This week the Channel 4 documentary Bring Back The Bush sparked a heated debate about the risqué subject of women’s pubic hair and what we choose to do with it. The documentary featured writer and fashion blogger Chidera Eggerue, who challenged herself and five friends to grow out their pubic hair for a six-week period.
Having seen Eggerue’s film one Twitter user wrote, “How about we let individuals make their own decision about what they do with their bodies???”, and we couldn’t agree more.
So it’s depressing to find out that in some quarters growing out your pubic hair is dismissed as no more than the latest pointless trend. And the issue runs deeper than that.
For example, why do we only ever focus on whether women should have a ‘bush’ or not? Men also grow bushes, but we don’t seem to comment on that, do we? Women are constantly made to feel as though a clean shave ought to precede every sexual encounter. But we rarely expect the same of men.
The ‘bush’ has increasingly come to be seen as unnatural and unhygienic, whereas it’s actually there to protect our genitalia against both friction and infection. But then of course it’s fine for us women to shave away our protection, as maybe we can contract infections so that men don’t have to!
How did it ever get to this? Eve must have flashed her bush to Adam, and yet look at most paintings of Eve in the National Gallery, and there’s not a hair in sight.
Worse still, it isn’t just pubic hair that’s now seen as a problem. Any form of body hair on women at all is deemed disgusting and something to get rid of.
Take leg hair for example. Even over those cold winter months women are expected to shave off their leg hair. But we’re mammals. Mammals grow hair to keep warm!
And it’s not even as if the tools we’re sold are capable of tackling the forest. Women’s razors are pink, flimsy and way more expensive than their better-quality male counterparts. Not to mention other types of hair removal such as waxing and cream, which are not only expensive and but also painful. Using chemicals to burn the hair off is not exactly a pleasant sensation for our intimate parts!
Basically what we’re saying is maybe we like our bushes, and so perhaps we’d prefer to keep them than add to our monthly dosage of pain by having to get rid of them thank you very much!
“One” by jessicalrone is licensed under CC BY-ND
