Nether regions, the last frontier

Writing for The Atlantic last week, Ashley Fetters opened a certain kimono by asking: Is female pubic hair in America going extinct? Talk about link bait. Needless to say, this can't-miss feature story has gone viral. Apparently, the ubiquitous Brazilian wax is de rigueur for women under 30 (though not exclusively so). Citing a scholarly Indiana University study (yes, they actually research this stuff), Fetters says more women than ever have adopted the Barbie look down under. "[N]early 60 percent of American women between 18 and 24 are sometimes or always completely bare down there, while almost half of women in the U.S. between 25 and 29 reported similar habits," Fetters reports. The reasons are variable. They include the influence of pornography, the pursuit of better hygiene and a supposed effort by women to "take control of their bodies" -- you know, Sex And The City-style. But I think Dr. Hilda Hutcherson, a gynecologist at New York's Columbia University Medical Center, has identified the real reason behind the surge in nether region grass-trimming. Per the LA Times, she told ABC News: “For every single thing that's normal about a woman's body, there's a man trying to change it […] The last frontier was the vagina." Take note, ladies.

(Painting Credit: Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920). Nude Looking over Her Right Shoulder. 1917.)