The influence of porn is driving ain increase in labiaplasty

[QuentinSummers]

This article makes me sad for women and simultaneously feel the need to cross my legs.
Surgery to puff up your outer labia? Wtf?

www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/british-columbia/embodying-barbie-cosmetic-gynecology-on-the-rise-in-canada-1.4176187

Also, in common with waxing, it seems a childlike vulva is positioned as most attractive. No hair or labia poking out. Eeww

Probably a myth you have heard, why would you care?

Well I don't think it is a myth as it's being reported on Canadian news.
And why do I care? I think it's sad women are making unnecessary, costly and painful modifications to their bodies to meet a beauty ideal that's unachievable. And I don't like the aspect that we should aspire to having the body of a prepubescent girl. I find it very disturbing.

I was with you until you brought up the waxing.

I like having a hairless foof, not because it looks childlike but because that is my preference. I like it smooth, like my legs, armpits and moustache

It's a personal choice.

Maybe the ladies opting for surgery to "puff up" their labia should just invest in a pair of camel toe knickers. Much cheaper, I assume

Quentin I find it quite offensive you saying a woman with no labia minors protruding out is alike a prebuescant girl, eew and disturbing when you know some of us do actually have natural labia like that as a woman?

No woman should have to change their appearance but you are out of order.

*minora

It's not a comment on anybodies individual labia, and the eeww wasn't referring to that look. It was a comment on society pushing the combination of hairless and small labia as "ideal" - it's a childlike look and the association of childlike genitals with maximum attraction is what makes me feel icky.
Apologies for upsetting you

GotToGet: Yes, some women have small labia minora, and some women are pretty hairless, et cetera.
But the only kind of female who is consistently always hairless and has small labia minora is a girl before puberty.

The trend towards all markers of childhood is worrying.

I am very thin and have a childlike face, and while of course I am an adult, I would be very concerned if suddenly all women tried to look like me.

Camel toe knickers? That exists ? I thought the goal was to NOT have a camel toe effect.

Apologies, OP, I see that you regularly post on gender equality issues.
I think this idea is media led, fuelled by the porn industry which pushes the boundaries ever further.

I hope it would reassure you that, as far as I can observe, the majority of women and men realise we are made in many shapes, colours and sizes, despite the hypersexualisation of young people that permeates through popular music media, print, video and film.

I have never had sex with anybody who did not accept my body for what it is, and I don't feel deprived in any way, if that helps to answer your question.

It's ok umbrella I should've written a longer OP!
I agree, I have quite large labia and have never had anything other than appreciation from partners! But when I was a teen we didn't have a view of an "attractive" vulva so it never crossed my mind to even think about it. I now have a DD and hate tgat she might feel self conscious if she inherits my attributes! That's partly why the article struck a chord with me.

It is a worrying trend - and that the surgeon had noted that the majority of the interest was coming from under 19s. There's surely a place for surgery for reasons of correcting damage, for pain or discomfort, but when it's women who feel that their vulvas just don't have the right look, and not as a result of, say, the damage caused by childbirth, but just their natural state being wrong, then I start to worry. All shapes and sizes are normal.

It really is a serious issue, but I do have to confess to letting out an unfeminist snorty laugh at the choice of words: "a four fold increase". Is that one of the options? (sorry. It is serious. I am a child).

Also, in common with waxing, it seems a childlike vulva is positioned as most attractive. No hair or labia poking out. my word that is exactly what I thought too. I could have started your thread.
I have thought about this for so long and your response has been the only conclusion I have come with.
There was a thread here awhile go asking questions about pedophiles in the 70s and it's influence in the media and the only correlation i can think of is the rise in waxing and the need for the adult women's vulva to be more child like.

I used to shave too, even though I hated it and thought it was the done thing until one day someone pointed out why they wouldn't want to have sex with a woman with no hair at all round their vulva. To them it bore resemblance to that of a child and it made them uncomfortable and why should it be normalised. That made sense to me and I have never shaved since that conversation happened. It pointed out why i was always uncomfortable with the idea but never grasped why.

No! I don't have the amazon growing but I trim out to a few inches. It's neat (sometimes combed/brushed) and anyone man who thinks they can't give me head because I haven't shaved can sling their hook. Which I have done before.

The thread I mentioned made sense to me and solidified my belief. I don't know if I wrote about it my thought but it did make think about the media.

It's all very well blaming porn until you realise that it features all shapes and sizes of vulvae.

Ok bartholin What do you think is driving the increase then?

I like having a hairless foof, not because it looks childlike hmm but because that is my preference. I like it smooth, like my legs, armpits and moustache

If you had been born a hundred years ago you would have been fine with that hair though.

Just as you are fine with the hair on your head though there is something very pleasing about a smooth bald head.

You haven't decided to shave your legs, or your armpits or your vulva on an Island with no cultural expectations of female hair.

A hundred years ago you'd have all of your pubes, pit hair and leg hair. The beauty industry started telling women arm pit hair and leg hair were gross and unhygienic, so it becomes the fashion. Our mothers then 'choose' to shave those bits even though it's not really a choice, it's the done thing or you've got a 'dirty' body. But they had pubic hair, proper bushes 🌳.

Then porn decided women should be younger and that the camera could get a better view if there was no hair at all and the beauty industry jumped on and told us that muffs were unhygienic and men started expecting them to be hair free.
So you make a decision to shave your legs and your armpits and your foof and called it a 'choice' but you'd have never questioned the 'smoothness' of a bald vulva if it weren't already the fashion and the standard. And it's no choice at all if you get looks for having hair legs and pits at the pool, or men say they're not interested because you've go to pubes.

I was born nearly 50 years ago and waxing it all or most of it off was never an issue. So I still don't bother. Also the first I ever thought about the size of my labia was when in my 30s a boyfriend who'd read a bit of porn commented I'd never be a porn model because of them . Fortunately I had a plan B for my career and it's turned out okay. But I wish I didn't know that bit of information.

Eurgh the quotes from cosmetic surgeons in that article. You can tell they are complete quacks because they're peddling "hymen repair" which, if you actually know anything about female anatomy, you will know is a patriarchal myth!

I still remember the first time I heard about labioplasty, maybe about 10 years ago. I immediately thought "this has got to be porn driven, because, what, other than porn, would put into women's heads the idea that they should be doing a compare-and-contrast on their genitals and deciding their own were not good enough?" What happened to form follows function? If you orgasm, clearly it's all in good working order, who gives a shit what it looks like?

"Hymen repair" is straight out of the Handmaids Tale, it seems to me. I find it shocking that it is considered an acceptable operation, even given the low standards that cosmetic surgery has to abide by.

Mind you, when women can get absurdly ginormous breast implants I shouldn't be surprised. I remember Lolo Ferrari from the program Eurotrash - the pain she endured caused by the ridiculous implants that she had, and her subsequent suicide. How any doctor could continue to operate on her to increase her implant size is baffling. But there's always someone out there who will.

A report on this amongst young girls from the BBC today: www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-40410459

Big report on this on BBC News at the moment. So very troubling.

It's complete rubbish to say that it's all porn-driven. I have wanted labiaplasty since I was a teenager and had never seen any porn. I just noticed that my 'area' was different from my peers and that made me feel bad about myself. Also I have had many injuries during sex due to the labia getting caught up and tearing. This puts me off sex and it's sad that I can't have a proper sex life because of it.

As soon as I have the money I plan to go to a surgeon to get it done.

Probably a myth you have heard, why would you care?

Why would you not care?

I'm with you OP. This wasn't an issue when I was growing up as the majority of women had hair so weren't inspecting their nether regions on a daily basis.

Leilaniii but that sounds a like a medical need which is different.

I don't think it's as porn related as we might expect. I think it's an expected (and very sad) consequence of the boom in cosmetic surgery - nothing cannot be "fixed", nothing is sacred. It's capitalism.

On the hair front, my understanding is that full removal is out of fashion among younger women.

It's complete rubbish to say that it's all porn-driven. I have wanted labiaplasty since I was a teenager and had never seen any porn. I just noticed that my 'area' was different from my peers and that made me feel bad about myself.

I think it's weird you were looking at your friend's 'areas'. I never once did this in the changing room.

Also I have had many injuries during sex due to the labia getting caught up and tearing. This puts me off sex and it's sad that I can't have a proper sex life because of it

This^ suggests a physical issue and has nothing to do with the fact some girls want to have 'perfect' fannies. Who is arguing with you that you shouldn't be able to have piv sex should you so wish? Absolutely no one.

Though a feminist argument might be that you can still have great sex without a penis in you...