the perfect vagina

I’ve been watching SBS after 10.30pm on Fridays again…

They always seem to feature documentaries on ‘uncomfortable topics’. Brothels, prostitutes, nudity. Most recently, SBS featured one on genitalia.

The documentary was made in relation to the growing trend of girls and women, of basically all ages, feeling as though they need surgery on their vagina/vulva in order to feel good about themselves. And, I suppose, in times where all kinds of unnecessary surgery is utilised in order to alter appearances – to enhance certain parts and to hide others – it’s hardly surprising that the trend has continued in the realm of genitalia.

Almost always, labiaplasty is undertaken for purely cosmetic reasons. Women are unhappy with how they look, they feel asymmetrical, lopsided or ‘too-big’ down there. This is particularly disturbing when these judgments are based on comparisons with pornography, particularly magazines, which in actuality aren’t allowed to feature realistic-looking vulvas. In a recent episode of Hungry Beast, it was uncovered that censorship of pornography has meant that we’re all out of touch with what normal actually looks like. In order to be deemed fit for public viewing, vulvas are photoshopped and minimised to be ‘non-offensive’. And thus, ‘offensive’, (i.e. real) genitals never see light of day. You can read more about it and view the segment here (the comments are particularly enlightening).

But perhaps even more confronting is the growing trend to surgically replace the hymen after a woman has lost her virginity in order to appear to be a virgin. This is often required for cultural reasons where a woman is pressured by her family, her religion, and/or her potential husband to be a virgin when she is married. Ignoring the issues with that premise alone, the existence of the hymen has little to do with a woman’s status as a virgin anyway. All sorts of things can cause it to tear, like horseriding.

My personal view of any sort of plastic surgery is that it effectively glosses over the complicated relationship between self-image and body-image. There is a myth circulating around that if you look better, you’ll feel better about yourself, you’ll feel as though you are a better person. But really, a good self image is not something you can establish just because you think you look good. You’ll always be imperfect regardless of what you do to your body, therefore, there can always be things to pick out and obsess over. If you can’t come to terms with your imperfections, you’re unlikely to ever like yourself. If, however, you want to change how you look from a place where you actually genuinely think that you’re a good person, then plastic surgery could be for you (if you accept that there are a ton of risks and recovery is usually painful).

Another issue that these things bring up is the idea of ‘sexual liberation’. We think of ourselves as so free and knowledgeable compared to other societies and compared to our history. We denounce female circumcision as utterly terrible, but yet, we don’t even know what a vagina looks like. We don’t always feel comfortable with ourselves and some of us don’t know how to deal with our realities without getting surgeons involved. We have such narrow definitions of ‘normal’ that we all have to spend so much time wondering if we fit it. We are far from being liberated. And indeed, the fact that these discussions are reserved for SBS after 10.30 attests to this.

The documentary is well worth a watch, especially if this phenomenon is new to you. Lucky for us, SBS has made the entire episode available online.

(Image credit: 1.)