Anyone else hate the expectation to shave down there?

But heads aren't covered up so they cool down all by themselves.

People shave armpits and legs too because they prefer the look. What is wrong with people preferring how things look and feel? Why must they be chastised into being told they are handmaidens to men and porn?

Obviously shaving a head would be silly as people like their hair, just not their body hair. I could never be a bloke with one of those hideous bushy beards but that's just my preference and thankfully dh doesn't like them either. Ugh some men don't seem to realise they sometimes have debris in them 🤮.

I don’t and it doesn’t smell anywhere near the sweaty smell of covered skin trapped with sweat, funnily enough. Thank you for your useless question when I expressed it was a personal preference and observation.

Porn has been in existence at least since the Karma Sutra! 3D cinema was originally invented for pornography. If you ever visit the sex museum in Amsterdam you'll see an array of photos of Victorian men, one foot on a step, pipe in one hand and proud member in the other.

In the 60s London men could pop on a dirty mac and nip to Soho for Jazzmags aplenty. The hardcore ones were shipped in from Europe. Usually a back room with a screen and reels of porn, or there were the mucky cinemas where they'd sit and have a w*nk in a group setting. Hardcore pornography could be viewed in special cinemas under a "membership" basis.

Since men have existed, and discovered their penises, there's been porn. And tame it wasn't.
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Do you shave your head then? If sweat, hair and moisture isn’t a great combo then why wouldn’t it not apply to letting head hair grow?

as far as I have observed it’s not unusual for people in hot countries to still have long hair…

@Hoplolly no, but she's very clearly implied it by saying that she removes it for 'cleanliness'.

There is nothing 'clean' about removing hair. Razors in particular spread infection.

I definitely used to feel a big expectation to shave down there, absolutely. I don't remove all hair though, just trim it up. That's my preference. If I ever had a partner who said he didn't like any hair at all or tried to make me feel like i should get rid of it all, then I'd be sure to get rid of him.

It depends on where you live. Try living in a hot country with a full bush. Sweat, hair and moisture aren’t a great combo.

I definitely notice a difference between shaved armpits and not shaved, in terms of sweatiness and smell.

It doesn’t mean people are less clean as sweat is just sweat, but the difference is noticeable (on my own person at least).

Yet always in discussion like this the reasons for removing hair is cleaner and/or more hygienic.

read this thread and the reasons people give for removing hair. Cleanliness is nearly always the reason.

in reality it’s more hygienic to not remove hair.

i always find it interesting as well that head hair is somehow exempt from the “feels nice/cleaner” argument. If shaving is a choice because you like how it feels, why not remove head hair as well? If you exercise a lot surely removing head hair would stop the collection of sweat and dirt and you’d be cleaner?

She never said it was dirty 🙄

I personally also feel cleaner with less. I don't take it all off but neither do I want a giant bush.

I don't think that means people who choose to leave it au natural are less clean. It's a personal choice and how I feel about myself. You do you!

Are you implying that public hair is 'dirty'?

You do realise that removing it makes you more susceptible to infections, including UTIs, yeast infections, and vaginitis? Its function is to protect you.

This really annoys me. Implying it's cleaner to be bare than have pubic hair. If you wash regularly you are clean, whether you have pubic hair or are bare.
You're effectively saying those who don't remove aren't clean and that you're superior.
It should be each person's personal choice and no one should be criticising or pressuring anyone else for their choice.

Never had any issues. If somebody mentioned it, that person may wasn't to rethink partners.

When I gave birth for the first time the midwife shaved you and administered an enema - that’s great fun when you’re in labour. The shaving was the thing we all complained about most.

I've never completely shaved down there, only 'tidied up' using nail scissors and a razor and that's more for my benefit. DH is hairy so he can't complain!

"Removing pubic hair is nothing new - the ancient Romans and Egyptians did it and so do Muslims. It didn't suddenly appear as an option when online porn became popular"

It did in the UK. When I was a young woman removing pubic hair was very unusual. It only became almost universal in the late 1970s/1980s. All the heroines in Jilly Cooper had bushes! What I object to is the pressure for women to remove their hair and the suggestion that women's bodies are dirty and smelly in their natural state. And there are periodic posts on here from women who can't reach their pubic area in pregnancy worrying that the team in the delivery room will be judging them for having hair. And the replies are more likely "Get your husband to do it" than "They really won't care" Surely nobody thinks that's right?

Removing pubic hair is nothing new - the ancient Romans and Egyptians did it and so do Muslims. It didn't suddenly appear as an option when online porn became popular.

MN can very small-minded, as this thread proves. Her body, her choice unless the MN mafia don't like it.

I’ve never felt under pressure. I wax the lot, for my own preference and it’s a cleanliness thing rather than a sexual thing. There is no way anyone could look at me and mistake me for a child, or a porn star!

Pretty sure they started filming erotica as soon as film was invented

because the trend for clean shaven came from porn. As it became more mainstream and less “vanilla” hair was removed to give a better view in the close ups.

and yes, some of it was to do with little girl fantasies.

With the rise of anal and dp as well bleaching skin etc all became “normal”’as that’s what people saw on camera.

it also became common for men to remove hair from the shaft to give the appearance of length.

it got to a point where young men and boys had never seen pubic hair on an adult female. So young females removed hair as they were getting negative reactions in their early sexual encounters.

i’ve even come across a young female dr who thought pubic hair was a sign of depression - lacking “self care” - it was that normalised.

thankfully we do seem to be coming out the other side somewhat.

@BIossomtoes @lleeggoo I said it wasn't rare, so definitely happened. But much more a standard part of sex now.
I didn't say it didn't happen at all. Learn to read..

That's a rather unpleasant way of debating.

My point is, porn in one form or another, has always been available. How men and women have maintained their pubic regions has changed and no doubt the trend will go full circle. Untrimmed in the 70s/80s, trimmed/shaven now. So what?

Personal preferences are allowed.

We had a cinema close by that had fallen into decline by the 70's. So they showed porn - or 'continental films' according to my dad when I asked why we couldn't go in🤣🤣 So there was most definitely a thriving porn industry back then. No idea whether women shaved their pubic hair though. I'm guessing not if they were 'continental'😆

Why are we discussing when dvds first came out?

Because you’re talking bollocks about the availability of porn in a time before you were born, I guess. And insisting that it now plays no part in a trend when it patently obviously does.