’ve been getting rape threats in my DM inbox. I can’t even begin to imagine what it’s like to not posses all these privileges and try to exist in the world,’ she wrote.

Arvida added that she did get a lot of support on the campaign as well. Many admired her confidence and praised her for not conforming to standards set by society.
Some of the other people featured in the campaign include - body-positive activist Barbie Ferreira, 17-year-old skateboarder Rachelle Vinberg and African-American gay rapper ‘Le1f’.