Vajazzled!!! Pursuits for the hirsute

Turney, Joanne (2016) Vajazzled!!! Pursuits for the hirsute. Clothing Cultures, 3 (2), 143-153. (doi:10.1386/cc.3.2.143_1).

Abstract

Pubic hair has long been a contentious subject for women, and, in relation to constructions of psychoanalytical Otherness. Indeed, from Freuds assertion that female pubic hair conceals a lack, natural genital hair growth has been a site of simultaneous shame and control, an intimate feature requiring habitual clipping, preening and restraint. Feminists have aligned this bodily restraint with social constraint, as men rarely pluck, shave or dye their pubic hair, and control over such hidden areas heightens and perpetuates womens shame. Consequently, as Germaine Greer acknowledges, stereotypical women pluck, shave and wax their bikini lines, and somewhat ironically, unfettered pubic hair by the 1980s had become a sign of the unfeminine feminist. In a post-feminist era, pubic hair, or the lack of it, remains a site of discourse. From fashions in waxing (the Brazilian and the Hollywood) to shaping and dyeing, pubic hair has become commodified, a beauty essential, removed aggressively from its political roots. This article is concerned with vajazzling, the removal of pubic hair and its replacement with diamante sparkles and other jewellery. Focusing on the celebration of excess body modification and the quest for beauty via luxury consumption exemplified in this series, this article questions and investigates the historical significance of the lack of pubic hair and its beaded replacement in contemporary body projects.

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