Pube Politics

Intellectually and politically, we might be all for a natural bush – so why are we still waxing, shaving and plucking our pubic hair? Joely Walker investigates

- Joely Walker

Lady gardens. For decades, we’ve been hell-bent on pruning, plucking and zapping them into submission, in pursuit of pubic perfection. We’ve dabbled with landing strips, curated triangles and barber-precision trims, but over the past few years, our agenda has been shifting, marking a movement away from a Barbie-smooth aesthetic to something altogether more natural.

The topic is definitely divisive: a 2016 Mintel report showed that 83 percent of women aged between 16 and 24 agreed there was too much pressure on them to remove or groom body hair, yet in that same year, a different survey found almost 50 percent of women under 30 still opted to go completely hair-free. The figures don’t add up, which begs the question: where do we actually stand when it comes to our pubic hair?

“In an age of activism, where people are rallying against injustices across the board, pubes have become a hot debate,” says Emma Grace Bailey, associate beauty editor at global trend forecaster WGSN. “Who are we shaving it for? Why are we ashamed of something so natural? Where has this mindset that pubic hair is ‘dirty’ come from?”

Biologically speaking, pubic hair exists to provide cushioning against friction, protection from bacteria and to signify our readiness to mate. It’s useful but, even so, hair removal dates back to ancient Egyptian times, when women were said to depilate with bronze razors and sharp flints to prevent lice. Ancient Greeks saw pubic hair on women as “uncouth” (hence the mostly smooth nature of many statues born of that era). Then, in 1450, came the merkin – a pubic-hair wig – made for women who had shaved their hair to combat pubic lice and cover up signs of disease.