If your 15 year old DD shaved off all her pubic hair, what would your thoughts be?

[sandyballs]

This isn't about my DDs as they are slightly younger, but a friends DD and I'm interested as it won't be long until I'm having worrying teenage ishoos!

She has a boyfriend, quite a new relationship, same age, and my initial reaction was ..... he has watched too much porn and expects this from girls. Friend thinks it is all still quite innocent and this is her preference for her body rather than any pressure.

Thoughts please.

No, that wasn't the only reason, AF. I totally agree with your comments about the pornification of young people too.

To cut a long story short I think I grew frustrated with the F4J trolling, and the antagonistic stance of some of the posters to anyone whose posting name they then didn't recognise. It was all too fraught and hostile, and extremely unwelcoming. Some posters really gave off the vibe that if you wore a skirt, let alone make-up, you were supporting the patriachy. I rarely posted but lurked regularly.

Maybe I should wander in for another look and see if it's calmed down a bit......

NigellasDealer Yep. A thread about shaving off pubes happened to be the final nail in the coffin. There were some posters who were positively adamant that women only shave off their pubes because of porn and that anyone who thought otherwise was kidding themselves and had been conned. I gave up. although turns out that Style and Beauty wasn't for me either

Ah, I see. Why didn't you say that, BB ?

< skirt-wearing, make-upped hater of trolling but willing to be reminded I don't do these things in a vacuum >

it is quieter on the Feminism boards these days. Some of the "bigger" characters have gone, which is a shame, also due to the incessant trolling

I would be concerned about the timing with her getting a boyfriend, maybe have a chat about contraception and not being taken advantage of, if you think she would listen?

Bare in mind that there are other reasons than sex appeal to shave your pubic hair off though. When I first got my period when I was 12 I went mad and shaved all my pubes off because my mum hadn't introduced me to tampons and I hated the thought of the blood getting caught up in them. I started again when I was 16 and still do, I know they're natural but I just don't like to have them, I don't feel as clean.

I've never found the feminist boards to be judgemental about people's personal choices, to shave, wear a dress or makeup. And there's a fair few on FWR who do all or some of those things...... however...

people on there simply point out that one's personal choices are usually affected by social gender norms of the time. It's not rocket science to point that out, it's not judgemental of the person doing it, it's just an observable fact. If we were having this conversation a 100 years ago it would be about corsets. It's just a cultural fad.

The question is, are those cultural fads bad for us? Corsets definitely were, foot binding was, wearing super-high heels is, and so is shaving pubes because it increases the risk of bacterial and viral infections.

The other question is why do the majority of the harmful beauty norms affect women more than men? Now I think that question probably is a bit too FWR ......sorry Baroness

No, that's fine KaseyM and sounds like the starting point for a thread I'd be interested in reading. One of the most interesting threads I ever read was about what defines someone as female: your chromosomes, your physical appearance, socialisation, your genitailia, or how others perceive you. It attracted some M to F transgender posters who initially came to derail but ending up staying and having a really good debate. One even became a regular MNer for a time.

Sorry for the hi-jack OP!

could be that she has 'trimmed' for her new relationship
or feels cleaner around period time

I've never watched porn.

I shaved all mine off at 15, more out of curiosity as to whether it'd be stubbly like my legs or whether it'd be smooth, and also to try and make it easier to keep clean during my period.

It was stubbly and uncomfortable and a good shower several times a day during time of the month worked so much better so don't assume the worst!