Crystal Renn posed nude in the May issue of French Vogue, and the sight of her public hair has been too much for some people. The comments at The Cut are filled with revulsion for Crystal’s crotch.
Whether the photos are flattering or appropriate or anything else, my interest is in the reactions. What the hell is wrong with people? Those who object to the pubic hair insist that their aesthetic hasn’t been formed by porn. They talk about how nice it is to be “clean down there.”
What isn’t clean about natural hair? It seems very anti-woman to insist on a waxed crotch. The hair is a sign of adulthood – it’s what separates a woman’s body from a child’s.
I admit I don’t watch porn. It make me too sad. But I’m aware there’s a fatwa on body hair these days. It seems creepy and it seems babyish. It’s as if the very idea of pubic hair is terrifying.
It depresses me to confront the fact that women have yet another reason to feel shame about their bodies. I’m glad that Crystal Renn is breaking barriers, if that’s what she’s doing. If she reads those comments, though, she may feel she’s committed a federal crime by looking like a natural woman.
Opinions, anyone?
Isn’t this whole thing akin to that story.. was it from Guilliver’s Travels? ..two countries went to war over which is the right end of the boiled egg to open?
Who cares if you’re muffy or muffless? The important thing is being a bit more generous with sharing what’s under the muff.
thereswaterhere- lucky for you that shaving is quick and comfy, but I have the opposite problem- being bare down there basically means I can’t wear tight jeans while shaven, because the damn fabric chafes so much (as if I need another reason to hate jeans).
And the prevalence of Brazilian waxes/bare pubes in porn and mainstream pop culture does lead to a trickle-down effect of it becoming some kind of mandate to shave, wax, get rid of pubic hair somehow or else be considered ‘dirty’ or un-groomed. It’s like fashion magazines promoting thinness.
I couldn’t believe my eyes last year when I saw Daul Kim (RIP, I still feel so bad about that) in i-D magazine last year in blonde hair and a dark, visible bush. So refreshing to see a model with pubic hair that hadn’t been blitzed off- and so rare too.
Also, to all the hair removers out there- shave/wax if you want to, please. I know how it feels to want to get rid of unwanted hair and I’m all in favour of grooming. But what extent that grooming goes to, is up to each individual to decide.
Back to the topic of the post: Crystal Renn looks gorgeous, with or without visible pubic hair. But I do find the hyper-sexing of plus-sized women in fashion shoots very weird (“we can’t possibly find clothes for you fatties, so let’s shoot you naked instead/get your tits out.”)
WTF Dru? are you saying that Crystal Renn is plus sized?
She’s known as a plus-size model, and her agency marketed her as one. Model agencies often consider anyone over a US size 10 “plus size”, I don’t know how applicable this is to regular-person sizes. But my point regarding the frequent nakedness of women her size in high-fashion editorials, remains. Case in point: Beth Ditto on the cover of Love last year, and Crystal herself in various spreads.
I just got a vintage 1985 Victoria’s Secret catalog from an estate sale (for free). There was an abundance of pubic hair showing through the mesh undies.
Gawd!
Am 24 and have waxed my box like twice. Don’t care. Someone mentioned comfort… Um ingrown hairs, shaving nicks and getting waxed? Not comfortable. I’m not a fan of society that prides itself on its bare vag. Makes no sense to me. I shave my armpits and legs when I want to but pretty much during winter I wear fur socks to keep me warmer. My boyfriend doesn’t care in fact noone thats seen me naked has ever complained…… This argument is completely stupid. It should be a non issue. Its a box who gives a shit. The fact that everywhere you turn is women made into oversexualised girls. Thats an issue that pisses me off.
Paris Underwater- I love the term ‘box’! I think I’ll use it from now on, thank you!
Ingrown hairs are an absolute bitch though- bad enough on legs, but I don’t want to get to know first-hand what they’re like in my box. And unlike non-hairiness on my legs, I’m not particularly enamoured of the feeling of an absent ladygarden.
Whatever hang-ups many of you claim that us males who like our ladies shaved – and the women who love us so much that they do it – here’s all I have to say about it: I love to eat pussy, I am fantastic at it, and I don’t like hair in my food! It makes me gag! It retains the smells and flavors of sweat and urine, and unless you bush-masters are constantly scrubbing your crotches throughout the day, well, you tend to stink. Even if you are a really hygienic person, it still stinks, and no amount of perfume is going to hide the stench of your continuous output of bodily fluids. So before I apply my glorious skills as a Jedi lickmaster, the tunnel of love absolutely must be free and clear of any fuzzy obstructions. No slicky, no licky. No exceptions.
Go lick yourself, Corvin…
Agreed with M..It doesn’t bother me either way — to bush or not to bush is entirely personal.
Sad to say Sister Wolf but Mutteruglyhalls is actually a woman. She is not in your league. She is slightly (and I mean slightly) cute in Hobbit kind of way. Her so called common law husband and step-daughter (yeah right) refer to her as a social assassin because she has no social skills and nobody likes her–not even her brother and her mother. Again it is with pure jealously that she stalks your blog.