Monday, February 18, 2008

Labiaplasty: What will they think of next?

Pardon the flip title of my post, but I'm so saddened by this that I had to be flip or else I might cry. I found this sight on labiaplasty via the NOW website, which offered a quiz called "Love Your Body" in honor of Valentine's Day. The question on labiaplasty reads "A new trend of plastic surgery called ________ is when external folds of skin surrounding the vulva are snipped to better resemble images of "ideal" women." Is there actually an image of an ideal vulva that women believe they should conform to? I don't even know what to do with that. I'm not really surprised as much as I am aghast. Are women actually scouring images of nude women to determine if their labia are small enough? Are men actually saying to their female partners, "Honey, I'd like if your labia were a little smaller. Would you consider having surgery to correct that?" I have heard of women having labiaplasty after giving birth because they felt their labia didn't look and/or feel the same after labor (which troubles me as well). But I was totally unaware that there was an ideal image of a vulva and that small labia are preferred. Isn't there a single part of the body that women (and even men) can be universally happy with? Or at least one that we don't feel we need to surgically alter?

3 comments:

supadiscomama said...

You can also get "vaginal rejuvenation" surgery (thanks, Dr. 90210). Gotta make sure having those babies didn't ruin daddy's good time!

Lilian said...

Wow... I sit here open-mouthed. This is almost unbelievable! Thanks for the links.

Lilian said...

I just showed it to my husband. He was speechless and so surprised he accidentally let his glasses fall on the floor. He's asking me where I found this :) and laughing.