To Wax or not to Wax

This is a post about fanny waxing.  So if you are going to be offended I suggest that you stop reading now and I will catch you on the next post.

Lately I have had a lot of random conversations about gender politics and one of the more interesting ones was about the normalisation and rise of the Brazilian.

The practice of de-hairing oneself dates back a long time – many hundreds of years and across many different cultures.  It started for hygiene purposes.  More recently it has been attributed to Brazilian women who wanted to wear tiny g’s on the beach and didn’t want spider legs coming out the sides.

I, for one can see an upside to the Brazilian, it’s much nicer in the summer and makes everything just a bit cleaner and nicer.  Its not about who is looking, but how you feel.  Having said that, it should not be imposed on anyone and neither would I encourage a teenager to have it done.   And I would never judge anyone who has a hairy one – more power to them if that’s what they want.  My friends and I have had many conversations as to how your fan fan should look – one favoured trim and tailored, another was a huge fan of the wax and another has been lazered so that it will never grow back.  In the end it’s about what is right for you and what you are willing to endure, cause lets be honest it hurts like nothing else having the hair ripped out by the roots.  Anyone who calls woman the weaker sex – seriously between brazilians and childbirth we are pretty damn tough.

There are a few others schools of thought as to what the Brazilian is about.  One is that young girls are being sexualised and that woman who wax it all are buying into this.  There is a feeling that men who like looking at a bald eagle are actually thinking about young girls.  I am very dubious about this.  I think that men who like a waxed fanny like just that.  They want to be with a woman who is well kempt and to be honest they find it kinda sexy.  Just look at the American Pie movie where the guy loses it when he discovers that his girlfriend has shaved it all off.

There is another theory that this whole thing was brought about by the normalisation of the porn industry.  The fact that you can buy your child a school book with the playboy bunny on it says it all.  If that is not the sexualisation of children then I don’t know what is.  Now that you can see The Girls of the Playboy Mansion on daytime tele and their bits and pieces plastered all over print and media, it has now become the norm to want to look like a porn star with a waxed huhu.  There is another problem with this.  If this is now the norm, then teenagers growing up will wonder why they are growing hair there.  And they will then want it waxed pretty much as soon as it grows.  This to me is the dangerous part of the story.  Girls at that age are impressionable and if all they are seeing is waxed fannies on tele they will think that there is something wrong with theirs.  Also young boys will think the same and will want their girlfriends to look like this.  Similar to any other stereotype that is forced on woman, this is not a good outcome.  Girls are all different shapes and sizes and this is the same for their fannies as well.  A grown woman has the sense and confidence to make her own decisions and to stand up for them.  Teenagers not so much.

There is also the stereotype that men prefer it.  Again completely untrue.  Even the lady who does the waxing told me that some men who she chest waxes tell her that they prefer the 70’s thatch.   That is the other thing, if you check out porn from the 70’s there are afro fans everywhere.  So it’s obvious that men did not always like the trimmed down look.  Men like woman have a variety of likes and dislikes.

I guess what it comes down to is that it’s up to you to wax or not.  I think that woman should be able to do what they want without having to bow to stereotypes about how they should and should not look.  Whilst I see the relevance, I think that there are more pressing issues in gender politics then if you wax or not.  And indeed there are bigger issues in the world today then if I choose this or not.