There's a female armpit hair competition in China and the prize is 100 condoms

Today in news you didn't know you needed to know, we present China's female armpit hair competition.

As Shanghaiist reports, thousands of women across China have taken to Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter, to post armpit selfies in a stunt designed to draw attention to women's rights in the country.

The competition is in its second year. Prominent women's rights activist Xiao Meili, 26, said she launched it to promote the idea that women don't have to buy into stereotypes about female beauty.

Girls are often anxious about their armpit hair as if it's a sign of being dirty or uncivilized... But we should have the freedom to choose whether to accept what grows naturally on our bodies.

• Xiao Meili, women's rights activist

Zhu Xixi won this year's competition, and her prize was 100 free condoms. The second place winner got a vibrator and third place ten female urination devices.

Li Tingting, another women's rights activist who was recently released from police custody after being detained for more than a month for organising a protest to raise awareness of sexual and domestic violence, told the BBC:

I think this competition is very meaningful... We need some space to think about why women are obliged to shave ourselves.

For women, we need to free our minds and our bodies. For me, my body is my battlefield.

More: These women are airbrushing themselves to highlight unrealistic beauty standards