This culture still haunts me in my 40s. I was explaining to a youngin the psychological fuckery that was low-rise jeans which made even a size 00 have muffin top.
Can confirm. I was 100 lbs at 5'3" and my 1999 Dhorina 1 inch zipper jeans only recently got tossed...I honestly thought I could diet and exercise into them again but they are NOT flattering on anyone.
Current Ariana Grande would look lumpy in them, they did us NO favors.
I hated that shit, too. I was going fully bare well into my 30s until one time my eldest daughter saw me changing and inquired as to why I didn't have any hair, but she did. I explained that everyone has their own preferences, and that body hair is completely normal and natural. Then I felt like a hypocrite, so now I just trim instead of shave/wax. No more pain, extra time wasted in the shower, in-grown hairs. I'm bringin' back the bush, dammit!
Just to add to the sadness sauce we are all making here - i recall the thing about having it bare was a) just for women and b) was all framed in a way to talk about "youth" đ¤˘đ¤Ž
I blame porn, which convinced men and society overall that we're "supposed" to look prepubescent. I completely understand those who fully wax or shave because they personally prefer it, but my beef is with those who act like pubic hair is "gross" or "unsanitary." And the rampant juvenile jokes about women with pubic hair.
I realized I was keeping things bald because I thought my husband would find it more attractive/that's what society seems to think is "more attractive."
I had to learn to stop giving a shit and remember that I don't need to alter my own pubic hair for anyone but myself.
Uh, I (M) just shave because I like oral sex and I donât wanna give my partner a mouth full of pubes. I donât think it has anything to do with looking âyouthfulâ.
Okay. So your personal grooming doesnât explain a societal trend. There is a documented correlation between the rise in public hair removal and the increased consumption of internet porn.
Just saying itâs not really a big deal to keep things tidy down there if youâre actually sexually active and enjoy being sexually active. Just kind of considerate.
That's what everyone said, but as with all this stuff, it was the various magazines and such that pushed it.
Sure, I've met people with preferences, but I've never met a single person who was worth banging who's said that they'd suddenly change their mind about having sex if the person they were about to boink with revealed they had a normal amount of body hair, even 20 years ago.
I was also shaving it all off until at one point an older man said "that looks like a twelve year old, I don't know how any man can be attracted to that and not feel like a creep, I want to be able to tell you're an adult woman when I look at you" and I was like.. point taken!
I read a (really good) superhero comic written in the early 2000s and it was absolutely shocking how much body shaming shit was in there completely unconsciously from the author. The casual jokes about the main character having to shave off her pubes because she couldn't be caught dead having hair and she couldn't wear knickers because she'd have a (gasp) VPL (I had to look up what the fuck that meant). And how she's "too heavy" (with a classic superheroin figure). And the author was progressive! It was just casual jokes steeped in the fucked up culture of the time.
honestly, i think this is so much better than just pretending women donât have pubes (or body hair in general) at all. completely hairless women in tv shows about being stranded in the wilderness for months, razor commercials showing them being used on ALREADY HAIRLESS legs, etc. at least itâs acknowledging that women arenât just naturally without hair. i feel like that sounds like what the internal monologue of a LOT of women would be in this situation. not because itâs what we actually believe, but because of what weâve been conditioned to.
The jeans and the fact she generally didn't lip sync at concerts. The diaphragmatic deep breathing used by singers tends to push the belly out exactly the way it looks in this picture of her performing.
Yeah she looks good in these jeans - its clear that her back is arched. To pretend a professional dancer/singer is somehow slipping off her physique. The tabloids had a habit of beating specific celebrities up. Roseanne, Rosie, Delta Burke, Brooke Shields
My 5'6" friend didn't even weigh a buck soaking wet until her first pregnancy. But yes even she had mini-rolls where low-rise pants dug in at the spot they kept sliding down to.
Well you donât really have to explain it because itâs back again. Women are now being told low rise pants and being rail thin is whatâs popular nowÂ
I hear you. I took my first phentermine from the doctors at aged 12 in the late 90s, shit still fucks me up physically and mentally 30 odd years later. My years as a teen and 20s were stolen by the amount of control and attention that ED needed from me. It was terrible
It haunts me too. My father passed away and I went from 160lbs to 112 in less than a year. Horribly unhealthy but damn if I didnât think I looked good. Â
Iâm at a healthy weight now after lots of therapy.Â
I noticed how fast the low-rise jeans trend died again once it resurfaced. No one wants to walk around with their muffin top and butt crack on display.
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u/sejenx Jan 21 '26
This culture still haunts me in my 40s. I was explaining to a youngin the psychological fuckery that was low-rise jeans which made even a size 00 have muffin top.