"Or, if all your friends have merkins and you're after something that stands out from the crowd, artists Floria Tosca and Julia Peddie are holding an exhibition of merkins at Newtown's Two Step Gallery until Friday. They're all priced at $300 and you can commission something as unique as the One In The Bush (pictured) or the Scrubba Dub Dub merkin, which features yellow washing-up gloves that dangle down in all their glory."I was quite sure that I had never heard the word merkin before, so I looked it up in the OED and found this entry:
merkin, n.1
Forms: 16 mirkin, 16- merkin, 17 merking, 18 murkin, 19- merken. [Prob. orig. a variant of MALKIN n., or < a parallel pet-form of the female forename Mary (cf. the Middle English surnames Marekin, Marykin).]
1. An artificial covering of hair for the female pubic region; a pubic wig for women. Also: an artificial vagina.
1617 J. TAYLOR Three Weekes Observ. in Wks. (1630) III. 94/2 A thousand hogsheads then would haunt his firkin, And Mistris Minks recouer her lost mirkin. 1658 J. ELIOT Poems 60 Those orient teeth, and that her Flaxen hair, One of her legs, a Merkin too it's said Each night commited are unto her Maid. 1660 Mercurius Fumig. No. 7. 56 The last week was lost a Merkin in the Coven-Garden. 1714 A. SMITH Lives Highwaymen II. 151 This put a strange Whim in his Head; which was, to get the hairy circle of her Merkin... This he dry'd well, and comb'd out, and then return'd to the Cardinall, telling him, he had brought St. Peter's Beard. 1796 Grose's Classical Dict. Vulgar Tongue (ed. 3), Merkin, counterfeit hair for women's privy parts. 1886 R. F. BURTON Terminal Ess. tr. Arabian Nights' Entertainm. X. 239 For the use of men they have the ‘merkin’, a heart-shaped article of thin skin stuffed with cotton and slit with an artificial vagina. 1916 C. PORTER Finale, Act 1 (song) in R. Kimball Compl. Lyrics C. Porter (1983) 37/1 Though she were disguised in twice as many Wigs Chignons Toupées Transformations Or Early English merkins, My eagle eye would have no difficulty in detecting her as being none other than Sarah Perkins. 1962 E. WILSON Night Thoughts 203 Said Philip Sydney, buttoning his jerkin ‘Allow me, darling: you have dropped your merkin.’ 1973 T. PYNCHON Gravity's Rainbow (1981) I. 95 He wears a false cunt and merkin of sable both handcrafted in Berlin by the notorious Mme. Ophir, the mock labia and bright purple clitoris molded of..synthetic rubber. 1995 Guardian 1 Nov. II. 13/5 David Baddiel omitted to explain the function of pubic wigs, or merkins as they were known, in Charles II's debauched era.
2. slang in later use. The female genitals; = MALKIN n. 1b. Obs.
1656 R. FLETCHER tr. Martial Epigrams X. xc. 95 Why dost thou reach thy Merkin now half dust? Why dost provoke the ashes of thy lust? 1671 S. SKINNER Etymol. Linguæ Anglicanæ, Merkin, Pubes mulieris. a1687 C. COTTON Poems (1689) 189 By these the true colour one can no more know, Than by Mouse-skins above stairs the Merkin below. c1750 in H. Shields Old Dublin Songs (1988) 19 Now as the warm water was working The sea crab did struggle the more And caught her fast hold by her merking. 1874 Hotten's Slang Dict. (rev. ed.) 224 Merkin, a term usually applied to a woman's privities. Originally false hair for those parts.
3. = MALKIN n. 3b. Obs. rare.
1802 C. JAMES New Mil. Dict., Merkin, a mop to clean cannon.
Another google search quickly turned up this site.
The History of the Merkin
A pubic wig or merkin as it was earlier known made its debut in 1450. It was used as a device to cover syphilitic pustules and gonorrheal warts in the genital area. In its contemporary form, the merkin is used as a part of erotic play, and it has also crossed over the boundaries of intimate wear into some mainstream genres of dress. The chosen material the wig is made of, usually either: nylon, yak belly or human hair, is woven onto a transparent mesh. This is then applied to the pre-shaved pubic area with spirit gum; alternatively the wig can be attached to a transparent G-string.
The wearing of a pubic wig is a sensory experience. The wig can allow the wearer a certain "jouissance" as it is made of a fibre/hair that has been selected by the wearer, and it is worn on an erogenous zone. .
So, jouissance aside, an odor of yak is apparently a dead giveaway. Caveat emptor. This was all news to me, but, if the word was good enough for Thomas Pynchon, it is good enough for me. Without apologies then, here is the entire entry from Radar:
Another bush you can't trust
If you're a fan of the Brazilian wax but sometimes feel the cold, why not invest in a pubic toupee, otherwise known as a merkin?You can buy a downstairs rug online for about $40 plus postage from providers such as the American Merkin Company, which has been "handcrafting merkins for over 150 years" from "real human hair".
Or, if all your friends have merkins and you're after something that stands out from the crowd, artists Floria Tosca and Julia Peddie are holding an exhibition of merkins at Newtown's Two Step Gallery until Friday. They're all priced at $300 and you can commission something as unique as the One In The Bush (pictured) or the Scrubba Dub Dub merkin, which features yellow washing-up gloves that dangle down in all their glory.
"We used the idea of the merkin as a subvert for wearing something you like about sex on the outside," Tosca says. "This [one] is great for those who are fanatical about cleanliness when they have sex."
Just so you don't need to ask any silly questions, here are the basics: most merkins are fitted with a plug on the back to hold them in place and to give the wearer a thrill; male merkins do exist and are doughnut-shaped, with an elasticised hole in the centre; and yes, they come in a variety of shapes for every occasion.
- Emma-Kate Dobbin
Almost certainly, if she has read of this, Michelle Merkin is ruing her choice of stage name.
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