Shaving Your Pubes Will Not Cure Cervical Cancer

In recent years we’ve been subjected to several campaigns that aim to make breast cancer (you know, the deadly disease) more “sexy.” Now the idiotic effort to make cancers that affect women more titillating has reached a new low, literally: Women in Canada are being urged to shave their pubic hair into a creative shape to raise money for cervical cancer.

According to the Globe and Mail, the month-long campaign, known a “Julyna,” was inspired by the event Movember, which involved men growing mustaches and asking friends and family to pledge money toward prostate cancer research. For Julyna, women are asked to solicit donations from loved ones for waxing or shaving a design into their pubes.

The campaign, which is backed by the Canadian Cancer Society, is slightly better than the Facebook bra color campaign because there’s actually money involved. This is undermined by the fact that public hair (usually) isn’t visible in the same way a mustache is. Most women probably don’t want to chat about their feminine grooming habits with their dad or grandma, so the pool of possible supporters is limited. Or, as gynecologic oncologist Joan Murphy puts it, “Shaving your pubes to any different shape, I don’t think that’s going to bring discussion around the water cooler.”

The campaign is aimed at young women, but doctors say this isn’t the group that awareness efforts should target. Older women, minorities, and those with lower incomes are least likely to be screened for cervical cancer, but Julyna isn’t expected to be a hit among those groups. Plus, while sexing-up other cancers is weird and objectifying, cervical cancer is really the last disease you want to associate with raunchiness. Critics point out that people already believe promiscuity causes cervical cancer, since HPV is a main risk factor. Julyna certainly won’t help destigmatize the disease.

So ladies, if you want to have a heart or star shape peeking out of your crotch, go for it. However, there are definitely better ways to raise awareness, and money, for the cause. Men managed to find a more visible patch of hair that would still get people talking about prostate cancer. We may not be able to grow a luscious mustache, but surely we too can think of something to do with hair that grows above the neck.