Quote:
Originally Posted by batffink
Up until the end of the mid 19th century, circa 1850 to 1870, there was a thriving industry around the civilised world for the manufacture of merkins.
What in God's name are merkins? I hear you ask.
Well, a merkin was a 'wig' made of human hair specifically for ladies' pussies.
Can one of you tell me why a woman or girl would want a wig for her pussy when presumably they had natural hair there already?
If they had shaved off their hair, why then cover the bare pussy with a wig?
Think of the poor bloke giving it a playful tug during the preliminaries and finding it came away in his hand (or teeth)
The mind boggles 
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merkin
In
Hollywood film-making, merkins are used in films where they are worn by actors and actresses to prevent inadvertent exposure of the genitalia during nude or semi-nude scenes. If a merkin was 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.
[2] A merkin is also used if the actor has less
pubic hair than required for the role, as in the case of
Kate Winslet in the film
The Reader[3] or the nude dancing extras in
The Bank Job.
The
Oxford Companion to the Body dates the origin of the pubic wig to 1450. 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.
[4] The term is also applied to decorative – typically sequinned – patches commonly sold in sets with nipple tassels or "
pasties", which are enjoying new popularity as part of the costume of
new burlesque adult entertainment, and, according to NSOED, is also applied to fake
vaginas.
[5]
"A short and curly history of the merkin" in
The Guardian provided a partial history of the merkin. It highlighted "comedy terrorist"
Aaron Barschak's flashing of a merkin to onlookers.
[6] 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 bawdy scenes.
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.