[lbo-talk] Re: "doing it"

queer dewd formerly known as ( ) bitch at pulpculture.org
Thu Jan 18 08:46:53 PST 2007


At 10:18 AM 1/18/2007, Blackmail wrote:
>On 1/18/07, Jim Straub
><<mailto:rustbeltjacobin at gmail.com>rustbeltjacobin at gmail.com> wrote:
>I mean, I'm no hippie, but this whole social eruption of young ladies all
>doing the porn star-style shaving thing, strikes me as a totally annoying
>contrivance manufactured of a sudden by a media that's getting more
>over-sexualized by the year (like axe body spray--- seriously, men, are we
>suddenly all going to start wearing perfume just because some commercials
>suggest it? what the fuck?).
>
>
>A friend of mine recently did some work for AXE [or TAG] and I tried it.
>It is the DEEP WOODS OFF of sex. I'm guessing that Sex & The City reached
>a much broader audience than porn when they popularized Brazilian waxing,
>fwiw.

well, don't forget a political-economy analysis but before we go there, also don't forget the Alex Comfort's "natural" look was as contrived as anything else. http://blog.pulpculture.org/2006/02/04/shaggy-vision/ (a NYT piece on comfort, from a culturally right reviewer. Doug posted it here way back when).

Still, the rise in a lot of this stuff has to do with the rise in women's disposable income. You wouldn't see waxing come off as a viable daily regimen in 1959, I don't think. That doesn't mean that is the only reason for it. It's also a form of distinction in Bourdieu's sense: a way to distinquish oneself from the unwashed masses, etc. etc.

In LimpDick, shaving is very popular for het men. Tell me about it: coz who gets to shave the kid's body? Who gets to wipe off the nair. Moi. For young men, to go to the beach with a hairy chest, is to be like someone who wore a pair of Wranglers to a Ramones concert in 1982. There is, of course, the Remington Manscaper which I blogged about a while ago for it's hilarious comercial featuring various fruits and vegetables.

And yeah, men will be wearing perfume as a matter of course in 5 years, no doubt. Body spray is already the rage.

Que: cultural politics war over the importance of good grooming as signal of your loving, unselfishness toward your fellow human beings.

http://blog.pulpculture.org



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