I find it odd, but it is a generational thing. I’m sure parents found it strange when women started doing landing strips back in the 80’s. This too shall pass.
Is anyone really surprised? They deliberately create controversy so that more people talk about it and more people buy it.
From Last Week Tonight with John Oliver:
http://youtu.be/l8QNDRbjong
I think the cover photo is in poor taste. I think the idea of this for Sports Illustrated is also just so odd (though it sells!). This particular photo borders on one being more appropriate for Playboy and the like. Not only is she nearly naked, but the suggestiveness of the pose and pulling down her bottom almost all the way is part of why it doesn’t seem appropriate for a sports magazine.
Seriously, believe it or not, some women just prefer parts of their bodies to be hairless (or hairy!). It doesn’t mean they hate it or that they’re making a statement.
I have no real reaction to the cover but I wanted to chime in with that.
I don’t think we give women enough credit. Sometimes women want to be hairless, sometimes they want to be bald, sometimes they want to dye their hair (many different parts) pink- all because they just WANT to- for them- not because they’re trying to make a statement or please their partners. Not all women are doing every little thing for their partners/sex. Jeeze.
Romani, you need to post that in the Cindy C. thread - there is an interesting discussion of makeup happening there. 
I think that waxing an under 12 years of age would be akin to child abuse. To think that spa owners do it even when they know it’s wrong is reprehensible.
I give. What are landing strips?
Google is going to be your friend here, jym. Google the phrase with the word waxing and you’ll find out more than you ever wanted to.
I learn WAY more from CC posts than google!!
Oh heavens. One article was titled “Tending to your lady garden”.
My younger running friends use something called “Magic Powder” which is designed for black men to remove hair (bald heads, etc). It is sort of like Nair in that it removes hair without shaving. You scrape the hair off. It’s an unusual thing to find under some people’s bathroom sinks, but it seems to be a great product!
How do people not know about this? It became a big thing in the 90’s.
The cover model is Derek Jeter’s girlfriend. *
2015, and we still categorize women by their relationship to men.
I made the comment, ek4. I DO NOT categorize women by their relationship to men. It was merely an interesting tidbit I thought I’d share.
It’s largely, though not exclusively, a generational thing, imo. When I work surgeries, I am the one putting in the Foley catheter, and in my experience, the younger the patient, the less hair. 
Breasts that clearly do not occur in nature. Bathing suit bottoms pulled down invitingly. Ladies who are in their 50’s, do you recall the whole movement to keep women from being viewed as sex objects? I don’t know … maybe women now are doing all of this because they want to or because it makes them feel sexy. I find it sad.
And as for the lady garden … I am glad to know that I am not alone in thinking that it’s quite okay not to feel the need to weed.
LOL kelsmom!! Sprayed the monitor!!
@romanigypsyeyes - it’s unfortunately not just an issue of personal preference for women. A lot of women are being pressured by men which is something I certainly don’t remember from the 70’s or 80’s. From the NYTimes article quoted at the beginning:
She’s hot. That’s all I’ve got.
Ick! I think that’s extremely presumptuous to expect a female to shave her pubic hair to please a male–guess if that’s all I encounter in my next life, I will be single. Unbelievalbe that it is said in a first or third date–wow! I would think you are well rid of such shallow males. Wow! Fortunately H has never complained.