Pubes. They are so annoying, especially if you’re a girl. Every girl has faced the question of how to manage them, and it would be hard to find one who didn’t think the whole subject irritating. None I’ve met even contemplate leaving them au natural. The pubic region, especially the female one, is subject to fashions just like every other aspect of femininity. The difficult part for struggling feminists like myself, is figuring out how to handle your pubic hair in such a way that does not leave you spending too much time, money, and stress just to please a guy. Since waxing and shaving are both, in my experience, unpleasant, I often wonder why I and so many other girls subject ourselves to them. Is there a way to live up to the standards of beauty and still have respect for your personal comfort and wellbeing?

There are two reasons girls worry about their pubic hair: bathing suits and sexy time. I’ve heard some say it’s not about either of those things, that they just like it better when they’re neat, and feel cleaner, yada yada, but I think they’re just secretly hoping that a bathing suit or sexual pursuit is in their future. The bathing suit issue can be remedied simply by investing in some booty-shorts. They are cute and available in stores, and cover enough thigh to make swimming without shaving stress-free: problem solved. Sex is more complicated because, well, it leaves nothing to the imagination.

Let’s say I’m a girl in college and I might be interested in sexy time (I know, it’s a stretch). First I have to find out what “people,” and by people I mean boys, want. I have found that this can actually serve as an excellent icebreaker when talking to people from other cultures. In Buenos Aires for example, beauty salons are as prevalent as pre-recession Starbucks, and waxing costs less than a grande skim frappuccino. So people wax a lot. Middle to upper class women, at least, seem to wax more of their hair, and on more parts of the body, than here. A French boy once told me that girls (and boys) should shave quite a bit down there because it’s cleaner. In fact it’s not, but that’s what he thinks. As for the trend in the U.S., the goal seems to be as little hair as possible, but anything’s OK as long as it’s generally “neat.”

As the hypothetical college girl, the two most popular options for pursuing the ideal are shaving and waxing. Shaving has never made any sense to me. Assuming that smoothness is the desired effect, at no point in the shaving cycle is that possible. First the hair has to be long enough to shave, then you get razor bumps for a little while, and by the time those go away there’s stubble that eventually gets long enough to shave. Did I miss the part where it’s smooth? Why does anyone do this? And I didn’t even consider the occasional ever-attractive ingrown hair!

I know why people shave. Because waxing — the other alternative — is expensive, painful, and time-consuming. In this lovely scenario, you pay $30 - $75 to have hot wax or alternative sticky substances poured all over your vagina and then ripped off, taking your hair with it. The plus side is that some smoothness actually occurs, which is ostensibly why you’re subjecting yourself to this rigmarole in the first place. If you’re fortunate enough not to get rashes, infections, or ingrown hairs, you might be hairless for three to five days. So far, my choices are either ineffective, injuring or both. Why am I doing this again? Oh yeah – boys and stuff.

Boys, on the other hand, seem pretty unconcerned about their own pubic regions. One reason for this is that underwear and bathing suits aren’t cut in a way that makes it an issue for them. Women’s clothes on the other hand, are cut in a shape that makes hair stick out unless we cut it off. Boys also tend to feel less pressure to give up time, money, and comfort for the sake of the opposite sex, while lots of girls do it routinely by wearing make-up, uncomfortable clothes like high heels and tight pants, or using hair straighteners, curling irons, and blow-dryers. Pubic hair is one more area where a lot of girls don’t think twice about sacrificing our own comfort for sex appeal.

I am not arguing that everyone swear off grooming our private parts, but I do think we should consider why we do it and who we do it for. The female body is so closely scrutinized that expectations for it reach every last detail. Even though vaginas are not shown in mainstream media, ideals — if foggy ones — materialize. It’s sad to think that someone would feel gross or unsexy because her razor broke or she couldn’t make it to the spa. And it’s unfair, at best, that there is a much stronger cultural requirement for women on this than men. The moral of the story? Trim.

Jane P. Riccobono is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences. She can be reached at jpr42@cornell.edu. Crazy Jane appears alternate Wednesdays.