Is pubic hair a feminist issue?

Oh YY I clicked it tondelayo but isn't that a man in the bikini bottoms?

My last post was to the OP who noticed I got the day wrong.

Pilchard it's the Black Crowes album cover which shows a bikini bottom with a few pubes coming out.

That's a bloke though isn't it?

I like that bit of hair on men that leads down to their cocks from their bellies, I'd be sad if they started getting rid of it. I find it sexy. That was a fairly random thought BTW.

Ha, I noticed that. I've a sick BF baby and have had no sleep for days. I don't know why I'm trying my luck on the intellectual minefield that is FWR chat!

I was going to say, doesn't it get up your flaps a bit? The swimming costume. The pubes act as a good cushioning I'd have thought, for a sleeker profile.

I have heard that young men on the beach enjoy spotting which women take it off and which don't. No idea where I heard that though

I am now going to click the link in the post above....

This is a great thread.

To be honest I find the backlash for removing my hair (as I wish, I like it) from some feminists worse than the stigma I'd face if I let it grow, let it grow...

I think that's a major issue.

"Bikinis and swimming costume look better without pubic hair escaping from their sides. "

Oh, I don't know.

YY I find it interesting that women's legs look and feel better hairless and men's don't. Although maybe increasingly they do IYSWIM.

Women should be soft smooth toned hairfree
Men should be hard planes muscle and also to an extent hairfree
Everyone should have a healthy "outdoorsy" glow not too white definitely not orange
etc etc etc

Who was it who said on here there was an idea that a lot of women's progress in the workplace had happened since hair dye became freely cheaply available? I do wonder. I work with NO grey women.

Well yes I think that some people will just do stuff without prompting. Although I suppose with something like this the "hair removal" concept has to be there in the first place.

Like I have always shaved my toes and fingers. And feet. When I started shaving my legs (as a girl) I also did my toes, feet and fingers. It seemed like the thing to do, for some reason. Years later I found out that this was not in fact the norm & it's not that I was self conscious of it, it's blonde and although blondes are fairly hairy it's usually fine and of course you can't really see it if skin is pale. So I can say yes I did that right off my own bat. I still do it, on the occasions I get round to shaving my legs. I'm not even sure why. I just prefer it. I've always done it.

So I mean yes people will do stuff, there's usually a related prompt I guess though, and then some experimentation. But certainly the explosion in female pube grooming is a fashion, a cultural change, rather than loads of women and girls all individually thinking "hmm I'm going to try that" in much larger numbers than they ever did before.

I do think it's a feminist issue personally, but probably put it in with a whole bunch of other grooming practices, and do wonder what on earth will be next...

"Legs and armpits just look better without hair."

Is this also true for men?

Incidentally, I agree with you! But I also know I rarely or never see any pictures or RL women with hairy legs and armpits, so my calibration is set to hairless.

I think the problem with this whole discussion is it is inherently circular because it exemplifies the paradox between:

• women should have full bodily autonomy and make all decisions regarding it.
• no decisions are made in a vacuum and there's a full gamut of patriarchal and capitalist pressures in play to police those decisions

The only way forward is to put down the immac / fanny brush and start smashing the patriarchy so we all, men & women, can be as hirsute or as bald as we please with no tedious gender politics getting in the way.

Seriously, it's Saturday night, I've had one glass of wine and I have no other answers.

behaviour has clearly been influenced. It just wasn't an issue 20 or 30 years ago. It is one more thing for women to worry about and to pay to remove something that wasn't a problem in the first place. Also, do women need to look like young girls, it feels wrong

I wasn't influenced when I first did it 30 years ago. I had never seen a shaved fanny - I'd only ever seen my mum's full bush.
I don't pay much to remove it - razor blades & shaving oil.
It's not a problem, it's just a preference.
There is nothing I could do to my approaching 50 year old body that has given birth twice, that would make me look like a young girl.

"Bikinis and swimming costume look better without pubic hair escaping from their sides. "

Then why not design the costumes with shorts? or skirts? why change the women not the outfit?

In the abstract, UM, do you think society is neutral on the subject of the removal of women's pubic hair? Pro its removal? Anti its removal?

I absolutely do not doubt that you made your own decision with respect to pubic hair and that you have the physical sensations you describe (and as most of us shave legs even if we don't wax, increased sensitivity after hair removal is a pretty familiar feeling).

We all make decisions in the context of society (global, national, local, family, friendship group, media etc etc) - very few women in the UK have shaven heads, for example. It doesn't make women weaker than men, or some women weaker than others, or whatever, society just can't be avoided.

Legs and armpits just look better without hair. Bikinis and swimming costume look better without pubic hair escaping from their sides.

Just like head hair looks better when you cut and brush it and eyebrows look better when they don't extend in a mono-brow across your forehead.

I do think no pubic hear looks odd on grown women though, but there's much bigger things to worry about, its probably one of those things that goes full circle and full bushes will be in fashion in a few years time.

Yonic this subject has come up a number of times on the feminist boards and every time I have said that I shave out of free choice, I get told that I am wrong, that I am giving into social pressure to conform and I am making an anti-feminist choice - whatever the fuck that is!

I am slightly reassured that this thread has been more balanced that my previous encounters but that post really did put me off.

I'm single and am always clean shaven. Not because I am expected to be, but because I like to be. It makes me feel cleanser, tidier etc.

If I was a man I'd likely feel the same

I do agree with pilchard princess - behaviour has clearly been influenced. It just wasn't an issue 20 or 30 years ago. It is one more thing for women to worry about and to pay to remove something that wasn't a problem in the first place. Also, do women need to look like young girls, it feels wrong

I don't see how being waxed in such an intimate area would make you feel good

If you've never done it, you wouldn't know.
It feels clean and soft. I hate it when hairs get pulled or catch on clothes. I hate it when it feels sticky with blood or discharge. I like being able to wear and cut of swimwear or underwear without hairs poking out, it is more comfortable.

It's the same reason why I prefer snogging my husband when he is clean shaven. I don't like kissing him when he has a beard.
No pubic hair makes the whole area soft and more sensitive. It is more kissable and sensitive to the touch. That feels great.

"But they should do it in the full knowledge that it is a profoundly anti feminist choice
It is this kind of sanctimonious shit that puts me off these feminist boards."

Sigh.

I disagree with this poster on this point. Most of the other FWR regulars on this thread have said nothing like this. On AIBU, relationships, chat, in the news, politics etc, there will be many posts that are considerably more robust.

I wonder, do those individual posts put you off those boards?

Heigh ho.

Hmm that sounds a bit weird. I'm not a stalker! Just recognised your name. It was the thread about the work dress, so another feministy one.

that's nice!

(I agreed with you on a thread earlier so maybe we can form a mutual appreciation society )