So this whole minge topiary business...

[LadyGlencoraPalliser]

Does everyone do it these days?
Being an unreconstructed 80s feminist, I am a bit bemused by the fact that it seems to be taken for granted that everyone routinely waxes their fanjo.
Removing, between May and October, any hair that was visible between knicker elastic and knees, counted as perfectly acceptable pubic grooming until the mid-Nineties at least.
But now, apparently you need to look like a prepubescent child to be appropriately groomed.
Is this another of the long line of 21st-century battles feminism has lost?
Or am I the one that's losing it?

Paolosgirl, that's just my experience with waxing, but from what I understand it's common to experience softer regrowth.

Spidermama, 'nature' in my case has given me a hormonal disorder which involved excessive hair growth, and I simply feel uncomfortable (physically, not emotionally) with all the hair.

Everyone's got their own opinion, I'm not judging you 'natural' people, so could all of you extend the favour and not assume that people who groom are

a) influenced by porn
b) doing it for a man
c) anti-feminist

I'm happy to assume that not everyone does it because of a) b) and c)

However, as I posted earlier, the sex education programme that's on at the moment interviewed girls and boys in a regular secondary school. It found that the proliferation of porn on the internet that is now so widely available has led many teenagers and people in their early twenties to associate the female body with being hairless, to the extent that a normal hairy fanjo was seen as hideous. The boys would ask a girl to remove the hair, and the girls felt under pressure to be a "shaven haven" and not a "hairy mary".

In so many cases they were heavily influenced by porn, and the girls were waxing and shaving for a man (or boy), which I would argue is pretty anti feminist. Of course not every adult woman is influenced in this way, but there is a whole generation coming along who view women as sexualised objects with waxed fanjos and enhanced breasts, to the extent that it's seen as the norm. I feel so sad for my dd's generation and the expectation that society places on her. Waxing and exfoliating her labia is just something I would not encourage her to do, nor would I want her it was expected of her in any way.

Bald fanjos are weird. Don't trust men who like them. And never would anyone persuade me to pay money to have a stranger pour hot wax on to my vag. I'll pass on that, ta.

Well, I do find it's cleaner, particularly during my period. And, my pubic hair fails to grow in the designated area, and given half a change would take over my legs and stomach. I need a professional to keep it all in place. I don't shave (get in-grown hairs) and can't even begin to think of epilating. Ow ow ow. DP does nothing. I haven't brought it up, but I swear I got a throat infection once, thanks to excessive hairiness on his part (sorry if TMI). I did have an ex who shaved everything, and suggested I got a wax (pre-beach holiday). But, I did it on condition that he went for a back, crack and sack. Mwa ha ha.

Oh dear I must be old as there's no way I'd do it. I'm not particularly feminist or against bodily upkeep but shaving/ waxing/ veeting my fanjo is a step too far.

I am dying to ask dh what he thinks of the bare fanjo look but he's currently watching Newsnight and the question just doesn't sit well!

Have to wade in here as we seem to be outnumbered and I want to cheer on Spidermama's fluffy-minged troops (and I appear to be so aptly named as well)

I can't find a great rationale to my feelings as I do wax my legs (sometimes) and shave my armpits, and most men shave their faces - and all those things could be called making yourself look prepubescent, yet we never seem to think that about men without beards.

And yet... there is something about minge-shaving/waxing I find so horrible and porno-influenced, and the idea of it grosses me out - I just couldn't. I actually feel very lucky that I have a DP who doesn't appear to have any craving for "bald vestibule" (great phrase) and I would hate to meet a man who did. And when I hear that nurses laugh about hairy minges, that just strengthens my feelings really. So I intend to continue scandalising the nursing profession (and showing them what a real woman looks like, in case they forget).

@ "but he's currently watching Newsnight and the question just doesn't sit well!"

LMAO at KayHarker's 'gang of tweezers'

I tried only yesterday to tweeze a few stranglers from the sides, but had to give up in pain. Today, the bits I tweezed have turned into red dots - very unattractive. I should think yanking the whole lot out with wwax, epilaptors or whatever would result in just loads and loads of red dots for me.

I am with Spidermama too - I am quite fond of my (now silver) short and curlies. I have only had them removed, forcibly, by the midwife, twice for two births back in the 70's and the itchy regrowth was horrible combined with maternity size pads. I always break out in a rash (so attractive!)if I shave or use cream, so I have acquired a couple of bathing suits that are short shorts with longish vest tops to preserve my modesty. On holiday I seek out the nearest nudist beach because pubic hair looks fine in all its glory - is only nasty when peeking out from a dainty bikini.

I would not worry about the next generation too much. Fashion will have changed again by the time they reach their teens. They may all have fake dicks, pubic wigs, tatoos or pubic jewllery and their mums will be on here complaining about them.

Well said to the aptly monikered Muffle.

I did interrupt DH watching Newsnight last night to ask him what he thought, he said it was horrible, based on porn with paedophile overtones. Blimey. For me, it's enough that Victoria Beckham thinks Brazilians should be compulsory for teenage girls onwards... and all that faff (cascading intervention ).

There are so many threads on here about how women are putting off smears because of the embarrassment factor, it amazes me that so many women will willingly present their fanjo's to complete strangers to have their bits groomed.

I really don't think nurses/doctors or anyone else in the medical profession laughs at hairy fanjo's or anything else. I'm a nurse and have seen a few naked bods in my time but I've never batted an eye at anything I've seen, let alone laugh with colleagues about it That would be about as unprofessional as it gets.

Pelly, the nurse thing was on a thread a few months ago, I was horrified (used to be a nurse btw) by the nurses on the thread.

is all pornography hair free? or most pornography?

I know Pelly - it just amazes me that you can go to a beauty salon and have your whole fanjo waxed which means you must have to wave the whole thing in their face! What about men who have "back, sack and crack" waxes - never mind the pain, how can they bear the embarrassment? DP would never, ever do anything like that, he'll hardly show a doctor his bum.

I agree with paolosgirl.

In the changing room at the pool there seem to four categories of women, those over 45 don't appear to do any trimming, those between 35 and and 45 opt for a bikini wax, those between 25 and 35 sport brazilians and those under 25 don't seem to have any hair at all. Not that I go around with a clipboard jotting it all down.

On my 18 year old nieces facebook account there are lots of comments about this and apparantly it is completely disgusting to have any hair and most young men would be completely grossed out if they came across an unshaven woman.

In the last 5 years we seem to have gone back about 30 years when it comes to treating women as sex objects. It sickens me.

How sad, ForeverOptimistic.
I'm with the Spidermama camp too. Life's too short. I tidy up the bikini line but apart from that au naturel. dh seems perfectly happy, not that it's about him anyway.

I'm so glad I've read this thread actually as had I turned up at the gym changing room and been faced with a load of young, nubile and HAIRLESS fanjo'd women I'd have thought I'd landed on the set of a porno movie or something.

I was aware of the popularity of Brazilian waxes but had no idea about the all of it off trend.

what's the difference between a brazilian and all off?

Interesting article http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/apr/08/sinead-king-katie-obrien here?

Try again!

Stuffitllama - With a brazilian you keep a landing strip in the middle. Having it all removed is known as a hollywood.

Well I'm glad I started this thread, it has been most enlightening!
What with this and the other threads over the past couple of days I am poised to bring out my purple DMs and my 'a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle' tshirt and declare a unilateral return to 1983.

yes but it sort of goes with this alternative "empowerment" of women which has become perverted

the hmmm the way we're liberated to sleep with whoever we want without stigma ..which somehow becomes perverted into pressure to have sex when actually we aren't that sure ..pressure which can come from women as well as men

Now, see, I don't war purple DMs and 'fish/bicycle' t-shirts. On the contrary. I wear flowery Betsey Johnson dresses and girly, lacey underwear.

Surely the stereotypical image of a feminist (hulking great hairy, dungaree wearing angry type) is unfair, inaccurate and deeply off-putting.

I never said ANYTHING about dungarees! God, no.
Actually in 1983 I was mostly wearing ripped fishnets and mucho black lace with my DMs.
Actually what I think in is that in the 80s, fish/bicycle tshirts aside most of us dressed to please ourselves rather than
to look sexy for men. And that's what I see too much of lately, this oversexualised way of dressing and grooming that goes with this new plasticisation of women. We thought we had fought the battle against the sexual objectification of women and won - but what we see now is even worse. We thought we would be bringing up our daughters in a world where beauty contests had been consigned to the dustbin of history, but instead we are bringing them up in a world where daily life is a beauty contest judged by the mass media. You only have to look at the Daily Mail or any popular magazine to see that in action.