A cyclical and resurgent trend dating back to the Romans and Egyptians is now a fad among college kids and spreading into older generations, mostly females: The “preteen” appearance, “down there”.
Im not a big fan of completely smooth bald genitalia, it’s sort of wierd. I cant help thinking “how old is this chick”? And when should the cut off age be to forbid such practice?
The quickest and most often given reason by females for doing this is that it’s “cleaner, and more hygenic”. I can understand trimming it short, which is my preference by the way, but taking it off in barbie doll fashion doesnt seem right to me.
Another reason females are removing it all, is to accomodate that thin piece of material that covers the groin at the beach. Nothing makes me want to puke and laugh at the same time more than seeing tufts of hair sticking out the sides of a bikini (Ok, I can probably think of a few). Others say that it looks more attractive and enticing to their partner or “potential candidates”.
After researching this for awhile now, the general conclusion by scientists is that they just dont know for certain the specific function of genital hair.
While there isnt a definitive answer from scientists, they do have some theories.
The most plausible one is that it collects pheremones, which are sexual hormones emitted from the pores that attract the opposite sex. This seems to be the most widely held theory, since limited testing has been done on monkeys which leads them to this consensus. (I dont know the tests performed ,…… Im not sure I want to)
Another theory is that it’s “padding” which helps reduce friction during sexual intercourse. While this seems reasonable, one only has to look at other parts of our bodies that come into more contact with surface areas during the course of our day to realize that if nature intended us to be hairy to reduce friction, we’d have it on the palms of our hands and the bottoms of our feet. (I am relieved the old childhood masturbation tale was merely fable, or my nickname would undoubtedly be Wolfman)
Others have speculated temperature regulation, wetness damper, sexual readiness sign to show when you’re old enough to have sex, and that is serves as a bacteria or….. “dirt filter”.
That said, there isnt much in the way of arguing clinically against the practice of shaving. The few down-sides are ingrown hairs, irritation, stubble, and the possiblity of permanently damaging hair follicles and the pheremone emitting pores, because when you sweat those pores can be blocked.
Shaving your privates may make you less attractive to the opposite sex, at a subliminal and invisible level, because the amount of pheremones in that area are drastically reduced.
Maybe there isnt just one specific reason for us to have hair down there, but definitive answers havent been discovered yet.
So next time you see one of these hairless critters, know that your local scientist is hard at work:
