The debate over pubic hair in Japan
Given the mosaic (pixelization) in Japanese porn and the extent of censorship in mainstream movies, it can be hard to forget about what you can’t see: pubic hair.
But that is one of the things so shocking about “hair nude” full-frontal shoots, especially the older ones in the 1980s and 1990s: not only is the celebrity laid bare in all her feminine glory, you also see how hairy she is downstairs. (Case in point, the stunning, yet shaggy, Saki Takaoka.)
Japanese women are often fastidious about shaving, from their arms and legs to their armpits and faces. But by contrast, they have conventionally let their bush grow free and wild.
Past surveys have revealed how much (or how little) women deal with their pubic hair in Japan.
This has changed somewhat, with more recent fashions for paipan (fully shaved) crotches, either by shaving or waxing, or trimmed bushes.
The writer Moeka Iida has written a candid and insightful short essay about her own experiences with this issue. As a returnee, she is bicultural and has had relationships both here in Japan and abroad. In the article, which is available in English and in Japanese, she writes about the differing reactions of men to her pubic hair — which has left her bewildered, to say the least (“while encountering cultural differences has become rather normal for me, I still cannot get over how opinionated men could be regarding what a woman’s crotch should look like”).
She starts by describing her experience with a Western man.
I was seeing an American guy, and the first time I got naked in front of him, I immediately received negative feedback about my bush. “Why don’t Japanese girls shave down there?” “There’s no way I’m going to eat you out.” “Nobody wants hair in their mouth — it’s gross.” I felt so embarrassed, insecure, and sad that he found me “unhygienic” and “unattractive.” I took the razor blade right after that to achieve that smooth look he was craving. After that, it became customary for me to shave my pubic hair.
But this led to trouble with a Japanese guy.
when I started dating a Japanese guy, I was now criticized for my hairless crotch. This makes sense, not only because it is somewhat unusual to shave down there in Japan, but also because there is a sexual, if not a derogatory term for women who shave their pubic hair in Japanese: “paipan.” While an increasing number of women in Japan have started to shave recently (I suppose due to western influence and marketing efforts by hair removal companies), online forums are heated with debates among men passionately discussing if a shaved vagina is acceptable or not. According to a survey by How Collect on how men view women who shave their pubes, the most popular perception is: “She’s definitely a slut” (「絶対にヤリマン」) because the only reason you would shave is that you are expecting to get laid. This explains the reaction I got from my ex — taking care of your private areas in obvious ways contradicts Japanese ideals of femininity centered on “purity” and “innocence.”
All this has left Iida confused.
Currently, I am 25. I am far past my teenage years of feeling constant anxiety over body image and physical appearance. Overall, I am pretty comfortable with how I look. I am happy with my body shape, diet, fashion style, and makeup routines, and I barely spend time worrying about how people see me these days. But when it comes to hair down there, I still don’t have a clear idea on what I’m supposed to be doing. Should I wax, shave, trim, or leave it natural? I have tried different solutions, but have never been able to feel satisfied with any of them.
As she notes, Western tastes are not fixed: traditional depictions of supposed feminine beauty feature bushes, as any visit to an art museum will demonstrate, but the rise of porn on VHS in the 1980s started a trend for smooth and unshaved crotches.
Not conforming to (male) societal “standards” in either the West or Japan can result in body-shaming. Iida suggests that women should push back against this and feel free to do what they will with their pubes as an expression of their own identity — male opinions be damned.
Recently, not shaving pubic hair seems to have become a feminist gesture among western countries — a middle finger up against sexist men who tell you what to do with your body. Similarly, suppose you’re a girl in Japan who likes to wax or shave. In that case, you should be proud of your smooth vagina, and tell men to leave you alone if they start accusing you of looking too “promiscuous.” When I reflect on my own experiences with my exes, I wish I had pushed back on their requests or tried to convey my ambivalent feelings to seek understanding.
10 Comments
The hair in OP pic is fine, imo.
As long as it doesn’t look like a 70’s Afro, it’s fine.
I prefer bushy as long as it’s not too messy. Trim it nice and I’ll go down on it any day other than when she’s bleeding.
Hairless look too unnatural.
Also Japanese woman should care about what Japanese men thinks not western.
In real life, when engaging in cunnilingus, pubic hair is a personal preference, since it takes only two or three seconds to remove the hair from your mouth if that happens. However, for porn movies, it’s up to the director if he/she wants to re-shoot if the actress/actor has to take two to three seconds to remove a pubic hair from her/his mouth, which the AV viewer/audience may find distracting.
As long as the female can maintain a hygiene condition of their pubes it’s okay to have but not overgrown. Maybe a bit of trimming is good way not all people hate dealing with pubes but it’s only because pubes are getting in a way for some sex position. I personally prefer this is okay with pubes as long it not overgrown and trimmed nicely so the beauty of mature grown female body is accentuate and still maintain hygiene and not getting in the way in some sex position. It is a good education for the youngsters too how to maintain their genital condition both for health concern and for sex enjoyment. Sex can be fun if these new facts are listened and applied correctly. Not to offense any grown female out there but it is our view as male. We are also got tips from our female sex partner how to maintain good sex and healthy genital so when it comes to oral they will not hesitate to suck on your son head. We males are also maintaining our pubes because in facts female also demand trimmed pubes or even no pubes when it comes to sex because pubes also getting in their fun too. They said the pubes hair that tangled or fall entering their genital is annoying.
I absolutely love a woman with a nice full bush. I love that Japanese women keep it natural. But its ok to trim but keep enough fullness and darkness of the pubic hair as a pubic triangle especially intact. There is a certain allure and aesthetic erotic positive allure that the pubic hair brings.
Loooooooooooooookkkkk, when I am with a WOMAN, I want her to look like a WOMAN “down there”-NOT A LITTLE GIRL. This country had a pedophilia problem that no one talks about. When you look at porn that try VERY HARD to make th girl look as young as possible. many times seeiking to depict a minor. In the USA, I learned that the main key words that people type in is TEENS. So only 18 and 19? They are automatically not interested in minors-only 18 and 19?
I don’t want to inmagine being with a child. I want a WOMAN. The shaving started as a few groups began an obsession with young girls-women followed suit-thinking that is all men like.
@T
If you cannot view a shaved mons pubis without your thoughts turning to pædophilia, I suggest you are the latent sociopath. Post-adolescent females grow hair in their armpits, do you insist those be left unshaved as well?
Sexual suitability is signalled between heterosexual adults through unshared secondary sexual characteristics like widened hips and enlarged breasts, not through shared phenotypes like hair on the limbs, -armpits, or -pubic regions. It is natural for those hairs to be as unwanted as the occasional facial hair a female may experience post-puberty.
I am a western man who can’t stand a totally hairless vagina. Trimmed neat is nice. Asian women are ao beautiful natural though, because they have so soft silky pubic hair. It’s a huge turn on. It would be a shame for Asian women to start going like porn stars done there. If one personally prefers to shave than that is cool. It’s nice that the bare trend is the west is finally fading. More women are doing as they feel, weather that’s all natural ural, trimmed, or all shaved