Is pubic hair a feminist issue?

PilchardPrincess you speak much sense.

I think that if the driver had been decided by women because it felt 'fresher' the discovery would have been made before the huge change in availability of porn (with VCR in 1980s)
80s porn all had pubic hair.

I was born in the 60s and started shaving from being a teen - simply because I preferred how it felt. This was before I had my first boyfriend and before I ever saw any porn. I still prefer being bald. Never once have I been asked to do it by a partner. Boyfriends in the 80s-90s were generally surprised - they didn't expect it

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.
I am a feminist. Of course women should not feel pressured into shaving, but if they WANT to, it is because they are capable of making their own decisions and are more than capable of knowing if they prefer it that way.

My pubic hair - my choice!

No I don't know what they are selling with that. So that campaign is obviously ineffective on you and me for whatever reason.

The soft armpits thing has entered my consciousness though, I found myself having a look at them when I was putting deoderant on. Not for softness but for, I don't know what, general appeal? And I thought, well fuck me, I've never thought to have a look at my armpits before, I've never paid them any attention. Thanks Dove.

I know that some of this stuff goes in, some of it doesn't. That I'm not immune to messages, that they are bombarded from all directions about all sorts of things all the time, and some stick and some don't. I am always surprised that so many people think they are genuinely immune to this stuff.

It's like unconscious bias - we had a talk on that at work - same sort of process I guess. The trick is to accept that no-one is immune, and try to be aware.

Pilchard Off topic but the Dove "women of all shapes and sizes are lovely " ad was mentioned in another thread. It occurred to me that I don't know what they trying to sell as I've never bought it. So whatever it is I've got by fine without it.

Anal bleaching.

Yerk.

Labioplasty?

The whole "soft armpits" thing pisses me off.

They invent "problems" and then they take our time and money to solve them.

I expect the men in porn take their pubes off to some extent / trim them back not least to make their cocks look bigger.

Body hair on men just isn't really seen in adverts any more. Back hair was always a no-no really, at least for some decades.

The whole thing is depressing really and seems to be heading inexorably in the direction of just more and more and more work!

Why not? The question was asked. I answered I see it as more of the perpetual agonising about everything.

Tondelayo I think it's for the same reason that there is always a struggle to talk about it at a societal level etc without some posters taking the topic as personal criticism.

These threads always read like a lot of misunderstandings to me TBH.

I dunno.

I wonder what the next thing will be, to talk about. What will they have us (men women whoever) doing next?

I can't for the life of me think what message is telling men to shave.

Other men, I'd guess. The rise of glossy magazines like Men's Health. And probably some women - I can't say I'm overly keen on a very hairy back, but I don't think I'd actually tell a man I was with (don't know for sure, as have never been in that situation.) But I have known women who were quite strong in their opinions about what their boyfriends wore, so probably some of them were also quite firm on how the body under the clothes would look. I don't know. I think it's probably mostly other men, though.

I think it was Anais Nin who inspired me to see how shaving would feel. It was an experiment that was worth the oral sex afterwards, as I remember. But most of the time, can't be bothered - it was just to see how it felt. Obviously destined to be single forever. Oh well.

"have zero interest in navel gazing about why I make these choices or having to justify them to anyone and even less interest in whether they meet with approval from some feminist code of accepted behaviour."

With the greatest of respect- what are you doing on this thread?

How can people be so very sure that they haven't been influenced by the porn industry

Apart from 10 seconds by mistake on a tv in a Dutch hotel I've never seen any porn.

What we think looks good or bad is culturally conditioned, though obviously. I mean surely no-one can deny that.

Yes some people are rare individuals who are ahead of the curve in the fashion stakes, or genuinely don't care, or whatever. But even "alternative" people tend to adhere to a set of ideas and codes relating to the subgroup they belong to.

But most of us are just trogging along and consuming all the messages and having them affect our behaviour to a greater or lesser extent.

I mean surely no-one believes that in the last 30 years or so, the % of women taking all their pubes off has gone from "not that common or on the average person's radar" to "high street bog standard loads and loads of people do it" because a larger % of women, with no prompting whatsoever from any sources, entirely independently decided to start doing it? That's just obviously, highly unlikely.

I always hope that this can be discussed as a feminist issue (around capitalism, porn culture, etc) without criticising and interrogating other women for the decisions* they make about their bodies.

This hope is always in vain.

*the mandatory disclaimer that no decision is being made in a vacuum

Well because when I started removing my pubic hair, I hadn't watched porn. The only person I spoke to about pubic hair was my mother, who proudly sported a full on bush! So I can say I wasn't influenced by any outside source. I have never read gossip or celeb mags, never watched SITC

As for my daughter? No just because I shave, I wouldn't expect her to follow suit. I would expect that I have I've raised her to feel confident that her body is hers alone and she can do to her body hair anything she wishes to

I shave armpits because armpit hair is ugly and I assume anti-perspirant works better.
I never wear trousers and don't shave my legs in winter when I wear opaque tights but do in summer as I think hairy legs look awful.

Have never shaved pubic hair as always wear shorts style swimsuits bottoms or 50s style costumes, including the ones with sort of little skirts.
I have zero interest in navel gazing about why I make these choices or having to justify them to anyone and even less interest in whether they meet with approval from some feminist code of accepted behaviour.

I've definitely been influenced by 70s porn in that I like a massive bushy triangle down there and royal blue polyester suspenders

I can't for the life of me think what message is telling men to shave.
Is it Joey Essex or something?
I don't know any men that I can imagine shaving anything other than their chin (occasionally)

But I feel good pinkpanther.
Its a personal choice.
I am not a 20 year old jellyhead.
I am 55.

How can people be so very sure that they haven't been influenced by the porn industry. Or by anything else?

I see this as a real feminist issue. I don't see how being waxed in such an intimate area would make you feel good. What messages do we give our daughters on this? If you remove all your pubic hair, do you expect your daughter to do the same? At what age?

I have come to feel that pubic hair fashions, like most fashions, are much more about capitalism finding uses for spare money than feminism. Which is borne out by the increasing pressure on men to do a lot of body hair removal.

I'm going to grow my pit hair too this Summer.
Together with not wearing make up and not wearing heels....
But its easy for me -I'm over 45 and have become invisible.

I can categorically state that I have had not one woman tell me to shave my pubic hair. I have had no conversation, have not read it in a magazine, watched a porn film and thought it looked good. I stated why I did it in the previous thread.

I have however, had loads of women tell me why I shouldn't, why it is wrong and had all my personal reasons for doing so being made out to be bollocks.

I love looking at my fanjo