History
In Middle Eastern societies, removal of the female body hair has been considered proper hygiene, necessitated by local customs, for many centuries. In Islam, this is known as an act of Fitrah. Evidence of pubic hair removal in ancient India dates back to 4000 to 3000 BC. According to ethnologist F. Fawcett, writing in 1901, he had observed the removal of body hair, including pubic hair about the vulva, as a custom of women from the Hindu Nair caste.
In Western societies, removal of the female body hair has traditionally been considered appropriate when it has been visible. Visible pubic hair continues to be widely disapproved of culturally and considered to be embarrassing, and so is at times removed. With the reduction in the size of swimsuits, especially since the coming into fashion and popularity of the bikini after 1945, the practice of bikini waxing has also come into vogue.
Changes in lingerie styles have also encouraged the removal of pubic hair throughout the years. The nude crotch - i.e., the total removal of pubic hair, such as in a full Brazilian or the Sphinx wax - is considered by many to be erotic and glamourous.
Read more about this topic: Bikini Waxing
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“A man acquainted with history may, in some respect, be said to have lived from the beginning of the world, and to have been making continual additions to his stock of knowledge in every century.”
—David Hume (1711–1776)
“In all history no class has been enfranchised without some selfish motive underlying. If to-day we could prove to Republicans or Democrats that every woman would vote for their party, we should be enfranchised.”
—Carrie Chapman Catt (1859–1947)
“A man will not need to study history to find out what is best for his own culture.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)