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Meanings around pubic hair and its removal were not consistently gendered, but it was still situated as more of an issue for women. Thematic analysis identified five key themes in the way people made sense of pubic hair and pubic hair removal that related to choice, privacy, physical attractiveness, sexual impacts, and cleanliness. In total, 67 participants (100% response rate 50 female mean age 29, diverse ethnically, predominantly heterosexual) completed the survey.
Using a qualitative survey, the current study asked a series of questions about pubic hair and its removal, both in general and related to men’s and women’s bodies. What we do not yet know is what people’s understandings and perceptions of pubic hair are, and how they make sense of its removal. Men, too, are seemingly practicing pubic hair removal in significant numbers, raising the question of to what extent pubic hair removal should be understood as a gendered phenomenon. Extending the widespread hairless bodily norm for Anglo/Western women, pubic hair removal is an apparently rapidly growing phenomenon. We aim here to understand a recently emergent, and potentially gendered, body practice-pubic hair removal-by examining the meanings people ascribe to pubic hair and its removal. This means they are affected by, and developed in relation to, patterned sociocultural meanings and representations. Women’s and men’s bodies and sexuality can be understood as socially situated and socially produced.