I am so shocked about that thread stating most women have no pubic hair

[roseability]

I don't know quite why it has disturbed me so much. Like most women I have plucked/shaved and groomed for many years of my life. However the thought of putting myself through that really upsets me for some reason. Not that I plan to. It is just that I have never, ever considered that pubic hair is undesirable. I can't help but relate it to women in porn with little or no pubic hair and it makes me sad to think girls and young women (I have a daughter) will no doubt feel insecure about their vagina and how it looks in this way.

I am by no means a good feminist. As I mentioned I do shave my legs and I wear make up. I have read Beauty and Misogyny by Sheila Jeffreys and I question why I even do this. However it makes me almost weep to think of my daughter being influenced in such a way.

I was just really upset by that thread and I m not sure why

It's as old as the hills. When young ladeez was being prepared to meet their er, lords and masters in ancient Eastern cultures they were covered entirely in depilating pastes to make em lovely and smooth and hairless.

I am a feminist and I shave.

I also like to use make up.

Oddly, the men in my life have always talked me out of grooming (my brothers are very much against make up and artificial enhancements on women, and very vocal about it. My parents are are the sort of wonderful left wing intellectuals who have never in my life commented on my looks, only on my achievements, wishes and attitude).

My first boyfriend was very much against make up etc. My current husband hates make up and long nails etc. on women.

Basically, most men in my life have always expressed a preference for natural women (and men). Most men I know find the porn star look scary and intimidating.

So why do I shave, use make up (I am not obsessed, just like to tweak a bit)? In my case it is clearly NOT about pleasing men.

or is it?!

Trying to be very honest here.

I think I like to feel I have a sense of CONTROL over how I look.

Also, part of me (when I am in the mood) LIKES to feel like a sex goddess sometimes, in sexy underwear, flowing hair and make up.

Also, I do not think all porn is evil. I think there is some very nasty sick stuff out there, but I think there can be a time and place for porn in people's life.

Also, I don't think it is bad per se, and unfemnist to want to please men. I know very well it works two ways, and men try to please women too. In a good relationship you both try to please another, right?

If a man had told me to shave, I would have been mortified but mostly ANGRY. My partner never asked me to, he was not sure he liked it, but is now used to it.

I started cutting my pubes shorter with scissors, 8 years ago, when we lived in a hot country and it made me feel very sweaty down there (sorry, TMI). then trimmed, then shaved. I have moved back to the UK, but am still doing it....

It is hard to try and be honest about my motives. Sorry if this is long and not actually that helpful. hmmmmmmm......

Why would women even think about trying it if the idea hadn't been planted in their heads by magazine pictures, porn etc? I honestly don't think it would ever have occurred to me to even give it a go if it wasn't for the bombardment of images I'm faced with of obviously shaved women wearing next to nothing on the front pages of newspapers/lads mags. An ex asked me to try it but where he got the idea from is pretty obvious.

I've spent a bit of time in Australia and I think there the beach culture probably does encourage women to depilate more of their bodies but, even so, to do it all would just be another big hassle.

I'd rather not shave my legs either or my armpits. I say that it feels nicer when I do but if the prevailing culture wasn't to shave, I doubt it would occur to me or be an issue in terms of how it feels. I think a lot of it does come down to the 'need' to differentiate between the masculine and the feminine. Is it a coincidence that gay men remove body hair but a lot of straight men wouldn't?

I'm wondering where the trend will go next. Armhair?? Eyebrows?? Seems ridiculous to think about it but then so would the subject of this discussion several decades ago, I imagine.

Actually, the eyebrows thing gives me some hope. Wasn't it fashionable for quite a while to shave eyebrows off and then draw them back in?

Having said that, I think once the fashion for removing body hair from some part of you is rationalised to doing it because it makes you "fresh" or "clean" and not to do it is seen as unhygenic, then the fashion sticks. (see underarm hair - doubt it'll ever come back as an acceptable thing to grow)

Ok, let's try this:

(I'm going to couch this is the background of English history, because that's all I really know)

Traditional cultures. e.g. the Catholic culture pre-Tudor, move slowly and value stability. Change happens in cycles. There are some reasons to strive but there is more value in acceptance.

Come the reformation and we have a new model which values constant improvement and change. Change is seen as a good thing - becoming seen as a good thing in itself, almost regardless of actual outcomes. There is no value on stability and acceptance; only in individualism.

The people who are saying "it was always like this, no big deal" seem very relaxed about the issue. The people who see cultural change as non-teleological (if that's possible?) - and who therefore worry that the desire for novelty and change in itself is not allied to a desire for the improvement of society in some way - are the ones who are scared.

I'm not committed to this theory - but it feels like something - waddya think?

I am hoping that was tongue in cheek LeninGrad ?!

Lenin - When ds and dd were littler they used to bathe with me and shuddered if they accidentally brushed against my nethers. They called them "hairy spiders," perhaps that's why...

Was worried about being deviant for that as well as being sans bushel

I like my hairy muff and pits it feels like me.

I shaved my it once to see what it felt like, it felt meh and looked ridiculous. Plus I didn't appreciate the massive spots from ingrowing hairs and constant itching.

It's all guff about public hair being unclean. Sweat sticks to a shaved muff for some reason.

And I like my un-hairy muff and pits it feels like me.

I'm so used to it that it feels meh and looks ridiculous to have anything else now.

You only get itching if you let it grow back - I shave every day.

I worry for my DD though. I have spent all her short life telling her she is beautiful (she is, BTW). When she was little I took charge of keeping her clean and reasonably tidy. I brushed her hair and cleaned her teeth. Now she has taken over that responsibility. But it's quite simple - clean body, clean brushed hair, trimmed nails, clean teeth. It's all about hygeine and making yourself presentable to other people.

And just as she is going to start becoming aware of herself as an adult - starting to grow boobs, develop hips and grow hair - she will have to accept that to a large part of the population she may no longer be good enough in her natural state. What nature has given her is imperfect and unacceptable. Surely anyone can see that it stinks?

I have always been bald of fanny ever since i had hair because I found it icky. Had never seen any porn or spoken to anyone about it. I can remember seeing my mums when i was about 7 and thinking 'oh god that's gross, all that hair around where wee,poo,periods are'

I still shave any the only thing that upsets me is that apparently in doing what I want to do with my body i am apparently setting a bad example to my daughters that some of seem so worked up about its making you want to cry!

I don't diet, I have a high paid/powered job, I am strong and indepedant and do a lot of 'male' sport, I have an equal relationship, I am well read and have many strong female friends who my DDs are in the company of often... is having a bald fanny really important?

Exactly what blindassasin says

without the typos though presumably Narc?

Apparently not prolesworth .

In all honesty, I do think that the bald/bushy thing is being a tad over analysed. I asked some of the girls in my sociology class what their opinions are, and what their reasonings were - they all said that it was down to what they liked the look of or feel of, and were amazed that people thought they felt pressurised (covertly or not) into it.

But what you like the look of is culturally conditioned, though. That's why people like the look of flares one year, and yet the same people think they look ridiculous two seasons later.

Of course they said that nq. Why wouldn't they? Who is going to say 'oh it's because of the prevalence of male fear of female sexuality in our society and the dominance of porn imagery'?