The 'designer vagina' and the pathologisation of female genital diversity: interventions for change

Abstract

Following a British Channel 4 documentary on the ‘designer vagina’, screened in 2008, Channel 4’s website for the show ran a poll which asked visitors ‘have you considered having a designer vagina?’ (see http://www.channel4.com/health/microsites/G/g-spot/perfect-vagina/vote.html). Of the 9216 respondents (on 13 Oct, 2008), 43% answered yes, they had considered having such surgery. [1] While viewers of the site (and thus voters) are likely to have a particular interest in female genital cosmetic surgery (FGCS), the result still indicates an incredibly high proportion of women dislike their genitalia enough to have considered surgery as an option. However, it is not much lower than the proportion of women indicating, in both unscientific and scientific surveys, that they would have cosmetic surgery -- of any sort (e.g., Aitkenhead, 2005; Asthana, 2005; Most women 'want plastic surgery'," 2001; Sarwer et al., 2005). Cosmetic surgery has become a normalised practice within, and beyond, the west (see Blum, 2003; Brooks, 2004; Davis, 2003; Elliott, 2008; Fraser, 2003; Pitts-Taylor, 2007, for various analyses around normalisation), and now constitutes a viable solution to multiple forms of bodily distress for many women, and, increasingly, men.