JasperBennett

One of the questions I often get asked when I talk about my research is how much longer I think the trend for full pubic hair removal will last. I�m hesitant to give an exact expiry date if I�m honest. But I think this question opens up into broader discussions about what impact social, political and economic change has upon our bodily surfaces, and how embodied ideals of womanhood and femininity can both shift and remain constant over time. More revealing than any answer I might be able to give about the potential longevity of the Brazilian wax, is the asking of the question itself.  It demonstrates an understanding of pubic hairlessness as �current�, constructed, transitory, and it encourages conversation about where the norm has originated from, and why women in particular feel pressured to conform to it.  My Google Alerts notified me recently of an online survey examining men and women�s pubic hair grooming preferences, undertaken by Cosmopolitan.com , and suggesting that ...

I�ve studied my field, body image, for the last 6 years. I have published, presented and gave media interviews about how important a topic it is. I completed my, 90,000 word PhD in it last year. And since then I have had time to reflect and I�m not sure that what I was doing was right. I�ll step back. What are we, as body dissatisfaction or beauty impact researchers, hoping to achieve through our research? I believe it is ultimately to make the world a little more just. We know the consequences of unrealistic beauty ideals. We know how people tend to dislike their appearance. We know this impacts our wellbeing, relationships and aspirations in myriad ways. Ultimately we want our research to point out that this is a problem, is suffering, is an injustice and needs remedy (or justice).   Nancy Fraser (2001) says that justice can only be achieved when both of the following are undone: 1) misrecognition,�[the] institutionalized patterns of cultural value [that] constitute some actors ...