What the ladies are doing with their pubic hair these days: A scientific study

By Maggie Koerth-Baker at 9:10 am Thursday, Oct 7  

The Journal of Sexual Medicine recently published the results of a large Internet survey aimed at finding out how American women wear their pubic hair, and whether choice of down-there hair style has any correlation to other factors, like sexual orientation or enjoyment of sex.

Couple of interesting things this survey turned up:

•Most of us aren't getting rid of it completely.

•The ladies who do take it all off report a higher level of positive genital self-image than those who don't. That's pretty interesting, since, in some circles, the full monty is kind of regarded as antithetical to liking your vulva—something young women only do because porn-addicted young men have been trained to expect it. This data could be evidence to counter that perception.

But, on the other hand, it might not. The trouble with surveys is that we don't necessarily know what's going on behind the answers. Because a bare hoo-ha is also associated with younger women, it might just mean that younger generations have avoided some of the genitals-are-nasty cultural baggage of their elders. The data could also mean that these women really don't like their bodies with hair and, thus, have come to associate Brazilian waxes with a more positive self-image. And, of course, survey results are subjective. One woman's "I really super dig my vulva!" can be equal to another woman's, "Yeah, I'm pretty happy with it." Maybe younger women are just more enthusiastic.

So, yeah, like most social behavior surveys, this brings up more questions than it really answers for me. But, still, very interesting! Thanks for Submitterating it, verde!

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