2016.Įncyclopedia of Hair: A Cultural History. 2002.Įncy clopedia of Women in the Ancient World, Joyce E. Colin Blakemore (Editor), Sheila Jennett (Editor). "Pubic Hair Removal Practices in Cross-Cultural Perspective." Lyndsey Craig and Peter B. Grab a razor, a handful of shells, and a snuff box. The results of her study might just make you rethink your relationship with what you’ve got going on below the belt. The goal? To figure out how our pubic hair removal practices differ from era to era and culture to culture, and why we perform them at all. She sifted through written records from the 1890s to the early 2000s, surveying nearly 200 societies around the world. “I got my undergrad in developmental psychology and my group and I would sit around and talk about women's issues in this very feminist group, and we talked about pubic hair and how a lot of people said that women remove their pubic hair because it's a male dominated society and that's what men want, and that's what is shown in pornography, and that's what product marketing is trying to do is get us to buy their razors and remove our pubic hair.” And when her anthropology grad advisor suggested this issue was ripe for study, she wanted to see if those hypotheses from her lady’s group held true. I am a grad student at the University of Nevada Las Vegas in the Department of Anthropology and I primarily study women's sexual signaling…” The seeds for her interest in pubic hair removal goes back to her undergrad psychology days. Joining us is a woman who has spent a lot of time thinking about and researching this issue. “I'm Lindsay Craig. So let’s take a journey through time, tracing the history of pubic hair removal from ancient past to present, exploring our relationship with our lady jungles and what it might have to say about our feelings about ourselves. And it’s about a whole lot more than aesthetics: particularly when we’re talking about women, the issue is a lot more complicated than I knew. And it turns out the decision to wear it or bare it has always been complicated, tied up in cultural belief, social norms, and personal hygiene.
We’ve been getting rid of our personal shag rugs for millennia, across many cultures. This debate, and practice, are far from new. Why did we feel so compelled to DO something about such a natural part of us? And why did the issue feel so charged? And while I’m not a complete stranger to a Brazilian wax parlor, something about the conversation bothered me I didn’t like hearing smart, confident women say they didn’t feel as sexy without a good trim. Was she really doing it for herself or for the pleasure of others? Why should women feel compelled to go bare? Everyone had a different and strongly-held opinion: social pressure, a partner’s preference, self-gratification, the idea that perhaps our hair is just gross.
I couldn’t help but push back: but why, I asked. Someone had a friend who’d just spent a huge amount of money to get her entire downstairs carpet lasered off: a present to herself, it was said. One of the most intense dinner party debates I’ve ever had was over the issue of a lady’s pelvic jungle: specifically, whether or not we should be taking it off.