Labiaplasty... to make spin class more "comfortable"???

[NormaNameChange]

www.independent.co.uk/life-style/plastic-surgery-labiaplasty-soulcycle-spin-exercise-women-a8178751.html

So apparently...Labiaplasty ties into grooming trends where women want everything to be clean and neat and streamlined

Now, I'm all for clean and neat but...AIBU to pass on the labiaplasty?

"They do make gel-padded cycling shorts for exactly this reason"

But they don't help for all the other times that the Women feels uncomfortable.

Sometimes it is about returning to how you once were before a virginal birth, or several.

"My teeth weren't unhealthy. They just didn't match the cosmetic 'ideal' we have of perfectly straight white teeth until I got braces. How is a cosmetic only labiaplasty different? "

Teeth are a public-facing part of your body. Completely different.

Limon- both men and women have their teeth straightened. Augmenting tits and fanny is almost always about reaching some kind of sexual ideal. (Apart from breast reduction etc).

Teeth are a public-facing part of your body. Completely different.

To be fair if you're fairly sexually promiscuous your vulva can be a pretty public-facing part of your body too! I don't see it as different, when people often choose to purposefully smile without their teeth showing or cover their mouth with their hand, and labia can be very visible in swimming costumes and so forth.

I'm absolutely against the porn-fuelled ideals of what a woman's body should look like. I've had a VB and it's not exactly beautiful down there but as DH is the only one seeing it I really don't care.

Except I have considered this procedure. (TMI cringe description coming up.......)
My inner labia are enormous. you can see the 'bump' through my bikini bottoms. They get squashed when I'm cycling and that hurts until it goes numb (I don't cycle far thankfully!) If I wipe (sorry, I did warn about TMI!) front to back they are long enough to stretch to the back. If I use applicator tampons they get trapped in the applicator 'mechanism'. So far I'm too afraid of loss of sensitivity in that region to pursue it but if I could wave a wand and get them 'small and neat' without the risks of surgery I'd do it tomorrow. And I really don't care how my vag (vulva) looks...

Not read the Indy article, but am a bit at the idea of it being for the sake of spinning (presumably not the kind you make wool with ). Spinning is just—highly pointless— glorified cycling: as someone who used to be a keen cyclist, knew lots of cyclists, was on cycling forums and read up on ‘female specific ‘ cycling stuff - I have never heard of big labia being an issue. (Yes, of course you can get sore genitals from cycling - but as a pp has mentioned, this is what padded shorts - and correct saddle fit and anatomical saddles- are for.)

"Today 21:05 Lethaldrizzle

Limon- both men and women have their teeth straightened. Augmenting tits and fanny is almost always about reaching some kind of sexual ideal. (Apart from breast reduction etc)."

I don't see it as an issue. Men are more likely than women to get hair plugs and hair transplants. And I'm pretty sure a lot of men fall for trying procedures to make their penises larger (that probably don't work), yes that's not the same as a surgical procedure with instantly visible results but men face a lot of pressure around this area of their body we don't have to deal with.

I'd say it's the closest comparison there is between women feeling the desire to have a labiaplasty, men trying to enlarge their penises.

Before a virginal birth? Best typo ever (unless of course you are the Virgin Mary, in which case, as you were...)

Pubes do protect against chafing, and shaving them can put you at higher risk of skin complaints and infected ingrowing hairs - so much so that the women in the British cycling team were told to stop shaving/waxing for precisely this reason in the run up to the last Olympics.

There are some women who do find that their labia get rubbed so severely by everyday clothing that they opt for labiaplasty for these reasons. But let's not kid ourselves. The majority of these operations are because of some sort of weird pornified beauty standard, and no, it's not at all like getting your teeth done. We're talking lopping off perfectly functional bits of flesh in your genital region, with a risk of possible loss of sensation in your genitals as a result, all in pursuit of looking like a fucking porn star.

Crack on if you think that's feminist. I personally think it's fucking stupid.

But the report says that the rise is because the Women are cyclists etc and are experiencing discomfort. I don't see an issue in wanting to fix that.

Surely the answer should lie in better saddle design for women rather than surgery though.

I have had labiaplasty. I’m not particularly vain and I haven’t been brainwashed into wanting a Barbie vulva or anything. I just had very long labia - I couldn’t wear a lot of underwear, definitely couldn’t cycle, couldn’t wear bikini bottoms. Until you’ve had your labia eaten by a bit of lace in your knickers as you’re walking along minding your own business you haven’t known discomfort!

I had mine done on the nhs. I had a lot of discomfort as a teenager to the point my dm noticed. Gp examines me, told me I had very extended labia and referred me to a specialist. It’s not always porn stars after a ‘designer vagina’. Sometimes it’s young women who would like to be able to function comfortably.

herethereandeverywhere

Thanks for sharing that 💐 There are legit medical reasons for labiaplasties. Not that cosmetic isn't a good enough reason!

I too have large inner labia, I felt really awkward and ashamed about it until, ironically, porn made me feel much better. When talking about porn and its impact on body images people often focus on the stereotypical 'porn star' with huge pert breasts, firm stomach, small waist, small labia, no pubic hair. But when I watched actual amateur stuff that's available everywhere it gave me such an appreciation of the fact that people with any body type can be desirable and have great sex, and seeing many normal bodies did make me realise I'm perfectly normal, which was a boost.

It's not something we really discuss with friends is it, yet this one time somehow drinking my friends and I got onto it and out came the tales of larger inner labia than outer, different sized labia, almost invisible inner labia etc etc. And it was refreshing realising that you have this image everyone barring you is walking around with this 'cookie cutter cunt' 😂 When in reality that's probably the exception to the rule.

I haven't had a procedure as I'm not too fussed these days and feel confident with my body (and it's never put anyone off I'm aware of) but if I had the money spare and fancied a vulva I could wave around proudly to all and sundry I don't see anything problematic with going for it at all.

Now I was all for pouring scorn on this but .....having viewed a few of the pics on Google , some women do have big ugly 'lady lips' imho and if they want to change them then why not ? So long as they pay for it themselves?

But excessive inner labia CAN cause cleanliness issues. It can get in the way when you urinate causing it to spray or dribble over your vulva/bum cheeks, certainly doesn't leave you feeling clean. It can make it difficult or painful to wipe yourself after the toilet, when you're on a period etc. There can be quite a lot to need to wipe around to get yourself dry/properly cleaned up, and it can affect the flow direction of your period if you wear pads, causing leakage.

Discomfort is a big issue, being able to feel it all the time, catching it when you wipe yourself, irritation from the extra wiping you need to do after the loo/period etc.

And lets be honest, it doesn't look very nice either, it's not as visually pleasing to have large droopy inner labia as it is to have neat, short inner labia.

If i could afford it and it wouldn't cause chaos with an existing medical condition i would absolutely have it done.

We're talking lopping off perfectly functional bits of flesh in your genital region, with a risk of possible loss of sensation in your genitals as a result

It's odd how we accept that as fine when done to baby boys who can't consent but problematic when adult women choose it eh.

I'm not saying having a labiaplasty is a feminist act. Being able to make the decision to without judgment and condescension is though. Our bodies our choice. Even/especially if someone finds it not to their taste.

HolyGoats yes, the underwear pinching thing! I have to do an indiscrete shifting hitching moving thing when I've been sat in a meeting and my labia get stuck/pinched.

Can I ask if you experienced desensitisation or complications?

The reality is that very few women who do opt for that sort of surgery do so because they are in pain.
Even if the article is talking about ta surgery undervthw disguise if ‘women Who are in pain whilst ccyling’, the vocabulary will talk to all women who want to be ‘neat and clean’ down there.
It’s putting the labioplasty at the same level that shaving/waxing, esp now that having no hair at all has become the new normal.

The article is also very clear that the FIRST reason women seek that surgery is cosmetic, and then it’s about the pain.
As usual there is little about the risk of such procedure (do you remember the ones associated with breast implants or breast reduction?). I suppose this will come later, when enough women will have done the surgery and have had bad experiences :(

I have to say, so far, I’ve heard abiut breast surgery, labia surgery, all the Botox/face stuff.
When are men going to have surgery on their own nether region. Surgery for the ‘pwrfect’ penis hasn’t started yet. I wonder why....

Well, personally I'm against non-medical circumcision of infant boys too. So no double standards there. And feminism does involve analysing the social background against which women make supposedly "free" choices.

If anyone's interested in the wide range of "normal," this is the famous artwork theGreat Wall of Vagina (obviously NSFW) consisting of panels of plaster casts of impressions of women's vulvas. Loads of variety in what normal labia look like, with probably more "outies" than "innies" among inner labia.

When are men going to have surgery on their own nether region. Surgery for the ‘pwrfect’ penis hasn’t started yet. I wonder why....

Well some cultures (not even just religions, America as a whole is very pro circumcision) do this to baby boys before they're even able to understand or consent to the procedure. That's a much more serious issue then adult women choosing this with their own money and understanding of what's involved.

Also I'm sure if there was a quick easy surgery to lengthen or widen the penis it'd have been devised so far, but changing the size of the penis is more complex due to its structure then snipping off a strip of excess skin.

Holy there is no doubt that some women do have issues with their labia. Just as some women do have back problem due to their breast and need surgery too.
I don’t think anyone is suggesting that people like yourself shouldn’t have the surgery or have done it for cosmetic reasons.

The issue here is for someth8ng that was surgery done for very particular physical reasons (eg pain) is becoming a fashion thing.
The issue is about women being convinced AGAIN that their body has to be perfect and to standards set up by men (and nowdays by the porn industry).
It’s about the fact women are ending up hating yet another part of their body that is t to standards.
And that’s not on.
Feminism is about choice yes. But choice should be indépendant choice, not one imposed by society because if stupid Beaty ideals that no women, incl the top models, can ever attain (see the facts all photos are photoshopped, Porn is photoshopped etc etc). Otherwise it’s coercion disguised as a choice.

"but changing the size of the penis is more complex due to its structure then snipping off a strip of excess skin."

Why are we, as women, so dismissive of the complexity and capacity for sensation in our own genitals? When I had a C section, I was left with the classic "letterbox" numbness for about 18 months afterwards, due to nerves being severed. Someone upthread mentioned numbness in connection with necessary plastic surgery following a mastectomy for cancer. Yet loads of people seem totally gung-ho about "cutting unecessary strips of skin" off a region which is full of nerve endings vital for sexual function and involved in one's ability to have an orgasm.

I totally get why you'd want it done if you were in pain - but to run the risk of having a portion of your vulva left numb and affecting your sex life, simply because you didn't like how it looked? Why would someone want to run that risk? And why do we minimise the chance of this happening, while at the very same time accepting that cutting "excess skin" off the penis is probably a bad idea and runs the risk of having a detrimental effect on men's sexual function?

Why do we care so little about women's actual sexual function, and care so much about women's appearances?

Limon is it a bigger issue?
What are the risk for boys who are circumcised and the risks for adult women having that surgery?
Personally I have no idea but I would doubt that there is any higher risk in boys than in women.

Having said that, I don’t agree with circumcision either....

A friend of mine gets her labia caught in her knickers just by walking along. It's sore and uncomfortable. I think she would 'fix' it if she could afford to.

Surely this surgery for comfort reasons is no different to women with large breasts having reductions to reduce back pains?

Those saying padded cycling shorts are an answer wouldn't turn round surely and tell bigger busted women to just wear sports bras and get on with it would they?

YY Hairy, the clitoris is actually very big, rathervthan the little knob we can see.
Surgery around there takes a big risk on loosing sensitivity because of that.
I’m not aware if any men ever complaining of loss of sensitivity/orgasm due to circumcision.

Crack on if you think that's feminist. I personally think it's fucking stupid.

^^^ This,

Well said @HairyBallTheorem