BBC 3 My unusual vagina

[junemami]

I'm bored recovering from an operation so whilst flicking throuh iplayer watched this to see if it showed some insight into why there are more women deciding to have plastic surgery. Pretty disappointed, its 15 minutes of mostly monologue by a woman who wants her long labia minora reduced. She does complain of some discomfort and swelling with them, which I can sympathise with, but doesn'toffer any alternative options, reasons why she thinks a normal "vagina" should look like a neat bap on its side, with no "filling" spilling out like "big mac". She ends up having surgery privately and is pretty dissappointed with the result on one side, and might need to have further surgery. Couldn't help thinking during the operation footage that if her pubic hair wasn't removed her labia wouldn't be nearly so conspicuous (and of course maybe she had only removed it for the surgery...but I suspect not).

Feel saddened that this has been unilaterally presented as a normal thing to do. There was some footage of her mother saying she disagreed with cosmetic surgery but that was it. I have made a complaint to the bbc.

Anybody else see it?

didn't see it, but ..... WHY..... !????

I find it profoundly depressingly that women are so disgusted with their (perfectly normal) labia that they cut them off.

The programme was called "My Unusual Vagina"? And no one said at any point that protruding labia are totally normal and acceptable? FFS

Part of my complaint was that even the title was incorrect. Ffs who thought it was a good idea to put this out on a channel aimed at a younger audience. Good opportunity completely missed.

In the current climate I actually came on to see if this was about an "unusual vagina" looking suspiciously like a penis. Maybe all these women have unusual vagina's rather than usual penises, and that's where we're going wrong with gender identification...

But yes, people are getting increasingly weirder about a part of their body that nobody should be worried about other people seeing.

topdocumentaryfilms.com/perfect-vagina/

I watched this a few years ago, it's about why women are having surgery.

@reallyanotherone 😂

Why did they pussyfoot around the title and use the word vagina? I presume her vagina was entirely typical, and it was just her labia that she had a problem with.

I really really dislike the comparison of a vulva to food items, I don't quite know why but it riles me.

I watched this on iPlayer too. I felt so sorry for Antonia. I actually got quite emotional about it. From the brief glimpses, there seemed to be nothing wrong with her labia.

I hope she's found some peace now, but I really wish I'd been able to somehow leapfrog into her life and tell her she was perfect as she was!

I don't think much of the title either.

It was a usual vulva (and I am sure her vagina was ok too, but it wasn't about that) so misleading. Especially to girls and women who do not see other women's genitalia much.

It is like the Ch4 embarrassing bodies about the 'enlarged' labia which were not actually enlarged at all.

I think the fitting into the current knicker fashions is misleading too - they seem to be made for Barbie dolls. Anything down to knee level would have been normal in my Grandma's knickers

Without wishing to sound like my grandma, 'I blame porn!' Most of us don't have sufficient experience of other people's vulvas to be able to develop a complex. Along with the 'whitening' thread... Sigh.

I can't imagine how painful this operation must be.

Having just had a lump of my vulva hacked off due to a suspicious growth I can agree with the PP who said it would've been a horrible surgery!!
Ouch why oh why oh why....?!

You'd think with the popularity of porn these days, everyone would know vulvae come in all shapes and sizes.
I haven't seen the program but I know sometimes big labia can get sore or inflamed.

hideehigh I have a friend had that done. Who knew that it was a thing? . Hope all is well (my friend is )

Thanks Terrylene I had no idea it was a thing either eagerly awaiting good test results!

I imagine that if bits were particularly dangly they could get wedged in uncomfortable positions in tight jeans - I mean, i've had to have an adjust occasionally because of hair/bigs getting pinched a bit and I don't have anything out of the ordinary, but it would have to be pretty extreme before it was worth surgery rather than more supportive pants surely.

I'm guessing that like lots of plastic surgery, it's not that there's anything particularly wrong with the body, and more that there's an obsessive problem in their mind which they hope to relieve.

I feel really sad that women feel the need to change their body to conform to some kind of an ideal. I get the discomfort bit but can't see how anything can be more painful than actually cutting bits of the vulva off

Thanks for the link to that documentary fruit, think they should put this on bbc3 instead, it's much better.

I watched this a few years ago, it's about why women are having surgery

It's good. I liked the presenter.

Yes, it's from quite a few years ago but a good documentary and still relevant. They should've repeated it.

This is perhaps a bit of a tangential perspective but I think this also really undermines efforts to tackle FGM. I know there's a difference in terms of consent and setting, but how can we as a society hope to have any credibility when we preach to other cultures about not modifying their vulvas for nonmedical reasons if we're doing it ourselves?!

Accurate if you ignore the fact that all kinds of vulvae are represented in porn.