Do you trim your "lady garden"?

Greatnan I'm sure that there is a difference for most people but individuals will draw the lines in different places.

Yes, but views differ. No one has to contribute to this thread if they are worried about their posts being read by the World Wide Web (if it's really interested).

merlot

yes but my friends know me but most of the forum folk don't and probably never will!

I was being stitched up by the doctor after my second baby and when I made a comment about his needlework the midwife said "His hobby is leatherwork". There was no answer to that really.
I remember the salt baths while I was in hospital. I'm sure the terrible chipped old bath would be viewed with horror today, especially with us all sharing it. Don't think any of us died from childbed fever

Occurred to me this morning that we have not broached the core of this issue. When Germaine Greer wrote The Female Eunuch 40 years ago she argued that our sexist society wanted to infantilise and de-sexualise women in many ways. Some o things have changed in 40 years - women are more free to express their needs etc. But some things have changed for the worse perhaps.
She made the point that pressure to shave armpits and legs was part of this - women were pressured to make their bodies appear more child like.
Shaved genitalia were I think more or less unheard of 40 years ago. (I'm sure some medical members could confirm this?). But they are a development of the same trend - women being made to feel that they are only attractive if their bodies are hairless and child-like.
IMO little girls look beautiful, but the stubbly crotches of grown women (the ones that are not in airbrushed photos) are well ... less so.
But the unspoken question at the heart of this is: Why do men want their women's bodies - to look childlike?

I wouldn't dream of "having it all off" so to speak but also wouldn't dream of wearing a swimsuit with spiders legs hanging out of the sides. I have a fantastic little Epilator which only cost around £20 that I use for the bikini bits (although it is quite painful to use until you get used to it) you do stay hair free for quite some time and the hair doesn't grown back bristly like it does if you shave.

I agree JessM that there is something a bit perverted about removing it all in a bid to appear childlike.

I don't think women remove their hair to appear childlike, after all, some men also remove body hair these days(apparently!) and I am sure they are not trying to regress to childhood, any more than getting head hair cut is trying to regress to infancy. This is an interpretation of behaviour that is not necessarily accurate. I don't like lots of bristly hair under my armpits or in my leg creases etc (don't need to go into detail) I just feel cleaner, neater, more toned etc if I am "trimmed". I , sure most women who remove all body hair aren't trying to look like children , just trying to look more attractive ( in their opinion). If you like hairy bits , fine, but some people don't. What's wrong with that?

suzied there is a deal of difference in trimming and totally denuding!

I don't think it is the women that want to look child like. I think the men go for it and the women do it (often) to please the men. Maybe afraid, even, these days that a new partner would be disgusted if they were not fairly well plucked. It must cost some of them a fortune getting waxed all the time.
When men do it these days they are maybe, for once, following female fashion - or possibly do they see depilated men in porn movies? Have not watched any porn movies to check this out. But mens chest depilation fashion led by media methinks? Male film stars in the 20th century were sometimes puny and were allowed to have hairy chests. Male film stars these days must have a 6 pack etc and often have smooth shiny chests to show off their muscles.
Greer, I think, argued that by de-sexualising women they seem less threatening to men and more easy to dominate. But it is 40 years since I read the book!

Is Greer still alive ?

Yes, she is, Nonu! She's 74.

It would be interesting to know the percentage of women who really are removing their body hair because they think, or have been told, that it's more attractive to men. The vajazzling craze seemed to be more about young women trying to outdo each other in the bizarre decoration stakes!

JessM, I agree totally that there is something sinister about the infantilising of women by pretending that they are hairless below the neck. Not all men like hairless women; some are quite knowledgeable about what being an adult human entails and can cope with it!

Jessm interesting question.
Certainly since the Victorian era, depilated genitals do not seem to be mentioned. But throughout the centuries before, going back to medieval, if nor Greco/roman times it seems to have been the ideal.
Perhaps the Victorians in their prudishness did not talk about but still practiced it

That is quite the worst euphemism there is!

Oh no it's not!

You should Google what I just googled!

Oh?

Hilarious! I've never been blessed with luxurious pubic hair and I think it might be part of being a ginger. Apart from the hair on my head which is still fast growing and not a speck of grey anywhere, all the other hair on my body has virtually stopped growing., which is rather nice. No-one mentions this as a thing that happens post menopause, but it can't only be me?

I like to swim with my grandchildren so I agree with absent and do a little trim before I go

This is a bit of a bizarre thread to post on as my first, but having enthusiastically signed up to gransnet as a proud grandma I was a little dismayed to read through and wonder at the tone in some of the posts – some of you could benefit from a chat with my Mum!

I agree that the prevalence of pornography has corrupted the cultural values of our society. But the enthusiasm for "muff taming" stems from the fashion for tiny pants. Young girls look forward to their first string or tanga pants as a right of passage and one that is less emotive than the first bra or starting to menstruate. It's several years and much prancing around in itsy bitsy pants at sleepovers later before young women start to realise that this isn't a terribly practical fashion. "Fortunately" the magazines are to hand with advice. "Depilation" rather than reinvestment in modest knickers is the preferred solution.

To respond specifically to Suzied: I run a beauty salon and I pay my rent with the demand for intimate hair removal. “Suzied” in my University town it’s a young girls thing.

In our age group the general rule is to make sure that your pubic hair is not particularly visible outside your pants. Either remove the hair or buy bigger pants. To reassure you, no-one over 55 seems to be practising extreme hair removal.

Everything off (Hollywood) is the dejour demand from students. A Brazilian is everything off except for a small Hitlerish “landing strip.” This is quite tricky to do, and should be done with wax by a very experienced professional. We do about 50/50 Brazilians and Hollywoods. Feedback from our loyal clients is that extreme hair removal feels really good to the wearer. It is painful, but not excessively so, and done properly, there should be fewer problems with infected or ingrowing hairs, rashes etc, than would be normal without any form of hair removal.

I remember my (then) teenaged daughter’s nagging about my “peacock quiff”. No doubt this explains the numbers of middle aged women we see in the salon for a more modest bikini wax – everything off up to the line of the knickers. These ladies trim the remainder at home.

My DH was disturbed and intimidated by this fashion when the ladies of the house began to take it up. He started to ask other men what they thought. All agreed that they preferred women to look like women not little girls ie some hair rather than none. We came across a pile of 70’s porn mags in a house clearance the other day and there was a distinct nostalgic gleam in DH’s eye as he flicked through. I suspect that a lot of nice chaps actually like a bouffant look but are afraid to say so!

I was reading about some young girls who said they had to wear thongs because anything else would show under their skimpy clothes. I started to wonder what I used to wear under some of my sheer crepe outfits in the 60's ...... then I remembered - I didn't wear knickers

Surely if men found pubic hair unattractive we would have evolved into a hairless species by now .

Surely evolution doesn't work like that? Men need to be attractive to women, not the other way round!

Perhaps someone should tell the men Ana - most of them don't seem to be trying very hard

I have found this thread highly amusing to be honest but to be honest I agree that waxed bare has distasteful connotations; however I would be embarrassed about strays when swimming so do the minimum - I think thats probably what most women of my age do. I havent the time, inclination, funds or pain threshold to go through waxing by a (no doubt younger and more glamorous) stranger. But each to their own and as long as you do it for you, then anything goes I suppose [smiley]

I see I am very honest - and that is after proof reading, is ther no hope for me?