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Ciara writes:

This article [from The Guardian] about the ‘return’ of female pubic hair has got  a huge amount of comments, (though not a great article, methinks) mostly about Cameron Diaz’s ‘bush’ and how that feminist lot shouldn’t get their knickers in a twist, that there are a lot more worthy causes. However I commented, as it coincided with a subject that I have been casually researching over the last year or so

Yes there are women who remove all pubic hair as a personal preference, However do not fool yourself into thinking that a culture pressurising women into pubic hair removal does not exist. This became clear to me when I attended a GP last summer with swollen glands, the first question he asked me was had I waxed, shaved or removed pubic hair recently? I thought what a really strange question. He then explained to me that it is “a very common occurrence to develop lymphatic and glandular infections caused by bacteria through the removal of pubic hair”, and that he was” merely factoring this into the process of eliminating”.

I asked him had he often seen this and he replied “that the number of young women presenting with general lymphatic infections from the practice of pubic hair removal (particularly in holiday times and summer months) was becoming an “astounding and worrying occurrence”. Afterwards I asked other GP.s I knew, had they also experienced this rise in lymphatic infections among young women due to the removal of pubic hair? and all of them said it had become a very common problem, due to the practice of the removal and of having no pubic hair, as the hair is there to protect against bacteria etc..

I asked other women what it was that persuaded them to remove all of their pubic hair?” Most of the answers indicated, that like many fads or fashions the pressure seemed to develop from other women and the fashion industry, Others said it was a matter of “heat and grooming”, “to look good in bikinis” and that any evidence of pubic hair (a natural feature) “was deemed to be dirty and disgusting”, but no-one was able to tell me “why pubic hair was now seen as dirty and disgusting?”.

So I decided to ask men what they thought. I asked about 50 individually men between the ages of 18-30, what their preference was? Every single one of the men on every single occasion told me that they “preferred a women to have no pubic hair”. I then asked them to draw a quick sketch as to what they thought a vagina should look like.

On each and every single occasion ‘bar none! the individual men drew a vagina that looked to resemble the vagina of a pre-pubescent girl not that of a woman who had progressed through puberty. Above is one of the sketches all of which (48 or so) were practically identical. When I asked them to draw a sketch of a penis all the images ‘bar none had pubic hair. (It is worth noting that I also asked a considerable number of men over the age of 35 and many replied that they “liked a woman to have pubic hair”.) 

 

Related: It’s the year of the bush – time to rediscover all female body hair (Emer O’Toole, Guardian)

Sketch via Ciara

Meanwhile…

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[Mespil Road, Dublin last Summer and, above, Dublin’s clamping hotspots 2013]

Figures obtained by RTÉ News show that Dublin City Council took in nearly €30m from parking, with €4.3 million collected from clamping 56,000 vehicles.

BUT…

Dublin City Council Parking Enforcement Officer Eithne Gibbons said parking management is not just about raising revenue.”The management of parking is very important in a busy urban centre like Dublin. People drive into the city expecting to be able to get near to where they want to conduct their business and as part of the parking regime we try to ensure that there are spaces when they arrive in to the City,” she said.

Sounds fair.

FIGHT!

City councils raise €46m through parking in 2013 (RTE)

Pics Daniel Rooney/Graph: RTE

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A Fine Gael councillor, who was a strong supporter of Enda Kenny during the leadership heave, has avoided conviction for drink-driving for a second time.

In last week’s case before Longford District Court Councillor Frank Kilbride [above], a former showband star, was charged with failing to provide a breath sample at Longford Garda Station on March 24 last year. The case was dismissed because he was not given options to provide blood or urine samples.

In 2007, Mr Kilbride was charged with careless driving and failing to provide a breath or urine sample after a traffic accident near Granard. Gardaí said they had had to take evasive action in their patrol car to avoid a collision with a car approaching on the wrong side of the road. They said they followed it and moments later found the car the councillor was driving was lying on its roof.

Councillor Kilbride who resigned from Fine Gael last July over the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill  and subsequently rejoined the party, hosts his own weekly country music show on Sky 191 and has inspired a tribute song to his driving escapades.

Good times.

The Fine Gael councillor (and showband legend) who gets off over a second drink-driving incident (Jennifer Bray,Aisling Kiernan/Irish Daily Mail) [not available online]

Any excuse for the unborn babbies.


Longford Councillor resigns from Fine Gael (Shannonside Radio, July 2013)

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[Top: the audience at the premiere of Frank at Sundance and , above, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Lenny Abrahamson and Scoot McNairy meet the press]

‘Frank’, the much-anticipated film from Lenny Abrahamson had its premiere at Sundance on Friday night.

How did that go?

“A faceless Michael Fassbender stars in this weird and wonderful musical comedy from director Lenny Abrahamson.” “…amid so much arch weirdness, “Frank” proves remarkably accessible. Behind its inscrutable exterior beams a welcoming smile.” – Variety

“Pleasingly and perhaps surprisingly, given the extremities of the material, the cast plays crazy with cool, measured aplomb.” “Even those unmoved by the film’s admittedly oblique emotional subtext, meanwhile, should appreciate it as a virtuoso showcase for Fassbender, exuding eerie frontman magnetism even with his face invisible for the bulk of the film.” – Hitfix

“The bizarrely brilliant “Frank” demonstrates that quirkiness need not be a four-letter word in the language of movies. It certainly won’t be for everyone, but this terrific and sublime experience, and strikingly original film, is mandatory watching for the adventurous viewer.” – Indiewire

“Frank”s biggest achievement is how it effortlessly slides from silliness to sympathy. Come for Fassbender wearing a goofy head and all of the extremely funny jokes, stay for the profound reflection on art, commerce, madness and companionship. This is, I feel, a very meaningful film, but it also has a good beat. 9/10” – Screencrush

“Indeed, the movie’s weightiest issue is the final tonal shift into more directly messaged, darkly dramatic waters. Thankfully, even if the shift immediately jars, Frank’s cast – both with and without giant head – rise to the challenge. Guaranteed to polarise, Frank is destined to go down in curio history.” – TotalFilm

Pic: Film4Insider

Previously: Howya Head

Totally Frank

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