Laura’s Team Pick
What comes to mind when you think of spirituality? That was the invitation sent out to writers who would be contributing to freq.uenci.es, a “collective genealogy of spirituality” (you can let me know if you figure out what that means). I like the take on This American Life and I appreciate the ode to procrastination, but I love that some guy decided to write about pubic hair. If the questions in Riese’s formspring inbox are any indication, I’m not the only one confused and delighted by its existence. Why is it there? What do you do with it? Should specialized dyes really exist? Luckily Mr. Roger Friedland decided to take my questions seriously and examine the disappearance of pubic hair. Whether you’re interested in Emile Durkheim or Playboy bunnies, he’s got you covered (that’s almost a pun).
In Rome a vagina is una fica, a term deriving from the fig, a great thing, a delightful gift, a ribboned fruit. Among young Romans, the expression fica is a way to convey something extraordinarily good, akin to “cool.” They even make it into a superlative—fichissimo, meaning that something is the “cuntest” and very good indeed. Una fica is not only a sexually attractive woman, it is anything worthy of possession or experience. Imagine an American guy saying: “Wow, that is so vagina!” You can’t.
