More women than ever are tampering with their lady parts.
In the past ten years, pubic hair has become an endangered species. And while this means good business for Brazilian waxers (well, sometimes), it’s also made women more self conscious. We’ve even started apologising to our doctors when we don’t have baby-bald lady parts.
But it’s not just the hair we’re self conscious about. The number of women asking their doctors for labiaplasty has risen to such high levels, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners is putting together a toolkit to help deal with the requests.
The ABC reports: “The number of women who have their labiaplasties subsidised by Medicare has more than tripled in Australia in the past decade.”
Labiaplasty involves changing the appearance of the vulva. Typically, women request the ‘Barbie doll’ look, where the labia majora come together to form a straight line, with the labia minora tucked inside.
Top Comments
I know nothing about "mainstream" porn (wow, what a name), but surely know that a labia minor that is hanging out makes walking very difficult, even painful. And I don't care that 50% other normal women have the same problem. If it can be fixed that is the way to go.
My 15 year old daughter told me that my nieces (15 & 13) confided to her that my sister (their mum) apparently won't let them shave their vaginas (her words, obviously difficult to shave a vagina as it's internal). I don't inspect my daughters' vulvas to see if they've gone down that path as well but I can only assume that they have.
Although we tend to see it as springing from porn and as being therefore abhorrent, I tend to see it more as a cultural thing.
I lived in Italy for many years and can remember being the only 20 something on the beach with shaved armpits. All the other girls had hairy armpits (which looked somehow charming and earthy on them). The German women also had completely hairy legs! I looked on in astonishment at them, I'm sure they did the same to me!
Nowadays with the internet 'Tutto il mondo e' un paese' (all the world is a small town) so it doesn't surprise me that when I last visited there every woman on the beach was hairless in their armpits and on their legs. Young people are always going to conform to the status quo, and no pubic hair is the status quo nowadays.
I can't see us going back to The Joy of Sex levels of hairiness but you never know. The labiaplasty trend is worrying, but so was the breast enhancement trend (and that surely is going off the boil now too?)
I for one will not get a labiaplasty done, despite the fact that I am part of the 50% outies (natural child birth can do that to you). I read somewhere that women who get it done are effectively reducing their sexual sensitivity as it's all connected to the pleasure centre of the genitals.