Read on for a letter from a doctor about pubic hair. See, I know what I’m talking about!
Hi Amy- I left way too long of a message for you (ie I got cut off!) and realized I should have just started with an email. 🙂
I had wanted to let you know how much I appreciated your blog post and conversation on the podcast about pubic hair. I am a physician and so as part of my job I look at a lot of vulvas and vaginas. I see first hand what you described in the trend to eliminate all pubic hair and as a result I also see many women who have painful ingrown hairs, rashes and recurrent infections in the area. I make it part of my routine counseling to discuss the benefits of pubic hair and how it is absolutely normal to have it. I am always shocked at the sheepish or embarrassed way women will apologize to me for “not having tidied up” or “cleaned up” “down there.” I ask them not to apologize for their bodies because pubic hair is normal! I also insist they name our parts for what they are and use those same names with their kids. For many women, from their teens into their 40’s, it is difficult to grasp the idea of not shaving or waxing. However, I think it is so important to normalize this other option.
Of course I think this should also include what we explain to and talk to our boys about. Which leads to the story about my son. He is 6 years old and we are very open in our house and don’t hide naked bodies. And admittedly while most of the year I don’t wax or shave I have been known to do it in the summer or before a winter trip somewhere warm. So basically my son has seen varying degrees of hair on my body. But we haven’t talked about it so I wasn’t sure how much attention he was paying to it.
Recently we were out playing at the park and got really wet and muddy and so we go home and stripped off our clothes so we were just in our underwear. My son says to me a minute later, “Mama, your underwear is too small!” And I was a bit confused by this proclamation and a bit concerned about what he was going to say next. I asked him what he meant and he said, “your hair is showing out the sides.”
This really made me laugh and appreciate the observations kids make. It also gave me the perfect opportunity to say– “No honey, that’s pubic hair and it is normal to grow all over the body. Someday when you are older it will also grow all over your body. That’s normal!”
I hope your podcast encourages a lot of other parents to engage in these conversations with their kids too. Thanks again for the work that you do!
Maggie C
