In being surprised that apparently 98% of UK women under 25 have no pubic hair at all?

[Longstocking2]

Is that true?

A friend who is a practice nurse says she presumes it's just a fashion. None of her women under 25 who come for smear tests have any pubic hair.. all shaved, shorn, waxed to nada.

Obviously that's fine but it seems a little universal to me. Aren't there any rebels out there?
Is it just for the boys they do it?

Does the image not come from porn originally?

{shock]

would love to be enlightened!
Clearly I'm over 25

No I use tampons so no blood at all. And maybe I'm odd but if I shave I really don't get sweaty at all. And I'm very active - I have 2 horses and ride every day at least once a day - on average I will be exercising horses for 2-3 hours solid a day, schooling them which is hard work. I must secrete less too because I rarely get gunk in my knickers and I don't get chafing ever.

I do feel cleaner. Much, much cleaner tbh.

What about the stubble, isn't it a bit ouchy?

No stubble if you wax or epilate Bamboo. I've only shaved down there a few times and if you do it every day you don't get the itch. It did itch me when I let it grow a couple of days so I could epilate though, which is why I don't shave. The itching was not a pleasant experience lol, a lot of furtive scratching went on.

Whoah! We've moved on from shaving hair to trimming labia!

And they say feminists are scary ...

That would be nice HouseOfBamboo I'd then obviously be a trendsetter Can just see the MN thread now ... preens

Nope, why would I be winding you up. I've no idea how much labia surgery would be, it doesn't interest me but I can't see that a quick trim of 2 flaps would cost that much - no more than the other one I saw in the DM the other day, which was having one's earlobes lopped. To look younger apparently. Now that is a weird one.

So far this thread has been really lacking in theories as to why there has been such a pronounced shift in Western women's attitudes to their pubic hair in the last decade or two.

The main theory suggested is the influence of the porn industry - but this has been largely rejected by experienced shavers/waxers as not fitting with their own experiences.

Lots of people seem to link hairlessness with hygiene - assuming that 70s women didn't have secret methods for keeping clean now lost to the present generation, this theory raises the interesting question of why we seem to think that having pubic is hair is less clean and hygienic than our mothers and grandmothers did.

The only other thought which has cropped up regularly is the prevalence of waxing in Muslim cultures. Is it possible that increasing cultural contact between the West and Muslim cultures is influencing the removal of body hair?

Who else has got a theory about this cultural shift?

I'm really interested in your ideas.

But if the majority of under 25s really are hairless, then they aren't all going to be rich, lazy fluffy bunnies - are they?

dittany, I'm hoping that some of them will have some of their ideas about what is happening.

So far their only definite contributions seems to be that it's all about 'me' and what 'I' want and like. And I'd like them to tell me why they think ever increasing numbers of young women are coming to exactly the same conclusion at the same time.

"OpenToLawSuits Wed 05-Jan-11 22:14:53
TeiTua...In Middle Eastern/North African countries (pre-dominantly) Muslim countries, they shave as it is in fact more hygienic;
AND let us remember that these countries are not open to the mainstream porn/page 3 images that we, in the West are sadly accustomed to."

OpenToLawSuits, can you provide any references for your assertion that the reason why women in ME / N African countries shave is because it is more hygienic. Or even the milder assertion that the reason they shave is because they think it is more hygienic?

Because I think it is possible to imagine another reason entirely: many men in ME and N African countries oppress women terribly. Rape is endemic; so is FGM; women are not free to wear what they wish; they cannot even drive in some countries; etc etc. Perhaps the link is about sexism.

Seriously. I started removing my hair when I was mid teens. I had absolutely no exposure to porn whatsoever. None. Where I was brought up it was very hot in the summer and it was far more pleasant to not have a massive bush stuffed in one's knickers. The porn arguement just doesn't work for me.

link to earlobe article btw.

Pip I can't comment for others, it wouldn't be right for me to. I can tell you that both of my DDs also shave (14 and 17) although I have never asked them why. It's not my business to IMO.

What do you mean by equal Beertricks? I've openly said I've had a breast augmentation and remove my hair.

Sarah - I'm not bothered why any particular individuals make the choice to shave or not shave. But I am interested (sociologically, anthropologically) in what causes people to behave the way they do.
It's why there are academics doing research into all sorts of esoteric areas - sometimes all the little bits of research eventually fit together to shed useful light on our society and how it works. I find it fascinating, seeing patterns and influences at work. Sometimes the influences are not benign - but we can only work to change them once we recognise them for what they are.

There is a decided age gap amongst my colleagues on this one, those under 30 do have a Hollywood or a Brazilian, those of us who are over just trim the topiary when needs must.

Had hysterics at one colleague demonstrating the position she had to lie in to get the Hollywood - no way, no how am I spreading my cheeks for a 'waxing technician'!

The youngsters [aged crone emoticon] also said their bfs expected it, whilst those of us of 30 said dh's expressed no preference/didn't know any different and ought to be grateful they were getting sex.

But it did also turn into another argument, those of us over 30 are happy to call ourselves feminists, those under are certainly not.

These discussions always remind me of the story of John Ruskin who reportedly fainted with horror on his wedding night on discovering that his wife had pubic hair. As an art critic he was so used to images of the hairless pudendae of statues and paintings that a hairy bush was a monstrous thing to him.

I can't help wondering whether we have arrived at an oddly parallel state of affairs now, except that rather than laughing off the ludicrousness of Victorian Man who had never seen a real woman, we as women are more likely to accept the notion that we are monstrous in our natural state and to take it upon ourselves to ensure that we become like those sanitised images produced for male consumption.

(No offence to any individual baldies on here who I fully acknowledge have their own preferences etc etc)

As a related aside, I remember reading that in the 70s, porn mags started using shaved models not because it was seen as sexier, but - on the contrary - because it was a way of getting round the censors, as the presence of pubic hair was one of the factors which caused the material to be deemed offensive.

Some European women do not remove any of their bodily hair, I am thinking about German and Swiss women in particular.

There is a movement in Switzerland promoting being natural which has become popular.

I find this quite refreshing...as an idea, but it is pretty ingrained in me to remove the hair from my legs, pits, and (I know it's troll like but big toes too) more so in the summer when they will be more exposed but also in the winter when the only other people who will see them are my dh and our children.

Do I remove my leg, pit and toe hair because of really old porn? Involving big toes (shaped like cherry tomatoes.)

My lg is completely natural. I wash it with John Frieda and condition it too, but I don't cut it at all.

When you get old I think it thins out, so you end up looking pre-pubescent anyway.

Sorry for the ramble, I read about 18 pages of this today. Got nothing better to do.