New Year, New Vajazzle
A flashback to the silly, pointless trend
Hi Readers! I hope you are having a wonderful New Year. It feels good to be back!
Thank you so, so much for reading the ADULT SEX ED newsletter! If you’re enjoying it, please share with friends, so they can be hilariously informed.
Over the holidays, I had a bit of time to reflect. This newsletter grew out of a comedy show that I started in 2018. Over the years, the core of what the show is has stayed the same, but I’ve evolved and I needed to write a new mission. Here it is:
Adult Sex Ed comically challenges why we think what we think about sex.
Each week, I take a fun deep dive into a topic that I’ve been researching. From the history of the products we buy, language we use, and conventional wisdoms that have been shared for generations, all the way to current events. We might examine the impact of celebrity sex tapes; learn that Ancient Judaism recognized eight genders; or take a slippery deep dive through the history of lube. I also tell stories about hilariously bad education and things we all had to learn about the hard way. You can read the whole thing here.
In case you’re new, I’m Dani Faith Leonard , a comedy writer, film producer, and performer. Ready to get a little smarter? Okay, let’s go!
Every New Year, many women-centric publications and businesses push products that women need in order to feel “fresh” and “new.” Today, I received an offer from a hair salon, “New Year, New Hair.” I also got offers for Botox, numerous self-help programs, and laser hair removal. The Goop guide recommends their branded lube and new vibrators this year. Often, these products have some sort of historical or cultural significance, or are based in a larger trend. Perhaps way back in 2010, your “new year, new you” guide would have come with crystals (and not just the kind that Gwyneth Paltrow sticks up her pussy).
Most trends have a historical significance, especially when it comes to sex. Pubic hair trends over time usually correlated with public health issues. I spoke about this last year when we explored The History of the Merkin: At first, merkins were aspirational. Cleopatra was supposedly known for her long, luxurious pubic hair, which she proudly wore brushed and oiled. At the time, poor people were forced to shave due to a fear of pubic lice, especially sex workers. People wore merkins to cover up their bits and look rich.
Makes sense, right? But sometimes, a trend comes around that’s impractical, silly, kind of fun, and absolutely pointless. Enter vajazzling, an early aughts trend that no one really needed, but explains a lot about the 2000s.
According to most sources, vajazzling is a portmanteau of vagina and bedazzling, although some sources cite vajayjay as being the first word in the combination. There is also an alternate spelling of “vagazzling,” but that’s completely batshit. Vajazzling involves the application of crystal ornaments onto the waxed or shaved pubic area of a woman. When the trend peaked around 2010, people were vajazzling all kind of things: simple stars, bridal decorations, christmas trees, or instructions for people who needed it, like “enter here” or “I’m wet.” Sometimes, women would even vajazzle the word “virgin,” which I guess is a fun find when you’re already in someone’s pants.
At the time, there was an online battle over who created vajazzling, with several spas from NYC to London claiming to have started the genital jewel trend. The truth is, they didn’t “invent” it. Genital piercings were already around for a long time, mentioned in the Kama Sutra over 2,000 years ago. But vajazzling is something different all together; decoration without commitment.
The thing that no one disputes is that the trend was made popular by 90’s and 2000’s sweetheart Jennifer Love Hewitt. She devoted a chapter on her book, The Day I Shot Cupid, to vajazzling and in a 2010 appearance on Lopez Tonight, she encouraged the female members of the audience "to vajazzle their vajayjays." Suddenly, the trend took off in the media and journalists got their vajazzle on so they could write about it. Hundreds of people were visiting NYC spa Completely Bare per week, spending over $75 on a service that lasts less than a week and causes skin irritation.
What does it say about the time period? Like many people, I learned about the Brazilian wax from Sex and the City. By the time I went to college at the University of Miami, no one had pubes. The 2000s were also the tackiest time for fashion—people took their bedazzlers to cell phone cases, purses, and much more, so I guess it made sense that the trend would extend to…labia?
Vajazzling is impractical, of course. It can cause cuts during intercourse, no one wants sharp crystals accidentally falling into their panties, and the skin irritation is no joke. It’s for show only, which is perhaps the best explanation of why this would be the era of the vajazzle. As I wrote about last year, the early 2000s were peak virginity culture, where pop stars like Britney Spears were highly sexualized, while very publicly claiming to be a virgin. Women were encouraged to be the most outwardly sexualized versions of themselves, but remaining unavailable. It was an era of women dressing for men, and not themselves. (Read that post from 2023 here.)
For the record, the male version is called “pejazzling” and it never really took off. The vajazzling trend has almost entire disappeared probably due to shifting cultural and pubic trends. Fewer people are opting for Brazilians and even Vogue is all for embracing the full bush (confusing for those of us who laser’d it all off). Self care is the trend these days and I imagine there could be an episode in the Sex and the City sequel that ends with, “And just like that, I vajazzled my heart instead.” Other than a strange corner of Etsy, vajazzling has faded away and that’s fine with me.
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Have you watched “Naked Attraction “ on Max? It’s a full frontal dating game from England. Interesting to see the variety of grooming techniques currently in vogue.