• Australian researcher Maggie Hamilton interviewed thousands of parents and kids for her book What's Happening To Our Girls?. She found that the hypersexualization of kids has lead many youngsters to feel like they have to be, well, hypersexual. • But there is some good news out of Australia today: Australians are pretty pro-choice, says a new study. Only 4% of Australians oppose abortion outright, and 57% think abortions should be readily available for those who want them. •  According to a recent paper, cosmetic eyelid surgery actually improves quality of life. They asked patients who had undergone the procedure to fill out a retrospective questionnaire, the results of which indicated that cosmetic surgery may in fact improve the lives of those unhappy with their looks. •  A Canadian dominatrix and two other sex workers have asked Ontario's Superior Court of Justice to change Canada's prostitution laws, on the grounds that they are unconstitutional. Terri-Jean Bedford, 49, told the Toronto Star that she plans to bring her riding crop to court. "You never know when you might run across a naughty boy, or a naughty judge," she said. •  A study from the University of Copenhagen found that women who join a soccer league are more likely to stick to their workouts than those who run. The soccer plays also reaped more health benefits from their exercise, and tended to enjoy working out more. •  Sitting up straight may actually help improve your self esteem. Researchers found that people who are told to sit up at their desks are more likely to believe positive things about themselves than those who slump over. •  A pregnant aerobics instructor who was wounded when George Sodini fired at least 52 shots into her fitness club has sued the estate of the gunman, saying that the injuries she received that day put her in danger of having a miscarriage. •  Egyptian lawmakers have called for a ban on the Artificial Virginity Hymen Kit. The kit is manufactured in China, but they advertise that it ships to all countries in the Middle East. Conservative Egyptians fear that women will begin using them to trick their new husbands, and that it may make it easier for women to "give in to temptation." Some have even called for the exile of any woman caught ordering the kit. •  Burmese pro-democracy leader Suu Kyi was escorted into "surprise talks" with a junta leader on Saturday. Optimists think this may be the start of a new era of cooperation between Suu Kyi and the current government. • A woman from Florida was the victim of a raccoon "gang attack" at her Lakeland house. A group of five raccoons pounced on the woman after she tried to shoo them away. Fortunately, she is in recovery and will be fine. •  The Supreme Court has decided to refuse the request of the Connecticut Diocese and keep court documents on the sexual abuse committed by clergy members unsealed. • South Africa's African National Congress says that since Caster Semenya was raised as a girl, she should "continue to run as a woman." • Harriet the Spy will become a live-action TV movie on the Disney Channel. • Return to the Hundred Acre Wood, an authorized sequel to A.A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh books, came out today. The book features a new character, a pearl-wearing otter, and the author says, "I made Eeyore a little more proactive so he wasn't always the victim." • Scientists have discovered a damaged gene that is linked to half of all breast cancers. Damaged NRG1s have been found in 50% of all breast cancer patients, and it has also been linked to ovarian and bladder cancers. Although everyone is born with an intact NRG1, many cancer patients have faulty NRG1s, which were damaged at some point during their lives, but doctors have yet to pinpoint how. • 

Image via Yahoo TV

Unfortunately, there are no pube-based statistics to back up this shocking discovery, so I'm calling bullshit on the entire thing and saying that not that many women were ripping off all their pubes in the first place.

Writer Lisa Germinsky uses totally anecdotal evidence from her group of friends to prove that women are letting their pubes run wild like the grasses of the Serengeti plain:

As my friend Jen put it, "My landing strip has turned into more of a Dorito." It should probably come as no surprise that the biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression would inspire a little fuzz. Conspicuous spending is out, after all. And maintaining a stripper-worthy wax job ain't cheap. "It's back to shaving in the shower for me," says Catlin, a brand manager for a Los Angeles fashion label. "It's a fortune to keep a trim bush," bemoans Meredith, a healthcare marketing executive.

I'll take her anecdotal evidence and raise her my own anecdotal evidence! Maybe the porn world saw the rise of the retrobush, and desperate trend story writers used that, and one Sex and the City episode, as evidence that more and more women were going bare down there. But of the women I know, a couple have tried Brazilian waxes one time, but the vast majority have close to their original plumage.

Germinsky quotes Bill Maher, who says, "Bring back a little pubic hair. Not a lot. I'm not talking about reviving that 1973 look that says I'm liberated ... and I'm smuggling a hedgehog. I just want a friendly, fuzzy calling card that tells me I'm not going to get arrested." But I'm pretty sure the majority of dudes of certain generations always felt this way, and that the editorial whining about men wanting their girlfriends to look like 12-year-olds down below was an exaggeration. Much like the Brazilian wax itself, I find this trend story to be semi-painful and totally unsatisfying.

Bush Is Back! [Salon]

Earlier: To Strip Or Not To Strip?

Bikini Wax [YouTube]
Related: Brazilian Wax Basics By Sweet 16