Shaving and all of that - new lows

[rosabud]

I know we debate this a lot and, like a lot of women, I really hate shaving and the concept behind it but do give in to fashion and shave various bits when I feel it matters............so at what point does it REALLY matter because, very depressingly, there is a thread over in the childbirth section from a woman who feels she needs to shave around her vagina before giving birth as it may look horrible for the midwife! Is that equally as depressing as me giving into fashion when I am on the beach / preparing for an intimate evening with partner - or is it a depressing new low?

NOONE has said on this thread a few points that I think are important given the situation.

If a woman is worrying about her pubic hair then she's not worrying about other things related to childbirth. Its actually a good diversionary tactic.

Secondly given that there is just so much emphasis put on 'correct behaviour' in pregnancy and childbirth to the point that the RCM, NCT and RCOG are putting out papers saying doctors should influence women to make 'good decisions' are we really surprised when women are concerned about being judged about their hair in childbirth?

Because quite honestly they may have every reason to feel like they are being assessed and conditioned to comply...

Not to mention its all in the context of historically shaving women done there, so asking about the ettituquete, is hardly a 'new low'.

Thats why I take real exception to the thread. Not necessarily about the subject, but certainly calling it a new low in childbirth? Hello?!

I am not a shaver generally but am quite hairy down there and did it so the midwife could see what she was looking at... seemed sensible to me at the time shrugs

Oh god.

I wasn't meaning to be rude about people who don't shave - as I said its personal choice.

The ewok was an exaggeration - a joke! When I say about not shaving I was talking about the extreme of really long leg & arm pit hair etc. Not that people that don't shave are ewoks.

I'm don't wanna get involved in the whole feminist debate. It's a lose - lose situation.

It's personal choice but you wouldn't find them attractive because of that choice. Is it the first thing you look for to make that decision? I honestly can't work out how the most stunning woman would suddenly not be attractive because she hadn't shaved.

This timeframe corresponds to the emergence of hairless genitals in porn, at a time when porn was becoming more explicit and readily accessible, free of charge, via the internet

I'm not sure the one causes the other, if you read around the subject you find other trends - various Asian faiths that shave, the hygiene arguments, fashionable people shaving down to de minimus etc - were all were coming into vogue at the time.

I suspect fashion leaders will shift again when all the chavs do it and it becomes passe, in fact I see more fashion articles popping up these days saying pubic hair is coming back as various models start to sport it again.

IMO the only sustainable Feminist positon is "do what you damned well like, its yours"

It bothers me that women feel that they HAVE to shave to avoid offending people and feel comfortable with themselves. However, I don't think telling them they shouldn't do it will help at all. The real problem is not the skin scraped bare of hair but the underlying belief that one's body is not acceptable in its natural state. Putting down the razor, although it can be a helpful step along the path to self-acceptance, is not magically going to turn someone into a confident person who loves her body.

If someone wants to stop shaving I would wholeheartedly support her, and I openly show off my own hairy legs/pits in public regularly as part of challenging expectations about what a woman 'should' look like, but I'm not going to tell anyone what she should or shouldn't do with her body.

I don't shave, but during my first birth had to be shaved a bit by a midwife for an unplanned C-section, felt it wasn't good use of her time and found it embarrassing, so for the second birth (attempted Vbac) trimmed the area in case had to have a second C-section, which in the end I did.