Wednesday Weigh-In: Pubic Hair Edition

According to the Atlantic, it’s time for another trend piece about pubic hair grooming habits. There’s some interesting history there, although its conclusion–that some young women, especially white college students, are waxing it all off these days–is probably pretty obvious to most real young people. It should also be noted that the answer to that alarmed question in the headline, “Has Pubic Hair in America Gone Extinct?” is, “no, it hasn’t.”

The author cites a new study as evidence that “more women lack pubic hair than ever before.” And while that’s no doubt true (although there haven’t been a lot of studies on this topic in the past to compare to), what the researchers themselves actually concluded was that “it is more common than not for women to have at least some pubic hair on their genitals.” In wonderfully scientific language, they write:

It has been said that having no pubic hair is normative; however, findings from this study suggest that there is no one dominant pubic hair style. Given the growth rate of hair and women’s often sporadic hair removal, there is likely great diversity in the amount of pubic hair that women have at any given time. After all, pubic hair is in a constant state of growth, which suggests that pubic hair “style” may be a malleable concept.

Since we celebrate diversity in all things here at Feministing, I’m glad to hear that. So, um, bare it all folks! What’s your pubic hair “style” and why? And, dear god, please tell me those dudes who say they’re “disgusted” by a natural bush don’t actually exist in real life–and, if so, that we aren’t letting them anywhere near our vajayjays.