The <em>Aphrodite of Knidos</em> (400 BCE) is one of the earliest Greek works depicting the female form in the nude. The goddess is sculpted mid-bath, modestly shielding her crotch. From around the same time, a sculpture of Heracles emerged, showing the Greek demigod leaning on his club having just slain a lion. Although both original sculptures have been lost, later Roman copies remain, and these sensual depictions of the female and male forms have inspired numerous subsequent works. However, while they are both lifelike in most respects, there is a startling difference: while Heracles is endowed with a generous mantle of pubic hair, Aphrodite’s groin is bare.<br><br>Pubic hair represents sexual maturity; its removal suppresses an element of female sexuality and eroticism that society found troubling. In medieval Europe, this censorship was strengthened by the influx of Christianity and the subsequent dominance of Christian themes and motifs in art; the chaste ideal of the Virgin Mary was held up as the ultimate form of womanhood.<sup>1</sup> Through this influence, the female nude in European art became something between a child and an adult — a female eunuch.<br><br>During the Renaissance, despite tentative treatment of female public hair in early works, such as van Eyck's <em>Ghent Altarpiece</em> (1432), artists continued to depict only males with pubic hair. Michelangelo’s <em>David</em> (1504) and <em>Dawn</em> (1534), provide clear examples of the disparity. It took Gustave Courbet’s controversial <em>L’Origine du Monde</em> (1866) for Europe to experience its first full-frontal celebration of female pubic hair in art. <br><br>Pubic hair in European art has never solely been a bodily feature; its inclusion and exclusion has instead reflected a cultural perspective on gender.<br>