Charlotte Sargent           

Female Genital Cosmetic Surgery

The articles “Female Genital Cosmetic Surgery” and “The Women Are Doing It For Themselves,” and Professor Jafar’s Ted Talk Video describe female genital cosmetic surgery such as the reasons for why women get genital surgery and the surgeries that take place. Why has it come to the point where women now feel the need to alter their vaginas in a variety of ways? Some of the surgeries that women undergo are labia minora reduction, vaginal tightening, clitoral hood reductions, or “G-spot amplification.” Genital cosmetic surgery is becoming a fairly common practice, due to society creating this ideal type of vagina through the media, causing women to feel that they can and should change their vagina to make it perfect.

            In the article “Female Genital Cosmetic Surgery” by Virginia Braun, she talks a lot about why women get these surgeries and how women’s genitalia surgery was intended to resolve “problems” of a sexual or psychological nature.  Some women claim to get FGCS because of aesthetic concerns such as the dislike of a specific aspect of the vulva, mainly the visibility of labia minora, or their shape color, or asymmetry. Functional concerns include the vagina being loose during intercourse or discomfort from the labia when exercising or during intercourse. Certain techniques for labiaplasty have been said to provide “inadequate cosmetic and functional results” (Braun, 1398). An issue with FGCS is that doctors are advocating the surgery, and they do not clearly call attention to the fact that while they can change the appearance, there may be damage to the functionality. “No adequate studies have been published assessing the long-term satisfaction, safety, and complication rates for these procedures” (Braun, 1398). Women who get these surgeries have very little understanding of “female genitalia diversity.” They don’t have information about the risks that come with undergoing this type of surgery; they are just concerned with having the ideal vagina. “Protuberance of these genital structures beyond the labia majora is often considered to be aesthetically and socially inconvenient” (Braun, 1399). Psychological concerns are the most important reason for women to have the reduction of their labia minora. The media also advertises that there will be “increases in sexual pleasure and psychological well being” (Braun, 1399). Women are constantly told that there are ways to alter themselves and it has now spread to their genitalia, causing them to believe that even though women’s genitalia is diverse, there are ways that they can fix it through surgery.

            The article, “The Women Are Doing it For Themselves,” Braun discusses women’s health and choice. Relating to cosmetic surgery, there is a “social imperative of ‘what can be done should be done’” (Braun, 236).  Meaning that if you can change yourself in someway to become “ideal” or beautiful then you should do it, otherwise you are making the decision to be “ugly.” Women are pressured by society to look the best they can and that there is always some way that you can make yourself look better. Cosmetic surgery is seen as women making choices about their lives but women’s desires to achieve “normality” is through surgery. It appears that that getting surgery is a choice when in reality it is an instance of conformity. “The pressures towards norms are so great as to make choice impossible. Cosmetic surgery is a tool for the defining and policing of normality,” which therefore causes the diversity and difference among women to disappear. Braun also discusses how before women get genital cosmetic surgery it must be certain that it is their choice; they should not be swayed y the influence of another person or cultures influence. “Although she may be ‘swayed’ by culture’s influence on her aesthetic preference and desires, she is positioned beyond culture, the agent of her individual choices” (Braun, 238). In the end it comes down to the women’s choice of why she wants the surgery, but in reality her reasons for having genital surgery are due to what society perceives as desirable. Doctors say that they insist that women want the operation done for themselves, not because their partner wants them to do it. Shifts in bodily practices such as the removal of pubic hair have influence women’s genital concerns due to the fact that their vaginas are much more visible. Bodily practices are becoming more and more prominent and soon enough, getting genital surgery will become the norm.

            In professor Jafar’s Ted Talk video she talks about the variety of surgeries that women can undergo in order to enhance sexual intercourse, or to have the “ideal” vagina that they desire. Professor Jafar talks about the female genital mutilation and how it is seen as foreign or dangerous, yet it is not much different than female genital cosmetic surgery, in fact they overlap. The causes for FGM are cultural identities of femininity, being clean, being beautiful, being non-masculine (getting rid of manly parts); these are the ideals of femininity. The causes for FGCS are the desire to have a clean look, aesthetically pleasing; to get rid of any parts that are too loose or over pigmented, and it helps women feel better about themselves. Professor Jafar talked about how some believe that women are entitled to these procedures, that they are no different than erectile dysfunction medicine. Hearing this was shocking to me because I feel that having FGCS is a much bigger decision to surgically remove or change a part of your genital area than it is to take medicine to prevent erectile dysfunction. I never knew that FGCS was becoming so popular and common and it is crazy that women feel the need to get these surgeries to feel better about themselves. Society is causing women to be insecure about every aspect and part of their body and as the years have gone by it has gotten worse and worse.