All I can say is thank goodness I have a boy, and won't have this particular problem.

"Remember, honey, don't let anyone touch you Down There and immediately tell me or Daddy if anyone tries to. Unless it's the nice lady who wants to rip your non-existent hair out with wax. Then it's OK."

My daughter had hair at the age of 7, and it was noticable through swimsuit/underwear at 8. This was rather mortifying to her, especially at swimsuit times. I would have been far more inclined to have her get a wax then, than I am now when she is 13.

She is not in to the idea of having her hair ripped out by the roots, however, or of a stranger seeing her "there," so it's a non-issue. She has a trimmer. I am interested to meet the 8 year-olds who are neither resistant to pain nor painfully modest.

It's child abuse.

I feel the same way about piercing babies' ears, circumcision, female genital mutilation, and hitting.

This is sexualized and it's a horror and I don't understand why it isn't illegal.

I don't know what Salon.com's policy is on colourful language and I apologize to sensitive ears but.... What the fuck, fucking fuck is wrong with these fucking fuckers!?!?!?! This sort of thing is completely beyond my comprehension. Who are these people? Does anyone reading this know them? Do they live in consequence free bubbles of consumption? What do they do with their lives? What sort of upbringing did these parents have? The post also has a wonderful example of the vacuum of producer responsibility in capitalism. The woman offering this (service? torture?) takes zero responsibility. I'm at a total and complete loss.

I don't understand it, and hardly believe the stories are true.

Shades of JonBennet Ramsey, really.

It is creepy, disgusting, outrageous, and, as the article points out, problematic in that it makes a Dr's work harder.

And for what purpose, please? Are child beauty queen judges really looking there too?

I really wish the child protection folks would start busting stage moms.

Some spas have a very sensible age-limit beyond which kids are considered too young for "treatments."

Sounds to me as if this should be one of the areas.

Which is why, if I ever find out that a spa I go to offers this sort of child abuse masquerading as vanity or consumerism, it will be the last time I ever go to that spa.

If a kid that age MUST accompany Mummy to the spa, she's too young for the saunas and hot tubs and wraps. I haven't a problem with rainbow manicures and pedicures as a treat or an incentive to stop nailbiting. I could see getting a haircut or -- as the kid reaches the older tweens or early teens -- a makeup lesson. Those are all painless and temporary, if expensive.

But if I had my druthers, I'd rather see her reading a book or riding a bike than sitting with the other trophies in a bathrobe in a place where the very air is expensive.

What are these people THINKING of?

... to have so much extra cash you can spend a bunch regularly waxing an already hairless area of your little girl's body.

While an earlier poster raised a valid point about some girls getting pubic hair in their tweens, I doubt these clients are in that situation. If my daughters develop pubic hair before they are shaving, I'll get them board shorts or skort bathing suits.

“My daughter had hair at the age of 7, and it was noticeable through swimsuit/underwear at 8.”

You know what the awser to that is? A more modest swim suit. I realize, with clothing manufactures thinking it’s cool to dress little kids like adults, that can be hard. But when I was a kid I wore cut offs and a bikini top at the beach, had no modesty issues and I was the coolest little kid at the beach. Certainly home-made solutions like that are still an option too, no? Even for a 13 year old it’s probably a good bet.

I also want to put out there that if I knew a salon was giving wax jobs to children I’d boycott the place. Certainly there are more people who are disgusted by this behavior then are making appointments for their little girls, right? Maybe it’s time we started shooting off some letters to these places?

You know, this culture just creeps me out more and more. It may sound cruel - but one can always hope that a few years of severe economic crisis will shake things up to the degree that all the yummy mummies and their pretty offspring out there will be forced to deal with life's real priorities - food, shelter, family, community... This society has gotten far too frivolous while the rest of the world starves. It would be nice to see the tables turned just a little bit.

At 13, my mom and aunt would hold me down on the bed so they could wax my eyebrows (me of the unibrow, but never cared.) It hurt like hell! I can't imagine these girls are asking for the bikini wax, so I am a bit inclined to call this somewhat abusive (there are worst things, but come on people get a clue!)

Makes me wonder why my business, which offered tattoo-removal for 10-year-olds, failed. Maybe I was just ahead of the times.

I feel the same way about piercing babies' ears, circumcision, female genital mutilation, and hitting.

Interesting you should bring up circumcision.. Over at Democratic Underground (ostensibly a liberal hangout) just the slightest mention of circumcision is enough to touch off a major flamewar.

Come to think of it I may have seen a flamewar or two here over circumcision. It's a "touchy" subject.

Describe circumcision as "mutilation" and you will be savagely attacked for using "loaded language".

I'm against any body modification without informed consent on general principles.. It feels a bit odd to be attacked for that position by people who consider themselves "liberals".