Making the Cut: Mass Media and the Growing Desire for Genital Cosmetic Surgery by Young Women and Girls

Abstract

Women and girls have long been confronted with unrealistic, unattainable body image norms. Additionally, the 'ideal feminine' body has been subject to constant change over the last centuries and decades. With the proliferation of the internet, women and girls are continuously exposed to advice from heteronormative discourses of womanhood. Demand for cosmetic surgery has dramatically increased and is still expanding. Recently, women's and girls' awareness has shifted towards how they should 'improve' the aesthetic appeal of their labia, 'optimise' their vaginas, and generally make their vulva 'healthier', leading to a growing popularity of female genital cosmetic surgery. Proponents of surgical interventions (falsely) claim them as agentic methods of self-expression and promise 'improvement' beyond the individual's control. The marketing of these procedures is predicated on shame and has been described as aggressive. Our postmodern era brings new visions of desired body image, and a rise of internet-based digital connections between people. This means new body image 'norms' are instantly circulated and changed, and body image is continuously scrutinised and shamed. Coupled with increased accessibility of internet-based nudity and pornographic material, and prevailing associations of shame and taboo about female genitalia, consequences particularly for young women's perceptions of body image are drastic. This chapter discusses the internet's role in the recent desire by young women and girls to seek genital cosmetic surgery.

Sexual activities and experiences in women who underwent genital cosmetic surgery: a cross-sectional study using data from the German Health and Sexuality Survey (GeSiD)

“…This trend has led experts from different fields to raise concerns about societal influences [4][5][6][7]-such as the medicalisation of sexuality, the regulative influence of public health practices, neoliberal imperatives around self-improvement, or negative sociocultural representations of female bodies/genitalia-and psychological vulnerabilities [8] amplifying the perceived urgency for and normalisation of surgery in women, especially with regard to online contents [9][10][11], as well as about the lack of data on surgery outcomes and side effects [12,13], and regulations for providers [13]. Moreover, the (in some countries legally underpinned) distinction between practices known as 'female genital cutting/mutilation' (FGC/M) and FGCS, and the framing of the former as harmful and coercive and the latter as not have been ethically challenged [14][15][16][17].…”

Psychodynamische Aspekte der ästhetischen Chirurgie des weiblichen Genitales – Ein Workshop-Bericht

“…Ich beschränke mich hier auf die Nennung einiger weniger, einschlägiger, neuerer Publikationen, über die man einen guten Überblick zum Stand der Diskussion und zu weiter führender Literatur erhält: Borkenhagen (2019), Creighton & Liao (2019), Koops et al (2021). Erwähnen möchte ich an dieser Stelle auch meine eigene, zusammen mit Regula Umbricht durchgeführte empirische Studie, in der wir mittels einer OnlineUmfrage die Zunahme chirurgischer Eingriffe am äusseren weiblichen Genitale in der Schweiz zwischen 1992 und 2012 untersuchten, und zwar differenziert nach funktionalen, psychischen und ästhetischen Gründen.…”