Goodness, was I wrong. I read Dr. Emily Gibson's assertion about the "War on Pubic Hair" must end...and her reasoning...and found her discussion on the topic just a bit over the top. I could try to lay the blame back on her doorstep for not providing supporting citations to back up her assertions...but really, I'm a researcher. I know where the burden rests...and that is squarely on my own shoulders. I could've looked it up myself.
This sort of topic is one that I would ordinarily reserve for Hump Day...but the combination of other topics that caused this one to resurface happened so rapidly, with so much commentary, that I decided to just get it put up today. The original topic that brought the sidebar about pubes to the surface was an ad I saw on TV last night while watching a program about Trent Arsenault...with much admiration, I might add, even while finding the term "donor-sexual" a little on the odd side. As a former egg donor, I think what Trent is doing is simply amazing! However, it was the ad that I saw that sparked the discussion.
The advertisement was from Poise...selling feminine products while promoting "The 2nd Talk"...and understand, I think the 2nd Talk idea is actually a really good one, even if I am put off by the marketing campaign to sell more products. That was the original topic I brought up for discussion over in a secular feminist group I am active in over in facebook. Unsurprisingly, I was not alone in my reaction. The topic branched a few different directions (which is one of the things I really enjoy about that group), and the different branches were/are all quite interesting. From historical feminine hygiene advertisements, to the truth that men and women actually do smell mostly the same "down there," and...where my thoughts are this morning...pubic hair. Except my focus is targeted advertising geared toward men.
Understand, too, the topic of testicles has been on the table with unusual frequency of late. From ribald joking around between me and a girlfriend of mine (and her husband)...to ruthless joking around about "old man balls" (and yes, I know those jokes are tainted with ageism...but I'll openly admit that our human bodies have such absurd features, especially as we age, that the jokes are funny because they are so very, very human)...to chortling over Robin Williams' "Weapons of Self Destruction"...and now this: Ball Bashing. Yeah, that article is almost 3.5 years old, but it was new to me. With an opening image of kiwis, consider my mind blown. I honestly had NO idea.
Perhaps because so much perfection advertising is geared toward women, and my focus is mainly on women's health issues, the idea to research manscaping advertisements never even occurred to me. And omigawd the levels to which marketers sink to create the "need" is truly and grotesquely wrong. Women, of course, already know this...having been the targets for perfection advertising for generations. I suppose, as a feminist, I should be...what? relieved?...something...that the disgusting focus on men's balls seems to find a way to level the playing field in advertising. Score... (?!) Thing is, I already found target marketing toward women just all kinds of YUCK, and as a feminist who loves and values men (not matter how harshly I may tease them now and then) I find this particular focus utterly foul. The term "below the belt" springs to mind, but it's too easy of a pun...
Thing is, that Ball Bashing article opened my eyes to something I simply hadn't seen before. I was wrong about the "War on Pubes"...but so was Dr. Gibson...though both of us were wrong for reasons I simply didn't know...and in different ways. Dr. Gibson's focus is the past decade, as though the war on hair is something that happened suddenly. What appears more accurate is that the war on hair has been on for a century or more, and pubes were merely the next logical step in the progression.
I was wrong because while my focus is in the realm of women's health, so I have looked long, hard, and deeply into all things vagina, I didn't really bother focusing on hair itself, save for a surface scratching about genital topiary. So when I saw advertising images like this and this, I had one of those mental shift moments -- what some might call a Eureka moment -- and all I could say was, "Ohhh."
Hmmm. I don't really know how I feel about this particular shift in my thoughts beyond disgusted resentment. But it does provide food for thought. Hmmm.
Anyway, Happy Monday to you.
P/L/S
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