Eine kleine Sexualerziehung
Just when I thought electorial animus was behind us, I find out about this:
Yes, the Mominatrix at imperfectparent.com has declared that January 20, 2009--the day we inaugurate Barack Obama--should be global "Leave No Bush Behind" day. In other words...
Well, it's basically what you'd expect it to mean, considering the above graphic says "Shave the Date," and the columnist is named "Mominatrix." Yes, the idea is that women should, ahem, get rid of bush in honor of Dubaya's reign of error finally ending.
I stumbled upon this depilation day in an article on Salon.com called, paradoxically, "Bush is Back." In this article, Lisa Germinsky posits that quite the opposite trend is growing, that women are increasingly moving away from complete slash and burn type pudenda clearing, and allowing at least some of the natural undergrowth to return. She's not calling for a return to (as she quotes Bill Maher) "...(T)hat 1973 look that says I'm liberated ... and I'm smuggling a hedgehog." However, she notes that women are moving en masse away from, uh, the hardwood floor look, and allowing at least a little throw rug to exist.
Just to be clear, I'm not one to follow trends or read pubic opinion polls. In my travels, I've found both a hippie girl who'd never shaved anything and a girl who shaved away all hair below her eyebrows (including shaving her arms and toes). The rest have fallen between those extremes, at least, er, "mowing the greens and trimming the fringe rough." (To be perfectly honest, the girl who shaved her toes freaked me out more than the girl who didn't shave anything, but that probably had more to do with other neuroses (baldy) and good college marijuana (jungle girl))
What got to me wasn't the impending threat of hair apparent, but that there were so many people who had furvent opinions on the topic. Between this article and the adjacent Cary Tennis advice column, some folks got rabid, either in defence of hair or their right to do without.
Then there are two articles linked to this one talking about sexual behavior. One is a woman who talks about her 15 years (so far) of celibacy. That article links to a 20-something woman's assertion that there's nothing wrong with 20-something women "hooking up," while another interview features a woman decrying just that uphooking, saying that only through celibacy can people really become true friends.
A European student I met at FSU once said that "Americans talk more about sex than Europeans; Europeans just have sex." To read these articles--and the passionate, often vapid comments--that opinion seems valid. Yes, there are few things sadder than seeing a young woman who equates sex with love, and unhappily seeks the latter through the former. However, I've also met lots of women who are realtively well-adjusted, who enjoy having sex on their own terms, even if it doesn't mean being married or even in a long-term relationship. It depends on the woman. Same with the hair debate. Some women make hairlessness sexy, while other waxers have their bidness look rather like some sort of bargain meat you see on a styrofoam tray, wrapped in plastic in a butcher's freezer. Some unshaved women might look a bit bedraggled, but then you see the unshaven Maria Schneider in "Last Tango in Paris," and it definitely works for her. Again, it depends on the woman.
For me, I'd never hairangue my partner into changing her pubic appearance. I've played golf on some immaculately manicured courses, and I've played some courses with high rough and weeds in the sand traps. I've enjoyed the hell out of both. In both golf and women, every course is different, and it's a blast just to be able to play.
Comments
When I was in my 20s, we women talked about sex and pushing the limits etc etc. And whether or not to shave. But as a 20-ish woman, I was so lost. I was trying to prove everything to everybody.
In the end, we all pull down our skirts a bit and realize we were really just trying to prove this crap to ourselves, not men, not the world, and go on about our business of contributing in positive ways to society.
Btw: chocolate and pepsi. :)
Oh, and shaved. ;)
I hope your first Christmas in Indy House is just bun-riffic.
Great topic. Personally I think that its a fashionable thing to do right now. Its just what is accepted as normal, although I'd like to point out that it wasn't that long ago that SATC addressed the topic when Carrie and the gang went to California and got waxed, and were surprised to find that nothing was left. I think it was part of bringing the brazillian further into the public consciousness.
Personally I believe there is nothing sexier than a woman whom is comfortable with her body and what type of golfing green she has. I think its difficult though when you expect to be judged for anything more than shaved.
Personally i think it makes women look like children. Developing hair is a rite of passage, why do we then have to rip it all out? I'm not saying lets all become '73 hedgehog smugglers, but maybe women shouldn't be defined by their hair down there?
Fantastic posting and commenting!
I have to say, that it's just yet another thing to add to the list of things we can expect to feel self conscious about. And, in all likelihood, yet another thing that a lot of men will in fact not really give too much of a hoot about. When it comes down to skin level, my experience and bet is that most men are too keen to get on with the sex part to stop and say "Oh wait, that's not what I prefer in terms of bushage."
Being confident and prepared to get in the buff with all the lights on and (beyond being ok with it) actually enjoying being seen in all your glory has to be the most important and, I'll hastily add, the sexiest thing a woman can do with her body.
A woman should be defined by her woman-ness, not the presence (or absence) of hair.
One of the sexiest women I've ever seen was short and pudgy, but she had no qualms or hangups. She loved getting naked and messing around, even though she wasn't a swimsuit model. You're absolutely right: confidence and self-assurance make all the difference. (and she didn't shave down there.) ;-)