Can Manscaping Go Too Far?
Comedienne Brooke Van Poppelen implores men to think twice before shaving their crotches.
Our friendsters over at Lemondrop (actually comedienne Brooke Van Poppelen) have something they want to say and it boils down to this: "Guys, don't shave your junk."
The video is worth checking out, as is their message board; lots of strong opinions about this one. But here comes the nuts and bolts of the deal: does a dude's business really need shaving? Read: Manscaping The Land Down Under
In a strictly quid pro quo sense of things, the answer is "sure, what's good for the goose is good for the gander." But that little idiom fails to take into account that men and women are different. Double standards have and will always exist. But, periodically, they exist for a reason.
To whit, men are naturally more hirsute (though not necessarily in the vicinity in question). Going from Robin Williams to Dr. Evil, and maintaining it, isn't easy. Creating a clearing (or glen, if you will) in the forest can get out of hand. Do you stop at the boys? Do you plow through no man's land? Do you continue by slashing and burning right on up through the happy trail and beyond? By and large, our culture decided that a woman ought to have hair in two locales (at most), making boundary issues less of a concern. Sure, some percentage of bearded ladies have similar experiences but they're generally outliers.
Next, amorous access. I'll let you use your imagination with this one, but suffice it to say that women can still perform the basics of oral sex on an unkempt groin with next to zero interference. The inverse is not really true. Some guys dig it, some guys don't mind and some guys are seriously averse.
On the other hand (lower abdomen), men are sweating machines. Sweat, like rain, only falls in one direction. And nothing holds the smell of sweat quite like pubic hair. Before we were ashamed of being human, it's said that the underarm and crotch hair maintained our musk as part of our mate selection. These days, though, stank is just stank.
And, for some couples, the rodeo ain't over until the twin boys get kisses and their beards can be scratchy (or popcorn kernel-like, in a bad way).
Obviously, shaving one's beard is a matter of preference and maybe it's a really considerate thing to do. But a totally sheared region, where hair generally resides, is really weird and sort of reminds me of the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar pulling Keanu Reeves out of his slime pod (The Matrix), and not in a good way. This is from a guy who waxes his back.
Thoughts on full-contact manscaping?
Discussion
Sorry guys, but when you go there and it's like you're looking at the back of somone's full head of hair, it's TOO MUCH!!! I'm not saying you have to be bald (not saying that's bad either), but it needs to be maintained. On the personal side, I basically expect my guy to perform every single labor of hairlessness that he expects me to maintain (except leg shaving, I like that for some reason).
I agree with bookmana that the author probably hasn't taken the southern route on the man-highway, because had he encountered the bushy forrest he probably would have gotten a hairball.
Men, keep it short and neat.
I think maybe you've never performed oral sex on a man. :-)
I'm with you on the idea that a totally sheared region, where hair generally resides, is really weird. But women nowadays feel that they have to shave. If you want her to do it, you have to be willing to go through the pain, too.
I am in full agreement on this being one aspect of a relationship where things should be quid pro quo. I greatly appreciate when my gal is the hairless wonder down below, but its not a requirement. Likewise, I know how much she appreciates when things are kept neat.
I'll say this much, women have it easier when it comes to shaving and maintaining. Our fields are really uneven and there is much sag here and there that make navigating your trimmer of choice an extremely difficult challenge.
By all means, trim the hedges so that you aren't sporting the Zohan bulge, but I think its best to keep grass on your field, and I've known a lot of women who agree.
