December 2, 2013

"For Women, a New Look Down Under."

Having just completed a blog post about an article written by an Australian woman, I clicked on that title thinking it's one of those blog-has-a-theme-today days. But "down under" does not refer to a place on the globe. It refers to a place on the anatomy. And the "new look" is flocculent.
Even young porn stars are “bringing the ’80s back,” says Nina Hartley, a doyenne of the scene. Stoya, one of the highest-profile porn actresses of the moment, has also posed for the fashion photographer Steven Klein with grown-out pelvis and armpits. “I’ve had all sorts of pubic hair,” she says. “I’ve been completely bald, I’ve had my entire natural bush grown out, and I usually have an arrangement somewhere in between.”... [T]here’s something refreshingly retro, delightfully expressive and confidently grown-up in getting back to nature. And Courbet’s “L’Origine du Monde”? It now resides at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, where — judging by the sale of postcards — it is one of the most popular paintings of all.
The article — in the NYT — does not provide a link to the Courbet painting, perhaps because it's not fit to print "NSFW" in front of links. So let me point you toward this high-class piece of artwork: here.  The title means — I know it's obvious — "The Origin of the World."

33 comments:

Oso Negro said...

Yet another squirrel post?

Known Unknown said...

Peter, call your office!

Known Unknown said...

Sentence case would remove the ambiguity from the article title. But the NYT loves them their Title Case!

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

Now that you mention it, EMD, that is almost an NYT hed signature.

rehajm said...

If you host guests, create an environment that makes them feel welcome. A tidy first impression will make guests look forward to their visit.

Axellent said...

Hi Ann, really good timing on your post because the "No shave November" for men is over and now the "No shave december" for women can begin. :-)

xoxo
Axel

rehajm said...

Clean the front porch. It's the first thing your guests will see, and it sets the tone for the duration of your guest's stay.

rehajm said...

It is better to always maintain a clean and tidy environment should unexpected guests stop by.

Ann Althouse said...

If the message of cleanliness is so powerfully desirable and so accurately conveyed by baldness, why don't you shave your head?

Wince said...

The key to photographing a woman with a full bush is to have her smile.

Otherwise she looks like an angry feminist.

MadisonMan said...

If the message of cleanliness is so powerfully desirable and so accurately conveyed by baldness, why don't you shave your head?

A bald head is a cold head.

Hair on the head also has some SPF value.

There are many reasons against head-shaving.

madAsHell said...

why don't you shave your head?

...but I do!!

rhhardin said...

A new look always works.

Cavell thinks the current reproductive arrangement is a human fate, but any other arrangement you can think of is ridiculous.

No doubt online somewhere...

here. Well worth an amusing read.

rehajm said...

If the message of cleanliness is so powerfully desirable and so accurately conveyed by baldness, why don't you shave your head?

What message of cleanliness does a grown man who hasn't had a haircut since puberty send?

southcentralpa said...

I slways thought heart-shaped was kind of cool ...

Ann Althouse said...

"A new look always works."

With feminine beauty, at some point in any trend, less attractive, more boring and conventional women are following it, which creates the opportunity for style leaders to do something new, which will (often/usually) look good because of the great looks of the women who are doing it. If that lures the next group of women to do the same, then it's a trend and more and more women feel compelled to follow it too. At some point, the trend becomes the characteristic of the masses of followers and an opportunity for style leaders to discover alternatives.

This cycle occurs so often that it's sometimes too easy to see that a style is being introduced for the purpose of being able to reject it later. For example, Vogue could present mid-knee skirts as the length that looks so right today. Lots of cool models show us why that statement is supposed to seem true. The following year there's a proclamation of what we could have perceived at the time: These mid-knee skirts look dowdy and old "now."

I used to read magazines as a job, back in the mid-70s, before I went to law school, in my artist days, and I believe that 30+ years later, I really know what I am talking about.

Mark said...

Last summer we spent a week with family on the Carolina coast - multiple people noted that married men or men above the late 20's had body hair and that men below about 25 had all shaven/waxed their chest and body hair.

It was an interesting dividing line, and seemed to have almost no outliers during the week we were there. The number of 25-ish men without a single hair except their head was striking.

Seems like the demographic lined up here and the same relative trend towards no hair.

I really don't care the outcome, just hope that the slow growth of water/surf shirts will continue and discussions about generational body hair trends won't need to come up.

Diana said...

" which will (often/usually) look good because of the great looks of the women who are doing it."

Sarah Jessica Parker was/is great looking only due to the power of suggestion.

I mention her because it was SATC that is responsible for this whole crazy trend. They didn't start it, but no SATC, no Brazilian waxing.

I wonder whether the skin of the labia majora turn to leather after 10 years of waxing. Has anyone studied this?

Xmas said...

If the message of cleanliness is so powerfully desirable and so accurately conveyed by baldness, why don't you shave your head?

Baldness doesn't infer cleanliness. Besides, too much chance of ingrown hairs, which...blech.

I do appreciate a nice short nap and clean edges. And who doesn't love rubbing a fresh buzz cut.

MadisonMan said...

I used to read magazines as a job

I would love a job like that.

Or reading the internet. That would be even better.

William said...

I don't know art, but I......,There was a time when pubic hair styles were a closely guarded secret, and no one had any real expectations or sense of style in that area.....Less is probably better, but lush would probably work better for some women. If I was Penelope Cruz's hairstylist, I would go with a fuller look. Ellen Page should go minimal, especially for the next Polanski film. I'm undecided about Jennifer Lawrence. I have to think about it more.

Scott said...

Vulvic flocculency lacks succulence.

I had to look up "flocculent". In zoology it means "Having a soft, waxy, and woollike covering, as certain insects."

jacksonjay said...

Holy Shit! I CAN NOT unsee that!

What Would Lena Say?

Scott M said...

First a figurative use of "literally" being included in the Oxford dictionary, and now figures are trending toward precluded use of razors, ie, hairy.

Scott M said...

I don't necessarily have an issue with this, but one thing that will happen...must happen...is that bikini and underwear bottoms will have to get bigger by necessity.

A flocculent thatch? Acceptable.

A itsy-bitsy-tiny-winy looking like a door holding back a grizzly? Unacceptable.

Joe said...

Not a chance in hell that this is true in general. This is only about catering to a specific fetish. Some guys like really hairy girls just like some girls like really hairy guys. They are the minority, thank God.

Scott M said...

Not a chance in hell that this is true in general. This is only about catering to a specific fetish. Some guys like really hairy girls just like some girls like really hairy guys. They are the minority, thank God.

I read the exact same thing on a blog back in 1975, except it was "some guys like women to look like babies."

Joe said...

Scott, when full armpit hair comes back in fashion for women, get back to me.

mccullough said...

The anecdote about Marilyn Monroe bleaching her pubes was priceless.

Roughcoat said...

Articles addressing this topic seem to be on the rise.

If there's pun in that sentence, I dare you to find it.

Titus said...

I don't want to see any unruly pubes projecting from a swim suit.

Some pruning is required.

tits.

Anonymous said...

Nothing has changed. Spend ten minutes looking at the NSFW selfies on Reddit and I guarantee you won't see a single hair follicle. God damn it.

Peter

Anonymous said...

"If the message of cleanliness is so powerfully desirable and so accurately conveyed by baldness, why don't you shave your head?"

I've never licked that part of a girls body nor had a girl lick that part of mine.