Why do we have pubic hair?

This is a great conversation starter, if you’re sitting on a plane or in line at the DMV…. And it’s not only the why, it’s the where. Why there? Why have human beings been left with tufts of hair surrounding our genitals and in our armpits?

This isn’t the place for a debate about evolution versus intelligent design, but pubic hair might seem to indicate a Creator with a very frat boy sense of humor.

If you accost random people on the street and ask them why they have pubic hair, one of three things will happen:

1. They’ll call a cop.
2. They shrug and guess: “To keep my, uh, private parts warm…?”
3. They stiffen their posture, look you directly in the eye, and assert: “to protect my genitals.”

If the purpose of pubic hair was to keep our “private parts” nice and toasty, wouldn’t we have more of it and wouldn’t it be much thicker? And if we depended on hair for warmth at this point in our evolution, wouldn’t we be covered with fur?

As for protection, even so eminent an evolutionary biologist as Mel Brooks has mused upon why the genitals – given their importance and sensitivity – are not encased in a small skull. And if pubic hair actually provided protection, wouldn’t NFL players and NASCAR drivers big bouffant wigs woven out of the short-and curlies?

The most convincing hypothesis is that pubic hair – like axillary (armpit) hair – traps pheromones, those erotic scents that play such an important and fascinating role in human sexual communication. These pheromones are produced when the apocrine sweat glands release a viscous and odorless secretion on the skin surface that, when broken down by bacteria, results in a characteristic sexual scent. Pubic hair and underarm hair are a human being’s primary “scent traps”. Mammalian pheromones influence the secretion of gonadotropin – releasing hormone (GnRH), a hormone that has short- and long-term effects on neurotransmission. Studies (including various smelly T-shirt-sniffing experiments) have shown that human pheromones have a significant effect on the attractiveness of one sex to the other.

Odor is such a crucial component of mammalian mating. With all the deodorants, colognes, douches, and Brazilian waxes out there – it’s a wonder anyone can find a date anymore.

Enter your search terms Submit search form

Next: Are fat women more fertile?
Previous: Why are yawns contagious?
"Why do we have pubic hair?" was posted on Saturday, October 27th, 2007 at 9:13 am.