Gail Dines on Q&A

Gail Dines was on Q&A last night and the first thing she said was just plain wrong. She repeated the tired complaint that the fad of the Brazilian wax was due to pornography.

Let me tell you one of the biggest single pieces of evidence that I know what I see form my students, is that how many women do you know in the audience who basically have full bikini Brazilian waxes? Come on, young women. Do you all know women who do? Yeah, it’s standard, isn’t it. Ten, 15 years ago this was basically unheard of and when I saw that happening in pornography ten years ago I remember saying, “You are going to see young women doing this now because the boys that they are having sex with are going to want them to do this because this is what they’re masturbating to and this is what they’re getting used to and then, of course, the women’s magazines are coming in and saying it’s good grooming, which is really basically getting you ready for the men, who then want you to have sex with them and look like a porn star.

As I pointed out in a post on depilation the removal of hair has gone in and out of fashion over centuries. The modern term Brazilian tells us that it is an extension of the bikini wax – when Brazilian women, because they wear a particular type of bikini, decided to remove all the pubic hair. It is primarily a fashion fad that has little to do with men wanting women to look like porn stars.

I’ve criticised Dines here and don’t intend to say more. Instead I want to direct you to a more detailed critique at the Red Garter Club and at Tiny Nibbles