GCSE biology textbook features woman with Brazilian

Does he think his own pubic hair is disgusting or just womens’ pubic hair?

Boys are seeing porn with no other context for women’s bodies. They’re not questioning whether women have pubic hair - having it reinforced like this in a textbook is shocking.

This makes my blood boil! As if teenage girls don't have enough pressure already placed on them without a GCSE fucking textbook joining in!

My 15 yr old ds thinks pubic hair is "disgusting". I think this is a normal response from most teenage boys. This has clearly come from exposure to porn. You would expect a biology book to know better!

Is there someone we can bombard with emails / tweets?

I want to know how to remove most of your pubic hair with a bic and cheap conditioner without:

A) getting inflammation from conditioner getting into the micro (and not so micro) cuts a razor especially a cheap one makes.

B) Infection from the above. There's a reason why hospital acquired infection rates go down when hair is removed from the surgery site with clippers, not a bic. A man's face is not the same as a pubic area kept inside close fitting clothes, very near to excretions from the vagina and urethra, no matter how good your hygiene is.

C) Itching. Even when well shaved less likely using a bloody bic hair sitting inside pores that has been cut off bluntly at surface of the skin height in a highly sensitive and delicate area that changes shape, tone and rubs against fabric every step...It's not good.

D) ingrown hairs and small infections of pores causing bright red attractive welts no matter how much conditioner, exfoliant and moisturiser you use...In fact as none of those products are sterile or antibacterial I'd strongly suspect them of trapping or pushing bacteria Doreen into the pores and micro cuts. Nice.

When nine months pregnant I will admit to having everything off mainly as it was standard practice to be shaved at the local hospital and I really really didn't want to have to experience that!! Also during the post partum period it was easier to apply pain relief etc. Now this is fully my choice and I appreciate others wouldn't want to do this.

However, I am really horrified this image is in a GCSE textbook!? I suspect this reflects the illustrators assumption of what the typical woman has done...slightly more depressing.

I am quire surprised at this.

Why not just show no hair, to show underlying anatomy, as it's a diagram?

I am going to show my 16 year old when eventually gets up, to see what he says.

Should have said 'girls and women at the end.

I object to this too, especially in an educational resource. It would have far better either to have all or nothing. Yes, some pupils would probably have reacted to the 'all' option by saying 'ew, gross' which would have been a perfect opportunity for the teacher to explain that actually that is what women naturally look like.

A number of people have said girls feel under pressure to remove their public hair because boys think it is gross. True enough, but I think what is worse is that many girls and remove it because they themselves think it is gross.

But it's certainly not predestined.

It’s extremely common though, with shaving in particular.

Thank you. Just to be clear, I absolutely agree with your overarching message here. If this issue is widespread, then it is important to lobby publishers of textbooks to ensure that students are exposed to accurate and diverse depictions of male and female bodies, not what is deemed to be a social norm.

On the contrary, there's no reason why every person would end up with ingrown hair, any more than a man would if he shaved his beard. Perhaps if you were particularly hairy and didn't moisturise and exfoliate properly, you would get ingrown hair. But it's certainly not predestined.

Has anyone pointed out the pain it would cause to have a Brazilian when pregnant? I had a Brazilian years ago, but haven't removed hair now since then. It was sore then, they have to press on your belly aswell to tigntned the area. So I'm not sure if you can even have a Brazilian done when heavily pregnant.

"So what if they tell you ‘this is cool, pubes are a bit gross anyway’? Will you then think that there is no problem? "

Majority of these students are off to university next year to study medicine /psychology/philosophy &ethics.

Lots of different directions that could go in. I would challenge their use of "gross". Talk to them about why we have pubic hair. Talk to them social "norm". Ask them what they would do/think if a future patient came in with pubic hair/no pubic hair? Do they even have the right to judge others?

Deathgrip I agree.

Thank you Funky. Sometimes young people can have surprising insights. These are the students who have been exposed to the images and are the future adult feminists who will continue this fight for the right for women to choose what they want for their own bodies without prejudice or judgement.

Their opinions matter to me and if this opens up the dialogue with them and makes them think critically about what they are exposed to, then I am doing my job right.

I agree with you OP thanks for raising it

bigfluffy

I was going to reply to what you posted about being confident the girls will tell you what they really think but funky has said it perfectly.

You only have to watch the TV documentary “No More Girls and Biys” and listen to six and seven year old girls talking about girls being pretty and boys being strong to realise that by the time they get to secondary school, gender stereotypes are well and truly embedded in their mindset.

They gave an anatomical drawing a Brazilian?

What the fuck. That's incredibly gross. And worrying. Pearson absolutely deserve to be called out on that. As/when they respond, I'd be really grateful if someone could post it.

"But the views of boys are important because males are the ones driving this look"

I agree. To be honest, I trust all my students to be thoughtful in what they say. The environment I have in my classroom and tutor, regardless of my own views, is one in which (I hope) students feel comfortable to express ideas without feeling like they are being judged. I often play devils advocate to provide the other half of the argument so if a student secretly disagrees with the opinions given, they feel like they have a voice.

I'll be interested to see what they think about this. Also interested to hear what Pearson have to say about it.

But the views of boys are important because males are the ones driving this look.

So it would probably be pointless just asking the girls because you’d be missing out discussing with the boys the reason why hairlessness is so important to so many of them and why girls feel they have to comply.

If the illustrator didn’t do it on purpose and just drew default pubic hair (to them) and no one picked up on it, then that’s even worse IMO