Ava D'Amore
Updated: Oct 24, 2022
BY VICTORIA SILVER
A Leo’s mane is often a source of their power. We at Petit Mort believe that a woman’s full grown bush is righteous, akin to what rests on the head of the king of the jungle. Body hair is a symbol of maturity, carrying with it the essences of arousal and attraction. This August we turned to New York’s resident Leo queen, Ava D’amore aka “Switch Ava” to discuss the niche interests she caters to. She is a provider and porn performer, who is well respected in the kink scene, a hairy Goddess and a playful switch who loves to work with the senses—mainly smell and touch. Pheromones are our natural erotic superpowers, and no one understands this better than Ava.
Ava’s body hair exploration began quite early, when she was in high school. “When I was in high school, I shaved and waxed, but it started out as a convenience thing as I have thick hair and sensitive skin. It would be really uncomfortable and painful and I kept asking myself, “why am I doing this?”.
She continued “Then, [growing out my body hair] was kind of a gender play thing, because I used to be a lot more androgynous, kind of masculine. I really enjoyed having it because it’s a little subversive for sure. As I started getting into sex work and really embracing femininity, it was this fun dichotomy having body hair and also being super feminine.”
“I feel like growing into, especially when you are embracing that androgynous aspect, growing into relearning or reclaiming what femininity means to you and being able to express that is so empowering.”
The invention of body hair removal is a relatively new concept, with the first razor for women coming out in 1915 by Gillette. At the same time, women saw a surge in depilatory cream usage. By the 1950’s, hair removal was considered the norm, for “excess” facial, underarm, and leg hair. In the 1970’s, bikini line hair removal accompanied the bikini trend. Now, globally, the hair removal industry is valued at over $2.3 billion dollars. One survey found that the average American woman will spend approximately $10,000 on at-home hair removal, like shaving or depilatory cream, in her lifetime.
But body hair isn’t a point of shame for Ava. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. It’s eroticized and fetishized by her clients and admirers. “I’ve come across a lot of older guys who grew up in the 70s, so they were used to seeing hairy women and that’s what turned them on. It’s bringing up those initial arousing things.”
“There are definitely a lot of guys who really love body hair, and the hairier the better. I’ve seen some models who have a lot of body hair and people go absolutely nuts for that—if they like body hair, they love extreme body hair. But, I also have found that a lot of guys just don’t care. I kind of hate when people say this because they’re like, ‘Oh I don’t really like body hair, but on you it works.’ It’s a shitty thing to say, but they’re also socialized to think that that’s normal.”
Further, many men who love body hair in general have an odor fetish, and are excited by a person’s natural scent. “I think in general more people are somewhat more turned on by [body odor] than you would think or talk about it. Whether it’s things like perfume,
someone’s lotion, or the smell of their hair, that’s something that a lot of people talk about enjoying and being aroused by. But we can apply that to the smell of someone’s pussy or the taste of it, all of these senses add to arousal and your sexual experience. And I think that with body hair, that is also a bodily reality.”
Ava knows this, because she herself experiences that arousal. “Some people think it’s kind of gross, but I really like the scent of my armpits. I like a little bit of body odor on people, just not to a super raunchy extent.”
As Ms. D’Amore is a BDSM Switch, she enjoys making men worship her body hair when she’s in a position of dominance. “I’m very much about worship and receiving service. A lot of guys love that and want to be used for whatever I want. Being made to worship a hairy pussy or lick my armpits and stuff, I feel it goes along with my dominant persona, for sure.”
There’s a long history of attraction to body odor, stretching back into the
Medieval times. Legend says that
Napoleon Bonaparte, while off in battle, sent his wife Josephine a note that said “I’ll be home in seven days, don’t bathe.”
Ava sometimes gets similar requests from clients, to go without a shower for a few days before their appointment. “I have one guy who I’ve seen a bunch of times, a long time regular, and he’s very sweet about it. He’s not pushy at all, but he’ll note ‘if you can not shower for a few days or if you can work out the day before you see me or something that’d be great’ but he also sees me regardless.”
While humans do secrete pheromones, we also lack a vomeronasal organ, which processes pheromone signals in animals. Is it possible that humans’ natural scent can have similar effects? Potentially, but the science isn’t there yet.
Despite her confidence, it’s not always peaches and cream for Ava. Social media can be a treasure trove of nasty comments and unwanted critiques about what a woman “should look like.” I have had maybe one or two guys email me about seeing me, and then they ask, ‘I really love you but I don’t like your hair, would you shave for me?’ And it’s like…no. There’s a price for everything but that one’s going to be big. It would be a lot of money. It’s just not really worth it.”
On the bright side, she notes, “It is so few people who do that or even leave negative comments. It’s because of this trend, a lot of girls who rock body hair now. I think maybe like ten or fifteen years ago it would be even more subversive and unusual, but now it’s like with all those things that are initially subversive.”
Is having body hair an inherently feminist and powerful statement? Ava thinks so. “[Having body hair as a woman] kind of brings into question what femininity is. Obviously growing hair is something that happens as you go through puberty and reach womanhood. So why do we assume that femininity is this very youthful, hairless, femininity when actually, I can be a full on woman, and rock the hair?
AVA D’AMORE INTERVIEWED BY ROSE VONN
WRITTEN BY VICTORIA SILVER
PHOTOS SHOT ON FILM BY LAURA CORINN
ART DIRECTION BY PENELOPE DARIO
STYLING BY LEON CRUZ
GLAM BY VALENTINA FOX