Brazilian women wear ittty bitty bikinis. It may seem odd, but it's true: pubic hair sticking out of a bikini will invite more sexual scrutiny than a bikini area that contains only bikini bottoms and smooth, hairless skin.

I go all the way, and have since I bought my first Brazilian bikini. I don't always wear the bikni, but I kept waxing - I like the way it looks. It has nothing to do with looking like a little girl - ick! That never occcurred to me. My thoughts were entirely adult and sexual - hey, look at me! I can see all of me, just like I can see all of my boyfriend (who keeps it all nicely trimmed). Plus I don't have much hair so it doesn't really hurt. And it grows back so slowly I only have to go once every 7 or 8 weeks. So it's not a big sacrifice for me. If it was terribly painful, I might not be so noncommittal.

I'm pretty sure that men who shave and wax their heads (a la Michael Jordan) aren't doing so because they think of themselves as having big baby heads. They like the way it looks - esp. if their head is nicely shaped and their hair was no great shakes. Well, same with my nether regions - it's all nicely shaped and why not expose it ? Plus it not only looks good but feels good (just as, I am sure, the cue ball brigade likes the feel of the air, or their woman's caressing hand, on bald heads)

I find it really interesting that no one suggests women might be shaving because of their intense interest in recreational sex. The first person I ever heard of doing it was when my ex husband told me about a girlfriend who did it. This was back in the early 80s. Clearly she wasn't influenced by porn (back then the porn stars had hair), nor was she being pressuerd by a guy. She did it because she liked sex. Why is it just so hard to believe that women are masters of their domain? Sheesh.

Whether you're doing it to avoid random bushiness ruining the line of a bikini, for vanity reasons or sexual reasons, it's all good. I wish people who don't relate to any of these reasons would stop trotting out the tired old tropes of infantilism and pornification (and by the way the reason the porn stars do it is so the extremem close up of genitalia is, well, an extreme close up of genitalia - not hair. It has nothing to do with pedophilia). If you don't like it shaved then don't shave but stop projecting your distaste into my psyche, please.

Every month single glossy rap - Shape, Fitness and Women's Health - retreads the same articles about healthy balanced diets. None of them promote diets anymore, choosing instead to emphasize a moderate approach to eating that features the new food pyramid.

MSN Health and Fitness online, Oprah, Dr. Phil, Bill Phillips "Body for Life", Bob Greene's "Make the Connection, Jililan Michaels, even Tony frickin' Robbins are all famous for the sensible information they put out about diet and exercise.

The information is impossible to avoid. The problem isn't lack of information - the problem is that people are lazy. Although it took months or even years of poor eating and exercise habits to gain the extra weight, people want a quick easy fix. If someone invented a pill that guaranteed you'd reach an ideal BMI with no weight gain for the rest of your life but you'd lose 10 years off you life, I bet it would sell really really well. We are a nation of instant gratification; poor impulse control, unrelatistic expectations and a sense of entitlement to enjoy every pleasure available - including the conflicting ones of indulging in rich, fattening o junk food without the hassle of exercise while looking nice in a perennially new wardrobe - is behind the nation's fat ass, not a lack of easily accessible, good information.

then what's the value of respect?

Politeness/civility shouldn't be confused with respect. Everyone deserves the former; the latter is earned.

As for rankism in corporate culture - well, duh, of course if exists - it is the very spinal column of the corporate body. A company operates on the premise that the people in the highest positions are the most capable among the staff, and people in the lower positions do their bidding as part of their job description.