Genital “Beautification” Surgeries: WTF?

Bonnie Zylbergold’s article on genital beautification is only one of the many I’ve read recently on the growing popularity of female genital consmetic procedures. More and more women are getting female genital cosmetic surgeries, procedures like labiaplasty and vaginoplasty (or “vaginal rejuvenation”), often because they don’t feel that their genitals are “normal” in appearance.

Zylbergold’s article suggests that women are largely ignorant to what “normal” female genitalia look like, and are seeking surgery unnecessarily.

… There is a huge lack of knowledge surrounding genital diversity for women. Women who have nose jobs or breast enlargements have a huge pool of comparison to draw from. They’ve seen probably thousands of noses every day, and even though we maybe don’t [often] see naked breasts, we certainly know what breasts look like.

Exactly! While I’m not a huge fan of cosmetic surgery in the first place, at least those electing to get a nose job have a lifetime of other noses to compare against, probably from a fairly diverse pool of people of different ages, genders, and ethnicities. In contrast, few women ever talk about the particulars of their vulvas, nevermind see female genitals beyond their own. The notion that someone does not have a normal vulva is based on very little actual information, other than the persistent messaging that something is wrong with female bodies.