merkin

A merkin used at Burning Man

Merkin (first use 1617)^[1] is a pubic wig. Merkins were originally worn by prostitutes after shaving their genitalia, and are now used as decorative items, erotic devices, or in films, by both men and women.

History

The Oxford Companion to the Body dates the origin of the pubic wig to the 1450s. Women would shave their pubic hair and wear a merkin to combat pubic lice, and prostitutes would wear them to cover up signs of disease, such as syphilis.^[2]

"A Short and Curly History of the Merkin" in The Guardian provided a partial history of the merkin.^[3] It has also been suggested that when male actors played female parts onstage, they would cover their genitals with a merkin so they could expose themselves as women in nude scenes.^[4]

Contemporary use

In Hollywood film making, merkins are worn by actors and actresses to prevent inadvertent exposure of the genitalia during nude or semi-nude scenes. If a merkin were not worn, it would be necessary to restrict the shot to exclude the genital area; with the merkin in place, brief flashes of the crotch can be used if necessary. The presence of the merkin protects the actor from inadvertently performing 'full-frontal' nudity – some contracts specifically require that nipples and genitals be covered in some way – which can help ensure that the film achieves a less restrictive MPAA rating.^[5]

A merkin may also be used if the actor has less pubic hair than required, such as the nude dancing extras in The Bank Job, Amy Landecker in A Serious Man (for a nude sunbathing scene, as the actress' bikini wax was not common for the period (1967) when the film is set),^[6][7] and female slaves in Spartacus: Blood and Sand. Lucy Lawless was fitted for a merkin for Spartacus, but did not actually use it.^[8] In an interview for Allure, Kate Winslet related how she refused to wear a merkin in The Reader.^[9][7]

At the São Paulo Fashion Week in 2010, design firm Neon dressed a nude model in transparent plastic. According to the designer, the model wore a pubic wig to make her appear more natural.^[10]

Other usage of the term

• In Stanley Kubrick's 1964 anti-war black comedy Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, the President of the United States (played by Peter Sellers) is named Merkin Muffley.

• The term can be used in an obscure sense to refer to the vulva.^[11]

• In Europe, the term has also been in common usage as a jocular term for an American since the 1960s, as it sounds like the half-swallowed pronunciation of "American" by some Americans, particularly Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and George W. Bush. The OED reports that the term has become common internet slang for Americans or American English.^[12]

• More recently the removable sheepskin headband found on the inside of safety hardhats are referred to as merkins by many in the mining industry of Western Australia.^{[citation needed]}

• The popular saltwater fly fishing fly, used primarily in targeting bonefish and permit, Del Brown's Merkin^[13] is also named after the artificial hair piece. The Merkin fly pattern represents a crab, referencing the merkin's historical use for pubic lice (also colloquially known as crabs). Further, Del's Merkin is tied with a disc of fuzzy yarn, imitating the crab's shell but also reminiscent of the fly's namesake.^[14]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: merkins

Look up merkin in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Straight Dope article on merkins
• Alt-usage-english.org Michael B. Quinion and Ruth Bygrave, "Merkin"