November 1, 2023 • 16 mins
Ever thought about the evolutionary purpose of pubic hair, or why societal norms around it change? Buckle up, as we reveal the science of body hair and debunk some myths along the way. We'll dive into the benefits of pubic hair, from helping prevent friction, to fending off pathogens and bacteria, and even its part in signaling fertility. We also have a fun discussion about the Reddit perspective on body hair and preferences around shaving. Remember, no matter what your grooming style, vaginas are self-cleaning!
Fasten your seatbelts as we journey through the history of the adult film industry and its influence on pubic hair norms. We're also going to touch upon the pros and cons of shaving or trimming, and the potential risks involved. It's not all serious though - to cap off this enlightening chat, we'll give you a sneak peek into our upcoming episode that will dig into the role of media and the importance of comprehensive sex education in shaping our understanding of topics as intimate as body hair. So, tune in, be ready to unlearn and relearn, and let’s challenge what you thought you knew about body hair!
Follow us on social @sexeddebunked or send us a message at sexeddebunked@gmail.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Shannon (00:03):
This is Study Sessions brought to you by Sex Ed
Debunked In these mini-sodes.
Christine (00:07):
We'll discuss a myth suggested to us by listeners.
Like you, Like what?
Shannon (00:11):
you hear, want to hear more?
Follow us on Instagram,facebook and Twitter at Sex Ed
Debunked to suggest new myths.
Provide your own show notes andgive us ideas for what to talk
about next.
Christine (00:20):
Now take some notes.
The study group is in session.
Hi, this is Study Sessions, abi-weekly mini-sode where we
cover topics brought to us bySex Ed Debunked listeners.
Shannon (00:36):
And this week's episode , and just in time for no Shave
November, we're talking aboutbody hair down there.
Christine (00:43):
There you go, the nether regions, that's right.
Shannon (00:46):
Well, it was spooky.
Christine (00:49):
Well, and the question really is to shave or
not to shave?
That is the question and thatis the question, and it's a big
one.
Shannon (00:58):
I mean, I feel like since the dawn of time we've
been talking about whetherpeople like a full bush or not.
Christine (01:05):
Well, I don't think it's the dawn of time, it's
actually the dawn of porn.
Before that, the research.
Looking through the researchbefore that, most people just
didn't shave.
Maybe there was some trimminginvolved, but really the porn
culture is part of the culturethat made shaving a social norm
because it increasedexpectations of what partners
(01:26):
expect to see and also whatpeople viewed as more sexy, as
being more trimmed and more bare.
So not really the dawn of time.
Since the dawn of time, we werekind of, you know,
evolutionarily speaking, we werebushy for a reason.
Well, what was the reason?
So I know you did your Redditdive, but I'll start with the
(01:49):
health dive and then we'll gointo the Reddit dive.
So, looking for crediblesources online Healthline and,
of course, the American Congressof Obstetrics and Gynecologists
, the research they speculate,evolutionarily speaking, pubic
hair was designed one as afriction, like to prevent
friction when there'sintercourse, because, if you
(02:10):
think about it, hair is softerthan skin, so designed to
prevent abrasions and also tomake it just a little bit more
comfortable.
And actually fair amount ofgynecologists and this is
obviously talking about femalebodies keeps out pathogens,
(02:31):
keeps out bacteria, and this isfunny, said maybe not funny, but
basically said, kind of likeyour eyelashes and your nose
hair bring out dirt and dust.
So it did have a purpose interms of preventing bacteria
from getting in and things likethat.
And the other speculation isthat there's the hair follicles
(02:56):
in pubic hair in particularproduce something called sebum,
which actually prevents bacteriafrom reproducing.
So for bodies with vaginas inparticular, it reduces the risk
of UTIs and Gnecologists andSTIs because it's killing
bacteria.
So that's kind of the medicalpoint.
(03:19):
Evolutionarily speaking, it alsosuggests that and I know this
is like part of the reasonpeople shave now but it also
increases the odor and thepheromones and so evolutionarily
speaking, that is alsoconsidered attractive to have.
Well, at one point that was agood point, the idea being is
(03:44):
that people, once they had pubichair, the other partner, other
people in the species, wouldknow that you were fertile and
that you were able to engage insexual activity.
So the idea that the pubic hairtraps these pheromones could
theoretically increase sexualattractiveness and in that way
(04:08):
attract a mate.
The other thing is hair keepsyour genitals warm and being
warm is good for sexual arousal.
So I mean there are someincubator kind of, and so to
kind of that there are benefitsand the benefits are pretty
consistent across the research,and this is particularly for
(04:32):
bodies with vaginas, becauseobviously you know UTIs is
something that's prettyprevalent for female bodies.
So those are the possiblebenefits and before you go into
going into your Reddit world,Also, medically speaking,
vaginas themselves areself-cleaning.
(04:54):
So even though you should cleanthem and you should obviously
use soap and water nothingscented and not shampoo, because
obviously shampoo is made forfluffy hair, you know, and
well-conditioned hair but thevaginal canal itself is actually
self-cleaning, so there'snothing unhygienic about it at
all.
Shannon (05:14):
I was going to say so.
It's self-cleaning with orwithout hair, right, Like that's
still happening, yeah yeah, butthe hair is a barrier.
Christine (05:23):
The hair is a barrier that prevents certain things
from getting in there, so tospeak.
Shannon (05:27):
Getting on the run.
Yeah, it also traps things,though.
You know how many times haveyou seen like men with giant
beards and it's like what areyou storing in there?
Yeah, snack.
Christine (05:38):
But of course, like socially speaking, we do have
preferences, and that is whatyour Reddit world would tell you
right?
Shannon (05:46):
Yeah, I mean I always look at Reddit as everyone on
the show knows by now, forcrowdsourced information, but
this is also one of those topicsthat I think is just like
pretty widely talked about,despite the fact that people are
still, you know, ooey weirdabout talking about sex.
In a lot of ways, like, I feellike this is one of the more
accessible topics that peoplehave opinions on.
But, looking at Reddit, thereare a few things came up.
(06:08):
One thing that was very funnyto me is someone created a post
like a couple of years agoasking this exact question of
like to shave or not to shaveand it just got like immediately
so many responses and the topone of the top comments on it.
When I looked at it was today.
I learned that if you ask aboutshaving preferences for lady
parts, you will have 1800comments in five hours.
(06:29):
A lot of people feel a lot ofthings about this, but really it
does seem like there's a rangeof preferences.
You know, just certain partsshaved, seasonal shaving,
trimmed seems to be thepreference across genders.
Make it neat is kind of thegeneral idea.
I think that I didn't see a lotof people saying it's cleaner
(06:51):
to not shave.
That wasn't really somethingthat came up at all.
It was more like keeping itcontained, keeping it neat, so
just not letting it run wild.
At the same time, a lot ofpeople said you know, I don't
want fully shaved, because fullyshaved is like a child.
It's not really other, betterway to say it.
A lot of people who brought upfully shaved were like it's a
(07:13):
little too, too young, like it'sjust weird.
Christine (07:17):
And I want to just interject a fun fact when I was
looking through the biology ofit, Actually pubic hairs are
genetically programmed to onlybe a certain length.
So even though we're talkingabout, like keeping it trimmed
and keeping it contained, forthe most part it's like,
evolutionarily it's onlydesigned to be between a half an
inch and one and a half inches.
(07:38):
So it's not.
It may be like straighteningout, but to a certain extent
it's not really getting longer,and maybe you notice it getting
longer because you've shaved andso you notice it coming back.
But it's not like if you don'tshave you're going to have pubic
hair to braid, that's going tohang on your meat.
Shannon (07:57):
Yeah, but I think too, as we know, from shaving any
parts of our body, like youshave it once and it grows back
weird, and so that was I thinkthat was one of the things that
was brought up.
A lot, too was you shave andyou get rash and you get
irritation and you get ingrownhairs and all these things.
So a lot of people were saying,both for themselves and for
their partners, they prefertrimming versus full shaving
(08:21):
because it keeps it neat, itkeeps it contained, but it also
doesn't result in those otheruncomfortable.
Christine (08:27):
And to get that, out like those aren't just like,
like the idea of having likecuts or burns or rashes or
ingrown hairs isn't just amatter of being uncomfortable.
That's actually the part thatmakes shaving a little bit more
dangerous, in the sense that ifyou have a cut, if you have an
ingrown hair, you're more likelyto get an infection, and those
(08:50):
infections can include there isa small body of studies that
suggests that that includes STIs, because STIs are opportunistic
and look for an open space, andso a cut can create that open
abrasion that's going to makeyou more susceptible to STIs or
UTIs.
So there is some risks to likefull shaving as opposed to just
(09:14):
you know, as you said keeping itneat.
Yeah, exactly.
Shannon (09:18):
Well, so the other thing you brought this up at the
beginning of the episode, butthe porn industry being the
foundation for this is reallyfascinating.
And it brings me back to ourepisode that we did with Miss
Bloom last season, talking aboutthe unreal expectations set by
set by porn, like in pornHollywood.
And it is interesting when youthink about it because, like,
(09:41):
why were they shaving in thefirst place?
To get a better view, right,exactly, you know, like be able
to see the parts.
And I'll tell you that did notcome up at any point.
Nobody who said that theypreferred shave or trim was like
because I'd like to see theirpenis better, like it's not that
, it's because people want to,you know, for whatever it is
it's, they don't like touchinghair, they don't like the smell,
(10:02):
they, like you know, just don'twant hair all over the place,
whatever it is.
But there was no one that saidyou know, gosh, I just wish I
could see it better.
Christine (10:10):
Well, which actually surprises me, Shannon because
for people with penises, havingless hair can make the penis
appear larger.
Shannon (10:18):
Yeah, Because you see the whole most penis owners
aren't getting into that on theReddit subgroup saying like I
like it because it makes me lookbig.
Christine (10:27):
Well, it might be a different subgroup.
Shannon (10:29):
That's true, that particular group.
But it is important, I guess,to bring up that too, because a
lot, of, a lot, like some ofwhat we've talked about goes for
all genitalia, but specificallyanything in the research about
manscaping.
Christine (10:42):
Well, here's the thing right.
So there's less research andwhen I was, like you know,
trying to find stuff on theinternet, a lot of the sources
were about manscapingcom Dapperand Groomed like places that are
trying to promote, you know,manscaping and shaving as
opposed to like actual research.
But I did find I did find a fewstudies and a few articles, like
(11:05):
through Men's Health andHealthline that actually some of
the benefits are pretty similarto the benefits that we talk
about for bodies with vaginas,that it protects against
infection and protects againstdirt and pathogens and reduces
friction, although ironically,some people who report wanting
(11:26):
to shave, they say they shave toincrease sensation, which makes
sense if air is gonna reducethe friction.
But also, looking at, here'sone that was really interesting
for bodies with penisesEvolutionary, it was kind of
like a lion's mane.
So when you think of like backin the day, like, you know, a
lion, the bigger the mane, thenyou're warding off other
(11:49):
potential mates.
And so there was and I was like, huh, I'm not so sure about
like I'm gonna be more attractedto a guy that has a you know a
lot more going on down there,but anyway, that's like the
evolutionary point.
Shannon (12:02):
No, I mean that's interesting, it's funny.
I did like.
A few years ago I worked when Iwas working in marketing and
doing branding.
I did branding for a like beardcleaner and care company and
obviously not the same.
But there are similar thingsabout like how Men's Health has
become like glorified as like bea big man and take care of your
(12:24):
face.
Like, be a big man and takecare of your hair, and it's.
I think I prefer it in someways to the anti-Men's Health
narrative of like be gross andrough and tumble and muddy and
don't practice self-care, butlike as usual.
It's also just kind of a weirdenvironment of extremes.
It's like you can wash yourselfand like trim your hair without
(12:47):
it being like a testament toyour manhood.
You can, everybody you can.
But it is interesting that thedifferent social reasons for to
shave or not to shave and again,just to point out sorry for
bodies with penises, thereactually are.
Christine (13:05):
The dangers are a little bit more risky.
But foreshaving or not shaving?
Foreshaving because cuts with arazor was.
One study said 83% of penileinjuries involve razor cuts and
22% involve scissor cuts to thescrotum, aka the balls, and that
(13:28):
is particularly dangerousbecause the skin of the balls is
very thin.
Yeah, all right, I'm going tosay this very fast, and
listeners with penises, you canclose your ears right now.
But one of the potential thingsthat can happen is what's
called fornier gangrene, whichis flesh-eating bacteria of the
(13:48):
balls.
Shannon (13:49):
So oh, boy, we should have put the sample set out
right for Halloween.
Christine (13:54):
But the idea, the recommendation, is electric
razors are preferred becausecuts can be particularly
dangerous in that area and alsowax is better.
So just to be on the safe sideand to be really, really careful
, or, you know, going.
You know remember the scenefrom Bad Mom's Christmas.
(14:15):
What a professional.
Shannon (14:19):
Yeah, I can't guarantee that your you know esthetician
or your patient is going to beas attractive as they were in
Bad Mom's Christmas.
Christine (14:28):
But there are professionals and professionals
are Well and that's right.
Shannon (14:33):
As you know, at the end of the day, as much as it is a
social question and what thesocial preference and social
norm is, it is still a healthquestion and so you know,
whatever route you go, make surethat you continue to just
practice best hygiene, best care, you know if you are
particularly sensitive toshaving or you do get you know
bikini burns or whatever it islike.
(14:54):
Talk to your partner and talkto yourself about what's going
to make you the most comfortablein terms of how you're
presenting, but also alwaysprioritize first your medical
situation, because rather be alittle bushy than have
flasheting bacteria, I think isfair to say yeah, fair to say
fair to say.
Christine (15:10):
We can't really end on that note.
We're going to have to say youknow?
So we do have no shave Novembercoming up and whether or not
you decide to shave medically,just be careful.
The science tells us that thepubic hair has been there for a
reason, but that doesn't meanthat you necessarily need it.
If you are going to decide toshave, which is clearly your
(15:32):
prerogative, be sure that youare much more mindful of
cleaning that area so that thepubic hair has been shown to
actually trap the trap bacteria.
Keep it from getting into yourvaginal canal if you're a female
body.
Shannon (15:47):
I know, I know I'm bad at it.
And then you rehearse everysingle time.
Christine (15:51):
Oh I know, Maybe we'll just like, let's just say
it's no shave November shave.
Shannon (15:59):
if you want, figure it out, you're not going to be a
weirdo.
No matter which way you go,there you go.
I mean, the human experience isa range of preferences.
Just be smart and be safe.
Okay, love your nethers Allright, that's it for this week's
study session.
We'll be back next week with afull episode of Sex Ed Debunked
and, as usual, if there aretopics you'd like us to discuss
(16:20):
or myths you'd like us to debunk, send them to over to us at
sexeddebunkedcom or any of thesocials at sexeddebunked.
Christine (16:27):
All right, take care, I know Sex Ed Debunked is
produced by Trailblaze Media inProvidence, rhode Island.
Our sound producer is EzraWinters, with production
assistance from Shea Wine Drunk.
This is Study Sessions brought to you by Sex Ed
Debunked In these mini-sodes.
Christine (00:07):
We'll discuss a myth suggested to us by listeners.
Like you, Like what?
Shannon (00:11):
you hear, want to hear more?
Follow us on Instagram,facebook and Twitter at Sex Ed
Debunked to suggest new myths.
Provide your own show notes andgive us ideas for what to talk
about next.
Christine (00:20):
Now take some notes.
The study group is in session.
Hi, this is Study Sessions, abi-weekly mini-sode where we
cover topics brought to us bySex Ed Debunked listeners.
Shannon (00:36):
And this week's episode , and just in time for no Shave
November, we're talking aboutbody hair down there.
Christine (00:43):
There you go, the nether regions, that's right.
Shannon (00:46):
Well, it was spooky.
Christine (00:49):
Well, and the question really is to shave or
not to shave?
That is the question and thatis the question, and it's a big
one.
Shannon (00:58):
I mean, I feel like since the dawn of time we've
been talking about whetherpeople like a full bush or not.
Christine (01:05):
Well, I don't think it's the dawn of time, it's
actually the dawn of porn.
Before that, the research.
Looking through the researchbefore that, most people just
didn't shave.
Maybe there was some trimminginvolved, but really the porn
culture is part of the culturethat made shaving a social norm
because it increasedexpectations of what partners
(01:26):
expect to see and also whatpeople viewed as more sexy, as
being more trimmed and more bare.
So not really the dawn of time.
Since the dawn of time, we werekind of, you know,
evolutionarily speaking, we werebushy for a reason.
Well, what was the reason?
So I know you did your Redditdive, but I'll start with the
(01:49):
health dive and then we'll gointo the Reddit dive.
So, looking for crediblesources online Healthline and,
of course, the American Congressof Obstetrics and Gynecologists
, the research they speculate,evolutionarily speaking, pubic
hair was designed one as afriction, like to prevent
friction when there'sintercourse, because, if you
(02:10):
think about it, hair is softerthan skin, so designed to
prevent abrasions and also tomake it just a little bit more
comfortable.
And actually fair amount ofgynecologists and this is
obviously talking about femalebodies keeps out pathogens,
(02:31):
keeps out bacteria, and this isfunny, said maybe not funny, but
basically said, kind of likeyour eyelashes and your nose
hair bring out dirt and dust.
So it did have a purpose interms of preventing bacteria
from getting in and things likethat.
And the other speculation isthat there's the hair follicles
(02:56):
in pubic hair in particularproduce something called sebum,
which actually prevents bacteriafrom reproducing.
So for bodies with vaginas inparticular, it reduces the risk
of UTIs and Gnecologists andSTIs because it's killing
bacteria.
So that's kind of the medicalpoint.
(03:19):
Evolutionarily speaking, it alsosuggests that and I know this
is like part of the reasonpeople shave now but it also
increases the odor and thepheromones and so evolutionarily
speaking, that is alsoconsidered attractive to have.
Well, at one point that was agood point, the idea being is
(03:44):
that people, once they had pubichair, the other partner, other
people in the species, wouldknow that you were fertile and
that you were able to engage insexual activity.
So the idea that the pubic hairtraps these pheromones could
theoretically increase sexualattractiveness and in that way
(04:08):
attract a mate.
The other thing is hair keepsyour genitals warm and being
warm is good for sexual arousal.
So I mean there are someincubator kind of, and so to
kind of that there are benefitsand the benefits are pretty
consistent across the research,and this is particularly for
(04:32):
bodies with vaginas, becauseobviously you know UTIs is
something that's prettyprevalent for female bodies.
So those are the possiblebenefits and before you go into
going into your Reddit world,Also, medically speaking,
vaginas themselves areself-cleaning.
(04:54):
So even though you should cleanthem and you should obviously
use soap and water nothingscented and not shampoo, because
obviously shampoo is made forfluffy hair, you know, and
well-conditioned hair but thevaginal canal itself is actually
self-cleaning, so there'snothing unhygienic about it at
all.
Shannon (05:14):
I was going to say so.
It's self-cleaning with orwithout hair, right, Like that's
still happening, yeah yeah, butthe hair is a barrier.
Christine (05:23):
The hair is a barrier that prevents certain things
from getting in there, so tospeak.
Shannon (05:27):
Getting on the run.
Yeah, it also traps things,though.
You know how many times haveyou seen like men with giant
beards and it's like what areyou storing in there?
Yeah, snack.
Christine (05:38):
But of course, like socially speaking, we do have
preferences, and that is whatyour Reddit world would tell you
right?
Shannon (05:46):
Yeah, I mean I always look at Reddit as everyone on
the show knows by now, forcrowdsourced information, but
this is also one of those topicsthat I think is just like
pretty widely talked about,despite the fact that people are
still, you know, ooey weirdabout talking about sex.
In a lot of ways, like, I feellike this is one of the more
accessible topics that peoplehave opinions on.
But, looking at Reddit, thereare a few things came up.
(06:08):
One thing that was very funnyto me is someone created a post
like a couple of years agoasking this exact question of
like to shave or not to shaveand it just got like immediately
so many responses and the topone of the top comments on it.
When I looked at it was today.
I learned that if you ask aboutshaving preferences for lady
parts, you will have 1800comments in five hours.
(06:29):
A lot of people feel a lot ofthings about this, but really it
does seem like there's a rangeof preferences.
You know, just certain partsshaved, seasonal shaving,
trimmed seems to be thepreference across genders.
Make it neat is kind of thegeneral idea.
I think that I didn't see a lotof people saying it's cleaner
(06:51):
to not shave.
That wasn't really somethingthat came up at all.
It was more like keeping itcontained, keeping it neat, so
just not letting it run wild.
At the same time, a lot ofpeople said you know, I don't
want fully shaved, because fullyshaved is like a child.
It's not really other, betterway to say it.
A lot of people who brought upfully shaved were like it's a
(07:13):
little too, too young, like it'sjust weird.
Christine (07:17):
And I want to just interject a fun fact when I was
looking through the biology ofit, Actually pubic hairs are
genetically programmed to onlybe a certain length.
So even though we're talkingabout, like keeping it trimmed
and keeping it contained, forthe most part it's like,
evolutionarily it's onlydesigned to be between a half an
inch and one and a half inches.
(07:38):
So it's not.
It may be like straighteningout, but to a certain extent
it's not really getting longer,and maybe you notice it getting
longer because you've shaved andso you notice it coming back.
But it's not like if you don'tshave you're going to have pubic
hair to braid, that's going tohang on your meat.
Shannon (07:57):
Yeah, but I think too, as we know, from shaving any
parts of our body, like youshave it once and it grows back
weird, and so that was I thinkthat was one of the things that
was brought up.
A lot, too was you shave andyou get rash and you get
irritation and you get ingrownhairs and all these things.
So a lot of people were saying,both for themselves and for
their partners, they prefertrimming versus full shaving
(08:21):
because it keeps it neat, itkeeps it contained, but it also
doesn't result in those otheruncomfortable.
Christine (08:27):
And to get that, out like those aren't just like,
like the idea of having likecuts or burns or rashes or
ingrown hairs isn't just amatter of being uncomfortable.
That's actually the part thatmakes shaving a little bit more
dangerous, in the sense that ifyou have a cut, if you have an
ingrown hair, you're more likelyto get an infection, and those
(08:50):
infections can include there isa small body of studies that
suggests that that includes STIs, because STIs are opportunistic
and look for an open space, andso a cut can create that open
abrasion that's going to makeyou more susceptible to STIs or
UTIs.
So there is some risks to likefull shaving as opposed to just
(09:14):
you know, as you said keeping itneat.
Yeah, exactly.
Shannon (09:18):
Well, so the other thing you brought this up at the
beginning of the episode, butthe porn industry being the
foundation for this is reallyfascinating.
And it brings me back to ourepisode that we did with Miss
Bloom last season, talking aboutthe unreal expectations set by
set by porn, like in pornHollywood.
And it is interesting when youthink about it because, like,
(09:41):
why were they shaving in thefirst place?
To get a better view, right,exactly, you know, like be able
to see the parts.
And I'll tell you that did notcome up at any point.
Nobody who said that theypreferred shave or trim was like
because I'd like to see theirpenis better, like it's not that
, it's because people want to,you know, for whatever it is
it's, they don't like touchinghair, they don't like the smell,
(10:02):
they, like you know, just don'twant hair all over the place,
whatever it is.
But there was no one that saidyou know, gosh, I just wish I
could see it better.
Christine (10:10):
Well, which actually surprises me, Shannon because
for people with penises, havingless hair can make the penis
appear larger.
Shannon (10:18):
Yeah, Because you see the whole most penis owners
aren't getting into that on theReddit subgroup saying like I
like it because it makes me lookbig.
Christine (10:27):
Well, it might be a different subgroup.
Shannon (10:29):
That's true, that particular group.
But it is important, I guess,to bring up that too, because a
lot, of, a lot, like some ofwhat we've talked about goes for
all genitalia, but specificallyanything in the research about
manscaping.
Christine (10:42):
Well, here's the thing right.
So there's less research andwhen I was, like you know,
trying to find stuff on theinternet, a lot of the sources
were about manscapingcom Dapperand Groomed like places that are
trying to promote, you know,manscaping and shaving as
opposed to like actual research.
But I did find I did find a fewstudies and a few articles, like
(11:05):
through Men's Health andHealthline that actually some of
the benefits are pretty similarto the benefits that we talk
about for bodies with vaginas,that it protects against
infection and protects againstdirt and pathogens and reduces
friction, although ironically,some people who report wanting
(11:26):
to shave, they say they shave toincrease sensation, which makes
sense if air is gonna reducethe friction.
But also, looking at, here'sone that was really interesting
for bodies with penisesEvolutionary, it was kind of
like a lion's mane.
So when you think of like backin the day, like, you know, a
lion, the bigger the mane, thenyou're warding off other
(11:49):
potential mates.
And so there was and I was like, huh, I'm not so sure about
like I'm gonna be more attractedto a guy that has a you know a
lot more going on down there,but anyway, that's like the
evolutionary point.
Shannon (12:02):
No, I mean that's interesting, it's funny.
I did like.
A few years ago I worked when Iwas working in marketing and
doing branding.
I did branding for a like beardcleaner and care company and
obviously not the same.
But there are similar thingsabout like how Men's Health has
become like glorified as like bea big man and take care of your
(12:24):
face.
Like, be a big man and takecare of your hair, and it's.
I think I prefer it in someways to the anti-Men's Health
narrative of like be gross andrough and tumble and muddy and
don't practice self-care, butlike as usual.
It's also just kind of a weirdenvironment of extremes.
It's like you can wash yourselfand like trim your hair without
(12:47):
it being like a testament toyour manhood.
You can, everybody you can.
But it is interesting that thedifferent social reasons for to
shave or not to shave and again,just to point out sorry for
bodies with penises, thereactually are.
Christine (13:05):
The dangers are a little bit more risky.
But foreshaving or not shaving?
Foreshaving because cuts with arazor was.
One study said 83% of penileinjuries involve razor cuts and
22% involve scissor cuts to thescrotum, aka the balls, and that
(13:28):
is particularly dangerousbecause the skin of the balls is
very thin.
Yeah, all right, I'm going tosay this very fast, and
listeners with penises, you canclose your ears right now.
But one of the potential thingsthat can happen is what's
called fornier gangrene, whichis flesh-eating bacteria of the
(13:48):
balls.
Shannon (13:49):
So oh, boy, we should have put the sample set out
right for Halloween.
Christine (13:54):
But the idea, the recommendation, is electric
razors are preferred becausecuts can be particularly
dangerous in that area and alsowax is better.
So just to be on the safe sideand to be really, really careful
, or, you know, going.
You know remember the scenefrom Bad Mom's Christmas.
(14:15):
What a professional.
Shannon (14:19):
Yeah, I can't guarantee that your you know esthetician
or your patient is going to beas attractive as they were in
Bad Mom's Christmas.
Christine (14:28):
But there are professionals and professionals
are Well and that's right.
Shannon (14:33):
As you know, at the end of the day, as much as it is a
social question and what thesocial preference and social
norm is, it is still a healthquestion and so you know,
whatever route you go, make surethat you continue to just
practice best hygiene, best care, you know if you are
particularly sensitive toshaving or you do get you know
bikini burns or whatever it islike.
(14:54):
Talk to your partner and talkto yourself about what's going
to make you the most comfortablein terms of how you're
presenting, but also alwaysprioritize first your medical
situation, because rather be alittle bushy than have
flasheting bacteria, I think isfair to say yeah, fair to say
fair to say.
Christine (15:10):
We can't really end on that note.
We're going to have to say youknow?
So we do have no shave Novembercoming up and whether or not
you decide to shave medically,just be careful.
The science tells us that thepubic hair has been there for a
reason, but that doesn't meanthat you necessarily need it.
If you are going to decide toshave, which is clearly your
(15:32):
prerogative, be sure that youare much more mindful of
cleaning that area so that thepubic hair has been shown to
actually trap the trap bacteria.
Keep it from getting into yourvaginal canal if you're a female
body.
Shannon (15:47):
I know, I know I'm bad at it.
And then you rehearse everysingle time.
Christine (15:51):
Oh I know, Maybe we'll just like, let's just say
it's no shave November shave.
Shannon (15:59):
if you want, figure it out, you're not going to be a
weirdo.
No matter which way you go,there you go.
I mean, the human experience isa range of preferences.
Just be smart and be safe.
Okay, love your nethers Allright, that's it for this week's
study session.
We'll be back next week with afull episode of Sex Ed Debunked
and, as usual, if there aretopics you'd like us to discuss
(16:20):
or myths you'd like us to debunk, send them to over to us at
sexeddebunkedcom or any of thesocials at sexeddebunked.
Christine (16:27):
All right, take care, I know Sex Ed Debunked is
produced by Trailblaze Media inProvidence, rhode Island.
Our sound producer is EzraWinters, with production
assistance from Shea Wine Drunk.
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