Male plastic surgeons "correcting" the female body.

[peripericardium]

I was researching scar revision for self-harm scarring I have, and ended up in the world of cosmetic surgery.

Here is an example of a quote from a website:
"Removal of the excess labia can create a more natural appearance and the patient will still be able to feel sensation after surgery."

So, removing what is naturally present will make a vulva look "more natural"?

There are endless photos of normal tits turned into pneumatic boulders with nipples surgically reshaped and reattached.

On one website, there is a huge selection of before/after photos of women who've been "fixed" and a small sub-section for "male procedures".

I've seen slides for labioplasty where a man arrogantly describes his improvement of the labia by removing "excess".

I did find one website for a female cosmetic surgeon, but it was mostly focused on reconstruction after breast cancer and breast reduction, rather than implants which seem to be the focus of the male websites.

I don't necessarily judge women for pursuing cosmetic surgery. After all, by looking into getting my scars reduced, I am in the same box.

But it is incredibly sad that normal variants in female anatomy are being "corrected" for a huge fee by a small number of men who think they know what a woman should look like.

Taken completely out of context with everything else I've said. You started attacking me for commenting on a feminist thread. I know, how dare I?! Being male and all.

It's attitudes like that that stop people like me trying to support and promote a positive body image and to try and dissuade people from the unreasonable ideals set in porn. If I hadn't identified as male I wonder if your response would have still been the same...

Booble you are missing the wider point here. It's not so much who says what to whom, it's that a disproportionate number of people who pursue cosmetic surgery are women, and a disproportionate number of people plastic surgeons are men.

If this doesn't fit your definition of exploitation I fear you may be posting in the wrong place. Yes we could be more body positive and nicer to each other, but this touches on an important question of medical ethics. Unnecessary surgery always carries a risk that to me contravenes the foundational principle of "first do no harm".

The billions upon billions made off the back of women's wrecked self esteem is bad enough. Bringing knives and cutting into that equation is horrendous thing.

At no point EVER have I said NO man has said that. The majority don't.

So according to you the majority of men don't critique women's body parts but other women do. Thanks for explaining.

It's attitudes like that that stop people like me trying to support and promote a positive body image

You stop supporting positive body image in women and girls because someone replied to you in a way you didn't like? Oh dear.

Booble if your support for body positivity is contingent on a bunch of strangers on an Internet forum massaging your ego by praising your very involvement, might I suggest it's an issue you don't in truth give that much of a shot about?

I don't even know whether my labia are proportionally big or small. I don't have sisters and have seen very few other women's labia up close. I don't use porn either.

I suspect that porn is a big driver in some women's dissatisfaction with a body part that is hidden 95% of the time. Where physical discomfort is present, that is a different situation.

I suspect that porn is a big driver in some women's dissatisfaction with a body part that is hidden 95% of the time.

Very probably.

My family is pretty relaxed about nudity, I still have no idea what the labia of other women in my family look like, since with pubic hair, you'd have to look very closely to see anything at all.

Porn is responsible for the fashion of shaving as well as the fact that there are now fashions of what labia should look like.

Before porn, this was pretty much a non-issue.

You stop supporting positive body image in women and girls because someone replied to you in a way you didn't like? Oh dear.

What does this remind me of? Hmm, perhaps people only supporting the liberation of women when feminists are nice to them.

Vestal I can assure you my bush is trimmed but not bald. I might do a zip round with a razor trimmer if I'm wanting boyfriendypartner to go down on me (because I don't like his pubes in my mouth they make me gag I do the same - a wee trim) but I am under no pressure so to do. It's entirely my choice. I have pubes to my knees, so if I'm wearing a swimming costume I tidy up stragglers. I am no porn victim.

My labia cause me discomfort, even when I am naked. And if I had the money to spare, I would like them reduced. Because they are uncomfortable. And in this country, we wear clothes. And in a lot of clothes they are awkward and they chafe. (they also chafe when I am naked)

Oh do one booble.

The last thing we give a shite about on a thread about our own bodies - on the feminist chat board -is a bloke's opinion. As women, we get them all the time. So bugger off please.

The best way to make the point not all men are like , is to not be one of those men!

Exactly Derval.

Men who acknowledge this is the way it is will prove that not all men are like this.....

I guess one positive aspect of the popularity of porn nowadays is people can see the variety of shapes and sizes of the human form.

I don't think anyone would have a problem with somebody whose labia was causing physical discomfort getting it sorted out. That's an entirely different issue.

The same thing goes for having a breast reduction, because they give you backache, rather than to attain a beauty ideal.

And I agree there is a significant percentage of men who view women as little more than commodities.

But I am shocked if they are now starting to dictate labia size/symmetry. I have no doubt it comes from pornography. But is that really leaching out into the general population?

It's one thing shaving your pubes, but having surgery on your genitals?

Is it on a par with having a boob job? No one knows what the contents of your underwear looks like fgs.

Mya surgery advert. God....

Womens privates are no longer all that private

I've never actually thought about this before but it's pretty grim although it does make sense now I think about it. Funny how the only female surgeon op could find was one that specialists in things that aren't necessarily related to pleasing the male gaze

The wording on those websites is also horrific.

Bartholinsister are you serious? Porn actresses would be much more homogenous than any random group. It's far from porn that would be teaching men that there are different body types out there

"... then perhaps the problem is not your body, the problem is the clothes."

Women (shock! horror!), have inner and outer labia. Women have pubic hair. So, why is it then that there seem to be so many female clothing "choices" (like skinny jeans, like tights, like knickers, like swim suits, etc etc) that seem to be an issue for women with less than "tidy' labia or pubes????

Frankly, could you imagine men willing to undergo surgery because clothing meant they had comfort issues with their testicles, or because they had a very long foreskin which kept getting caught in their zip (excuse any ignorance of the male anatomy, as a lesbian my knowledge is strictly theoretical!)...................Really?????

(And before anyone mentions it I am aware of the sometimes extreme body modification techniques some chaps have subjected their testes and penises to, from injecting them with silicone, to splitting the penis entirely, but men undergoing surgery on a regular basis to the extent that they seem to be trying to encourage women to.........................Which BTW gives me the only supposed clothing and body mod. issue I can think of for men, which is the supposed rationale for the Prince Albert piercing.)

ENFJ
There is every possible body shape featured in porn nowadays. This notion of a typical porn star 'look' was left behind in the 90's.

um, right, we should all look to porn to show us that different body shapes are out there.

ENFJ several of your comments show that you believe women to be weak, easily led, stupid and critical of each other.
You've made so many assumptions for example about it being a competitive thing.
How about women are given credit for doing what the fuck they like for whatever reason they want? Because, you know women are fucking intelligent and perfectly capable of making their own decisions.

Porn is not a good representation of different, realistic body types. Give me strength...

Different body shapes in porn might be represented but they are fetishised and tagged and put into categories.

Far from accepting women, it merely teaches men to search for "small tits big arse", "petite", "bbw" and so on.

Thank you @0hCrepe, you've said what I felt when I read the first and second reply from that poster. I don't feel that I need pitying and I certainly don't consider myself to be a "free prostitute" either. Offensive and as I expressed before, it's just further judgement of women who make a certain decision over their own body?!