Trimming is nice, but for me, there has to be hair or I'm not interested.  Absolute deal breaker.

Until recently I'd never had a terribly strong preference, but nowadays I love to see way more bush than usual. I'm not interested in unkempt pubes, mind you, but I have grown tired of the Brazilian. But when it comes to going down, no hair down there *is* the best, I think.

My husband is a hairy dude and I think he's hot. But, he's Jewish & Italian, so there's really no way around that fuzz. I'm a redhead, so my body hair is super fine and light coloured. Waxing is painful as fuck, shaving leads to bumps/stubble and chemical depilatories are frightening.

Ladies & gents- the beard trimmer for your business is where it's at.  

Whether I'm getting laid or not, I always keep myself waxed or shaved. I feel sexier that way! It's fun to wear cute see-through panties, and hell, going solo is just better when  I'm smooth.  And of course, with a partner, I can actually relax while he's going down on me...not to mention the extra sensitive sensations that I get with easier access to my clit during intercourse.

I've found that I have a very visceral, negative reaction to fellas requesting that I style my pubic hair to their aesthetic preferences.  It doesn't *sound* like a big deal, but I think it plays into the whole, ingrained, lots-of-girls-still-grow-up-thinking-their-genitals-are-ugly-or-shameful thing.  Only two guys have asked me to trim more than I already do, and in both cases their request struck me as being way, way out of line, and wound up being a dealbreaker for *me*.

i like a nice trimmed v shape.  i'm just not into the hairless 10 year old girl thing.  creepy!  at least the brazilian leaves you with a semblance of adult-vagina.

I go bare.  I find it more difficult to maintain "neatly trimmed" and I like how being bare feels.  (Anyone who think this makes a woman look like a child has obviously never actually compared women's and girls' genitalia.  They're just as different as men's and boys' are.  And no, this isn't child porn; I'm talking about diaper changing and kid's baths, for example.)

Anyway, I wish more MEN would trim their nether regions!  Same reasoning -- much more pleasant to engage in oral sex without a mouthful of hair.

The only time I'd mind a guy being bothered by women's underarm or leg hair is if he's sporting hairy ears or nose or unruly brows himself!

Asking women to shave off most of their hair down there is sexist and chauvinist and offensive.  The fact that you're so willing to cop to being chauvinist is part of the problem, I think.  Like society has decided that it's okay to keep being sexist about this issue as long as you're willing to admit that you're being as ass?  I trim and make it a point to keep things neat, and I appreciate reciprocation on that front, but I have never asked a guy with a hairy back/ass to get rid of that hair.  It may not wildly turn me on, but it's part of their body and it's there and if I really like them, then I start to like their hairiness too.  

Bottom line in my opinion?  Get over it, it's immature and selfish to ask women to get rid of all or the majority of their hair down there.

more than anything, i just like to change it up to keep myself interested. sometimes that means full-ish bush, sometimes mostly shaved, though i have kind of moved away from shaving it all off anymore, though i used to do that too. i just like the way it looks better with a little hair. right now i think my favorite way to keep it is shaved around the lips, with a little hair on the mons--that way i get the best of both worlds, bush that doesn't get in the way of someone going down on me.

The only guy who ever requested hair removal from me struck me as being totally immature and he was terrible in bed to boot. He didn't even LIKE going down on women. Total dealbreaker for me. The request for hairlessness seemed to be part and parcel of his sexual immaturity. And he was 30. I'm not impressed with Brian Fairbanks attitude on this one.

Men who prefer no hair are probably afraid of women at best and may have pedophilia tendencies at worst.  I cold be kinder and say it's just immaturity.

Brian, you're not fussy at all as long as she's still breathing. Right?

I used to keep it completely bare for various male partners, but I always felt chafed and sore.  Then I started dating a man who genuinely didn't care either way, and I realized that there are way more interesting things I could be doing with my time instead of obsessing over the smoothness of my labia.  It's very freeing.

I hate how divisive something as relatively inconsequential as pubic hair can be.

It's really all about what makes you feel comfortable, and part of that is selecting partners that are down with someone who likes the way they are and isn't interested in changing just to please someone else.

That being said, I don't think it's absolutely awful to request a special trim/shave/wax job of your partner. To demand, to require it all the time for you to be sexually attracted to them? Lame as fuck. I am always down with doing something different to excite someone I'm with, but not at the cost of my sense of self-worth.

Also, if a partner wants me to get a Brazillian? They're paying for it. Seriously. That shit is expensive and it hurts. I'll take the pain if you spend the money.

I waxed once and never again.  The pain from the waxing itself was manageable, but my skin actually bubbled up so my mound looked (and felt to the touch) like one huge blister.  I had to ice it.  

That said, I used to date a boy who shaved his chest, which I thought was totally weird at first and didn't like it because it seemed artificial, but I realized that it made HIM feel more comfortable and sexy, which made everything better for both of us.  Because of that, if someone made a request about my hair, I'd try to be open minded, but explain why I elect to trim, not wax or shave.  Plus, maybe that's how past partners did it and that's what s/he is used to.  I don't think it's necessarily a huge sexist thing every time.

I used to shave it all off. But, I was in high school and dating this (in retrospect) totally foul and much older man who was into it.

My hair is blond and fine, so I usually just trim it a little and it's cool.

Also, while I don't know if I'd go as far as to say that men who prefer it hairless have a pedophilia complex or are even chauvinistic, I do believe there exists a double standard. Most of the men I've been with that have expressed a desire for less hair (both on me and the other girls they've been with)have themselves been completely unkempt down there.

As a gynecologist who specialises in vulvar diseases, I have to come down on the side of minimal trimming. We have hairy places for a reason, and genital hair is very protective. I also do a pediatric clinic and was shocked lately to see girls as young as 11 shaving their vulvas. All this emphasises the ubiquity of porn and early sexualization of our girls. Frankly disturbing...

Wow. I'm surprised at the vehemence on this issue. I've probably had my head in a hole for years, but I've never had a guy ask me to do anything and hadn't much thought about it myself.

I will trim 'down there' on occasion, when I feel like it's getting messy and tangled, but that's it. I don't shave my legs, I don't shave my armpits (clearly Scanner Brian and I will never date). I just rather spend my time and money on other things. It never occurred to me that people actually CARE so much about freakin' hair. So weird. I think I'll head back to my hole. :)

I think part of the problem people encounter is that you have to be in a pretty serious relationship before you get to any point of being able to request your partner to style their pubic hair to your preference without sounding like a jerk.  

As someone who at different points in her life has been on both sides of the shaving fence, (I used to be firmly in the camp of "I would never shave, it promotes porn, pedophilia, it's sick and twisted how dare you ask me?")

I have since changed my views. I mean I'm still against the hypersexualization of young girls and overexposure of porn in society.  But to those people who believe shaving is a horrible thing, I would say, don't knock it until you've tried woman on top sex where BOTH people have just shaved, with a little extra lube.

"Wow. I'm surprised at the vehemence on this issue."

No kidding! For a supposedly sex-positive website, people are sure aggressive, judgmental, and flat-out ignorant when other people admit to being turned on by something they find inappropriate.

anything between wild and trimmed is fine with me. waxed/shaved clean just seems... creepy.

Counter question for the ladies:

If your man is hairy, would you ask him to shave his back, chest? or just decide it was gross and not pursue? or think it was hot?

me: educated, professional feminist.  highly in favour of total denuding of the vag.

and me: educated, anti-all-ists, in favor of pussy practicality. full bloom when it's freezing, full bare when it's hot. and when there's sex.

Me: Professional and overeducated male. I have let it grow, trimmed and full blown shaved for months at a time. My partner prefers that I just trim because of the chaffing so I do it for her, but I like the fully shaved. It's my secret and I feel somehow more naked. She trims as well.