'Nads

NOTE: Adult conversation today. You have been warned!

We read a weird little article the other day. (Read it for yourself, here.) It pertained to the growing popularity of a cosmetic procedure designed specifically for men:  Tighten The Tackle.  In the words of the article, it includes "using lasers to remove hair, erase wrinkles and correct discoloration on the scrotum."

Indeed.

Now, let's evaluate.  Certainly, we can comprehend that a fellow might do a bit of manscaping in order to tidy his fur-garden and keep overgrowth in check.  Some men may do so because they know a particular type of topiary appeals to their partners.  That's reasonable and alluring. We are a little mystified, though, at the idea of removing all of the foliage surrounding the twig and berries; that seems a tad excessive.  Body hair is there for reasons beyond aesthetics - to prevent chafing and to distribute pheromones, to name a few purposes.  Nevertheless, to each his own with regard to the density of the shrubbery.

But erasing wrinkles, ameliorating blotches? Seriously, there are gentlemen out there who are concerned with the number of creases upon their cojones, who are perturbed by the color and clarity of their family jewels?   And given the distance from, and positioning of, their eyeballs in relation to their groins, how are they even making such a detailed assessment of the bait and tackle? Moreover: WHY?   It boggles the mind.

Moreover, men are not alone in this obsession with the size, color, texture, and overall presentation of their intimate regions.  There are women who -- despite having no underlying medical issues -- undergo labiaplasty in order to ensure that their external genitalia visually conform to some perceived norm.  Herself, who required repair work to her undercarriage in the delivery room after the births of Offspring, crosses her legs in horror at the thought of undergoing elective surgery upon her nether regions. She cannot understand why any woman would do so; yet she knows they do.

We are reaching a peculiar point in our culture where individuals are so focused upon the tiniest of physical discrepancies from some imagined ideal, that they are willing to endure lasers and scalpels aimed at their most delicate body parts in order to reach some extreme goal of "beauty." This preoccupation goes hand-in-hand with the societal obsession with sex. Sex is viewed less and less as a communion between two people, and more and more as a sport, a display, a "see what I look like and what I can do" activity. The focal point is each individual's appearance and performance, not the mutual enterprise.  It is vanity and narcissism; it is not union.

How can sex be relaxed or fun, when the parties obsess about their most microscopic physical variations?  How can sex be bonding, when the parties have plucked, tweaked, depilated, bleached, and plasticized their physical characteristics to such a degree that their natural states are masked or removed?  Without any risk of vulnerability, the self and the soul remain hidden. Is that the objective?

That's a very lonely goal.

It would be much more rewarding and meaningful if people could leave behind their preoccupations and worries, and enter their bedrooms with a spirit of adventure and some plain, naked honesty.  Let lovers enjoy one another without a thought to any ideal.  Let them say:  here we are, just how we are; and let us just be us.  Furriness, wrinkles, and all.