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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

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Original poster

GCSE biology textbook features woman with Brazilian

158 replies

Funkyfunkybeat12 · 10/02/2019 08:06

twitter.com/glaciuswhite23/status/1094341223102513158?s=21

The more I think about this, the more pissed off I get. What the fuck? The picture is of a woman at full term. And now the norm is apparently to make sure you keep up your expensive waxing ritual until you go into labour. Welcome to the new world where even your dorky school textbook teaches you about grooming expectations.

I won’t even go into the abuse Dr Victoria Bateman, the naked Brexit woman, got for daring to display natural pubic hair. Oh the horror.

OP posts:
Oxytocindeficient · 10/02/2019 09:05

We’re not talking about exam boards.

You may think this is trivial, the rest of us would like to discuss how it affects young minds.

RockyFlintstone · 10/02/2019 09:05

Would not like to be the illustrator. Full unkempt bush would raise a chortle, trimmed bush or bald, again same accusation.

Baci in the day, most of these sorts of pics featured a 'triangle' of pubic hair, so possibly slightly trimmed but not full on Brazilian.

Original poster
Funkyfunkybeat12 · 10/02/2019 09:06

Would not like to be the illustrator. Full unkempt bush would raise a chortle, trimmed bush or bald, again same accusation. This does look silly though. I'm inclined to think no hair would be best ?

Loads of images of the naked body show no hair, especially if it is an internal diagram. The point here is that they did show hair, but fashioned into a painful and unrealistic style. If hair would get in the way of what you are showing, or you are just showing the pubic region very roughly drawn, then no hair is fine. The point is that someone obviously thought about this and gave the heavily pregnant woman a style popular in porn.

OP posts:
Original poster
Funkyfunkybeat12 · 10/02/2019 09:10

What? You think they had an in-depth discussion about the pubic hair on a single image? I'm sure there are others better informed about educational publications than me but I honestly don't think this was intended to offend or make a comment about body hair on women.

I definitely think they did. Definitely.

OP posts:
bigfluffy · 10/02/2019 09:11

But someone must have deliberately 'updated' this by adding in a brazilian wax. This would not have been there in a book from the early 00s, when brazilians were definitely not the norm.

No I didn't mean updating the pubic hair.

As a science teacher, of course I want images to be scientifically accurate. It is scientifically accurate. The woman they are depicting has chosen to have a Brazilian wax.

If what you are saying is: do I want my students to be educated about having a choice about their own bodies? Do I want students to understand that having body hair is natural and it is their choice to have it or remove it? Of course I do. That is a much bigger battle to fight with society in general and I just don't believe that taking umbrage with a single diagram in a textbook is the way to do it. Sorry. Find me 10 more and then our fight is really against a lack of diversity which depicts a biased view of what a woman should look like.

Oxytocindeficient · 10/02/2019 09:14

I just don't believe that taking umbrage with a single diagram in a textbook is the way to do it. Sorry.

All the small acts of sexism and objectification, enable the bigger or what you might think of as ‘more important’ acts.

As for framing it as ‘this woman has chosen to wax’, that’s rather unlikely and still, again, promoting something that many of us here think is outright sexism. Women shouldn’t think waxing is a requirement. Heavily pregnant women shouldn’t be suffering painful waxing on hyper sensitive genitalia just before birth, because of societal expectation.

bigfluffy · 10/02/2019 09:22

Tell you what, I'll ask my students tomorrow what they think of this.

FamilyOfAliens · 10/02/2019 09:25

Find me 10 more and then our fight is really against a lack of diversity which depicts a biased view of what a woman should look like.

So you ferl able to actually quantify the point at which you personally think it’s an issue? 9 and under is fine and dandy to you?

FamilyOfAliens · 10/02/2019 09:26

How will you frame the question to them, bigfluffy?

Because that will determine their answer, especially to a teacher, and in front of their classmates.

bigfluffy · 10/02/2019 09:26

FamilyofAliens

I didn't say that under 10 was fine.

Original poster
Funkyfunkybeat12 · 10/02/2019 09:27

As a science teacher, of course I want images to be scientifically accurate. It is scientifically accurate. The woman they are depicting has chosen to have a Brazilian wax.

The point is, every image they see will have a Brazilian wax. This is the mantra they are fed- pubic hair is unnatural. The boys in their class will be watching porn, featuring either Brazilians or Hollywood waxes. They will no doubt be exposed to it themselves or watch it themselves. Every magazine image is airbrushed with not a pubic hair in sight. The TV shows they watch feature people around their age who have had numerous cosmetic enhancements. They might be pressured to send nude pictures to boys, knowing that these may be passed on. They will of course look to the images that they have been told are ideal.

They then also get told by their textbooks that this sort of grooming is the norm, not just for teens, but for adult women who are pregnant. At least when I was at school I did have a sense of a difference between the magazine images and what most normal women actually looked like. I think there is less and less of that these days.

And it's not just one textbook- this is part of a much wider problem, but I can't just let it lie and leave it unchallenged, because that would be validating it.

The fact that so many young women want to have surgery on their genitals is so disturbing. Is this really the world we want young women to grow up in?

OP posts:
FamilyOfAliens · 10/02/2019 09:28

You asked people to find 10 more examples before you consider we have a “fight in our hands”.

So what did you mean if not that any number under that isn’t worth a fight?

Original poster
Funkyfunkybeat12 · 10/02/2019 09:29

Bigfluffy I saw this on Twitter. I haven't read the whole textbook. There may well be 10 images in the book featuring Brazilian waxes, depending on how many diagrams of the female body there are.

OP posts:
bigfluffy · 10/02/2019 09:30

FamilyOfAliens. How do you think I should frame it to them?

Just so you know, I'm not talking about a class discussion where students will have to talk about this in front of classmates. I would never put my students in a position where they may feel uncomfortable. I intend on discussing it with my upper sixth form tutor group, all of whom are friends. A significant number are going on to study medicine so are comfortable with this kind of conversation.

Oxytocindeficient · 10/02/2019 09:31

I remember Gabby Hoffman said after she appeared on TV Show Girls naked with natural pubic hair, people kept asking if they stuck on a hair piece. Her reply was, ‘ no, I grew it, that’s what pubic hair looks like’.

Seriously, people are not used to seeing pubic hair on women. It’s a problem.

FamilyOfAliens · 10/02/2019 09:31

funky

Can you post the email address you used to complain to Pearson?

butteryellow · 10/02/2019 09:31

You think they had an in-depth discussion about the pubic hair on a single image?

No, but someone clearly either thought to themselves, and it clearly went through review with a specifically err.. manicured.. pubic hair illustration - someone drew that on purpose.

Like others - bald, because it's an anatomical diagram, or full bush would have been fine, but this continuous drip of girls seeing that their bodies aren't fine as they are is terrifically damaging.

As zigzag says, this would have been swiftly solved in my day by the kids drawing pubic hair on there.... but then we had mums in the 70s.

bigfluffy · 10/02/2019 09:32

"And it's not just one textbook- this is part of a much wider problem"

I agree with you. I fully intend on having a good look through my textbooks on Monday to see if this is representative. I teach a different specification and also have a lot of much older books.

Iused2BanOptimist · 10/02/2019 09:33

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Iused2BanOptimist · 10/02/2019 09:35

Whoops Sorry. My copy and paste from a different thread.
Apologies. Blush

Crowdo · 10/02/2019 09:35

It's absolute nonsense that you need to be rich to have a Brazilian. And also nonsense that it needs to be painful. You can get the same look with a bic razor and some cheap conditioner.

FamilyOfAliens · 10/02/2019 09:35

FamilyOfAliens. How do you think I should frame it to them?

I have no idea. You’re the one who suggested asking the class, so presumably you already know how you’d get an answer that reflected honest opinions that weren’t influenced by what everyone else was saying and embarrassment at being seen as different. How do you normally ask such a question?

Oxytocindeficient · 10/02/2019 09:37

You can get the same look with a bic razor and some cheap conditioner. and you can get painful ingrown hairs that way too....

bigfluffy · 10/02/2019 09:40

"No, but someone clearly either thought to themselves, and it clearly went through review with a specifically err.. manicured.. pubic hair illustration - someone drew that on purpose."

Yes of course, someone added it on purpose and it went through review. But was it to represent some pubic hair as more would detract from the purpose of the image? or was it because they thought a Brazilian was what women "should" have. The end effect is the same really I suppose.

I feel that the whole tone of the twitter post and some of the ones on here is that this was done as a disgusting, outrageous comment on women. I am sure that Pearson would welcome a discussion about the portrayal of women and their bodies in their textbooks. They are invested in educating young people after all.

bigfluffy · 10/02/2019 09:43

FamilyOfAliens - I am genuinely interested in what you think. Sorry if you thought I was being defensive. I intend on showing them the image (and some others if I can find them) and asking them what they think of it. Then seeing where the conversation takes us.