labial reshaping?

[merchimerch]

I've know about the rise in cosmetic vaginal surgery for a while, and every time I see an article on it I feel sad. Here's the most recent:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/features/article4211836.ece

I find this an interesting trend from the society that got SO up in arms about vaginal cutting/excision in non-Western countries (which is, admittedly, a very different thing and serves a very different purpose). But really, why are we so concerned about knives cutting others' vaginas, but we're all to happy to cut into our own for the sake of beauty?

I'm disturbed by this trend.

I'm disturbed by the need for some women to trim their labia minora to porn-star petiteness. I wish there was a way for us to appreciate vaginal diversity as much as I wish our culture was more tolerant of diversity (instead of just giving it *lip service*).

I'm disturbed that waxing is now considered standard and that so many women either sculpt their pubic hair into odd shapes or remove it completely. The option currently seems to be between post-modern pubic hair coiffures or the pre-adolescent none-at-all approach.

Neither are acceptable to me, and now I'm afraid that vaginal cosmetic surgery is going to become some kind of accepted norm as our current treatment of pubic hair has.

It scares me that this surgery is tauted as empowering for women to enjoy better sex, since they will no longer feel ashamed of the appearance of their loose canals and flabby lips. This doesn't fall far from the "your parts are dirty" rhetoric of decades past, with the subtle difference being that now a woman with "offensive" labia can purchase herself acceptable parts.

I like the originality of my girl parts -- I don't want them to look like porn parts. How can we nudge the culture a bit more toward appreciation of women and their sexual parts, rather than homogenization and control?

Comments

[prizmdonna.livejournal.com]

I find labial reshaping to be a disturbing trend, as well. I don't know if this is accurate, but it seems to me that the whole thing went something like this: No one looks at their vaginas, and has no idea what other vaginas look like, and just assumes their vagina was normal. Then it evolved to people looking at and appreciating their vaginas. There were books showing beautiful labia looks of all shapes and sizes. Then people started to look at their vaginas, and wonder if theirs was normal or pretty. Once women were looking at their vaginas, comparisons and criticisms quickly followed. Bizarre.

Anyway, one minor point. I don't know why people have this idea that porn promotes tiny labias. Due to the nature of my former job, I've seen more porn than most people will see their entire lives, and let me tell you, there is NO "standard" look for labias in porn. None. They range just like in normal life. There are some fetish titles that pick girls with specific looks (big labia lips, for example), but that's true of any body part (big boob porn, tiny tit porn, long legs, round butt, super skinny, curvy girls, etc.). While there does seem to be some weird societal leaning towards "petite" labia these days, don't put that on porn, because it's misplaced.

Well, that's my $0.02, anyway. :-)

- donna

[merchimerch.livejournal.com]

That's really interesting to hear. I don't claim to be a porn officianado, and you've certainly got the insider's perspective, but all the porn I've seen in the last 5 years or so has featured shaven or partially shaven pubic hair (possibly waxed) and women with fairly petite labia (both minora and majora).

I am encouraged that there is big labia fetish porn, though kinda sad that the variation seems to place it into the fetish category.


I don't think porn necessarily started the obsession with petiteness for women, but it has certainly promulgated it, IMO.

The patriarchy has been obsessed with making women disappear for centuries; I see this as just the latest disturbing strategy.

[merchimerch.livejournal.com]

and I think porn has become a more visible subset of the media lately (which is not necessarily a bad thing). I think the mainstreaming of "raunch culture" is producing some interesting effects.

The shaving and surgery issues both connect to the media images of ideal women, and porn does play a part in that image--a larger part, it seems, than it has in the past.