The Encyclopedia Of Smut: The Body Hair Appendix

Oh, body hair, you curious and controversial collection of keratin, no one can agree on what to do with you! You've been ignored, praised, trimmed, styled, shaped, pushed back, ripped out, dyed, and blasted with lasers--and not just for the pleasure of the grower, but as a response to traditions, societal norms, and fetishes. What plight! Today we salute you and examine how every follicle fits (or doesn't) in the adult industry.

Eras Of Hair

You can find depictions of pubic hair in ancient Egyptian art, Renaissance statues, and seventeenth century shunga, but for our purposes, we're going to start with the 1960s. In America around this time, it was generally thought that nude pictures--such as those found in Playboy--were not pornographic because they didn't show anything in the groin region. Then Bob Guccione and his crew crossed the Atlantic, bringing Penthouse and its liberal European attitude towards pubes; a few wisps of the curly stuff had magazines flying off the shelf, and Playboy had to respond by dipping their cameras lower as well. These were The Pubic Wars. Throughout the '70s, every time you opened a skin rag, you were likely to come face to face with a big ol' bush.

Since nobody making hardcore smut was worried about having their stuff labeled "pornographic," pubes were a regular thing in porn and the Pubic Wars had no overt effect on their presentation. However, as porn evolved through the '80s and early '90s, close-ups of genitals became more and more common, paralleling the plunge that the magazines made. Even though pubes were generally considered attractive, they prevented the camera from seeing flesh on flesh, and so trimming the hedges (or shaving them bald) became more common. This is not to say that nobody in porn ever cut their pubes before the '80s--in fact, in 1972, Linda Lovelace drew some scrutiny from Nora Ephron for having a bald pussy in "Deep Throat"--but this is, we believe, one of the major causes of the popularity of pubic maintenance in porn.

Also consider the connection between body hair and sexual maturity. Hair starts to grow in strange places during puberty and continues to grow throughout adulthood, and so its removal may lend--among other things--an air of youthfulness.

And, lest we forget, the changing (really, shrinking) shape of swimwear has had a big impact on hair maintenance as well!

[Above: look how much Mr. Pete loves rubbing his junk in Kimberly Kane's "Bush"]

It All Grows Back

There have been countless trend pieces over the last dozen years or more that all ask "What happened to pubes?" and they usually blame porn for flooding the country with images of bald snatches, making guys think it's standard practice to shave, and making women shave in order to fit male expectations. Look, it's not universally true, but it's true for many, and like any idea of normality taken from smut, it's a bummer. On the bright and bushy side, people think pubic hair is making a comeback!

It's hard to say what's encouraged the return of pubes to mainstream smut. It could simply be a response of unique hairiness against the uniformity of shaved pussies; it could also be symbolic of an increasingly sex and smut conscious feminism in America. Some suppose that pubes, like hemlines, are subject to the whims of the economy, and that our recent depression has people cutting back on Brazilian waxing. As far as adult entertainment is concerned, the industry is too big and splintered to have one fashion dominate the scene. Consumers with pubephilia find what they want, those who like the glabrous look can do their thing, and those of us who don't care may enjoy the entire beautiful rainbow of crotches the world has to offer.

[Above: Kagney Linn Karter likes having her business totally bare and we respect her choice. Clip via "Self Service"]

Much Ado About Ball Shaving

What about dudes? What are they supposed to do with their pubes? While there is generally less (or zero) societal pressure on men to remove any secondary hair ever, many male pornstars manicure their pubes and/or shave their scrotums bare. The reasons behind this are equivalent to those that female pornstars have--it promotes visibility, looks cleaner, reduces the chance of someone choking on a hair during oral sex, etc.--yet when articles about "manscaping" come out, porn is seldom named as a cause of the trend. Is this because women don't pressure their boyfriends to look like James Deen, or do men not pay attention to dick characteristics when they watch smut?

Rumor has it that the major factor behind the recent manscaping explosion isn't post-metrosexuality or equality between the sexes, it's that losing the hair down there makes your penis look larger. We're always trying to impress each other.

[Above: how do you feel about the stunt penis here being completely pubeless? Clip via "I Eat White Meat." All videos courtesy of AEBN Porn Pay Per View Network and Video On Demand (theater.aebn.net)]

[At top: picture via New Nude City (nudes.newnudecity.com)]