"14 year olds should remove all pubic hair" **MNHQ adding quote marks as per request**

[TowelRailing]

My daughter reckons this is what all teenagers do. If you agree, please vote YANBU. If you disagree, please vote YABU.

Asked my Dd 17 for her opinion
She said 'er no that's just weird'

Most of her friends do varying bikini line 'grooming' but none take it all off

The problem is girls and women ARE under pressure. If you’re a teen girl and hear a boy comment on a picture of a woman with hair that she’s ‘a gorilla’ or ‘that’s disgusting’ then you are very likely to feel you need to remove your body hair. A genuine free choice is very difficult to have.

I’m in my late 40s. I remmeber being at work maybe 10 years ago and a guy about 10 years younger than me talking with another bloke about something they’d seen on TV, which invovled women with hair, and him saying ‘in this day and age there’s just no excuse for it, is there’ - he was expressing a view that was and is widely held by men, that women’s bodies should be hairless.

Men and boys didn’t used to think this. It is something that has happened fairly recently and is a product of porn.

Girls and women want to be attractive to boys and men. It is difficult to choose to keep body hair if you feel you will be judged unattractive because of it.

I’m a middle aged woman with a long term husband. My DH is used to seeing my pubic hair and I am used to having it and him seeing it. Other men don’t see me naked. I am middle aged and confident in my relationship and myself. But if I were younger or single and thought I might expose myself to a new man, I might well feel pressured.

The problem remains that currently boys and men think it’s normal. Women might say they prefer to be hairless, but honestly, do they really have freedom to choose? And the fact they don’t is a problem.

It is a product of porn

I agree. However, sorry to be nosy but do you look at porn?

I occasionally watch online porn and there are definitely more young women and men with pubic hair featured than say 10 years ago. We’re not talking full on 70’s bush or in a niche fetish way but the hair is definitely there(!) in mainstream material albeit neatly shaped.

The body positivity movement- young people being encouraged to embrace their size, shape, skin, hair type and sexual orientation and to be individual is I think a huge contributing factor.

Hairless is absolutely a trend but the tide is slowly turning towards acceptance of body choices.

I was a young adult in the 90’s when there were huge pressures to conform to waif like hairless ideals for example. I never saw a woman in the media with hairy underarms yet that is becoming slightly more acceptable these days.

More concerning imo is the fact that children are easily accessing porn online.

full on 70’s bush

That's just being natural and un- trimmed isn't it?

I always had had a full wax except leaving some hair on pubic bone as no hair is child like (vom). Get her a wax, she may change her mind, it can be super uncomfortable.

Yes the full on bush popular in the 70’s and rarely aspired to now. What’s the issue with that description?

Everyone is a product of social conditioning, that’s not up for debate is it? It’s rare for any personal choice to be made in a vacuum.

I keep my pubes neat and trimmed, I shave my underarms, I highlight my hair blonde, I use creams to keep my skin looking young., I don’t want my nasal hair to look “natural and untrimmed” anymore than I do my pubes.

I confirm to societal norms as much as everyone else does.

I was simply pointing out that actually a lot of the younger generation are starting to push against beauty ideals, which is only a good thing.

SmileyClare · Today 21:56

Yes the full on bush popular in the 70’s and rarely aspired to now. What’s the issue with that description?

Not a big issue. I' ve heard it called " full on bush," lots of times, but it's actually just the way it grows if you don't trim it/ its natural state. That expression just makes it sound like something extreme they did in the 70s.

Its actually just the way it grows

Yes fair point 😂 I should have said “natural bush”

Ive no doubt I’ve been conditioned by society to feel averse to the natural look and to refer to it as a comical retro thing. Point taken!

I'm really surprised at this (pleasantly surprised). Not sure how it came about but I had a conversation with some male friends of mine about it, they were varying in ages from 20s to late 30s. They said that most women they had slept with under 25 shaved/waxed completely. Every bloke said they much prefer a small amount left (thin strip) there but they also all said they had never commented either way unless asked.

It made me think that if I was ever on the market again that would men think its gross to have normal amount of public hair rather than fully off or thin strip. I do remember when I was 14 some lads in our friendship group who were older were taking the piss out of one of the blokes as he said he girlfriend had a massive bush. This was 30 years ago!

It is, but wearing a bikini when dark haired and with quite a bush it's quite normal to want to trim or shave. As a middle aged women it's sometimes nice to get rid of it all.

I also know men that like to get rid.

I don't feel like it's social conditioning necessarily. I like the feeling of really smooth legs and definitely feel sweatier if I don't shave underarms. Same with bikini line and the bits underneath, I like the smooth feeling. Absolutely no one sees it so its not for anyone else's benefit.

I have dyed hair, and small amount of fillers and botox, and never go out wothout make up. I guess that is social conditioning, I probably don't look that bad for 44 but feel I should look better (not necessarily younger).

Oh yes! But wouldn't it be nice if it didn't matter? Like it doesn't matter to men?

No, I wouldn't think it was nice.

Also, some men do keep it tidy. Have you never hear of Manscaped?