I have written to the SMH and am hoping that you will join me in expressing your outrage at a doctor dumbing down their explanation instead of using the right terminology for the vulva and the trend for our young women to be ordering ‘designer vaginas’.
Here is my response to this article, http://www.smh.com.au/national/rise-in-women-seeking-designer-vagina-20121120-29o3h.html#ixzz2D5xpBb4
Dear Editor
I refer to the article, ‘Rise in Women Seeking Designer Vagina’, where Dr Sonia Grover said young girls were concerned with looking different and often requested labiaplasties, a procedure to change the size and shape of the external coverings of the vagina.
Firstly, let me say that it is a sad sign of the times that our young women would want to go under the knife voluntarily and one has to ask the question, ‘Why?’ What is it in our society that has our young women concerned about the attractiveness of their genitalia? Is it that we do not have enough education about all aspects of our body and that they do not realise that every woman’s sexual anatomy is going to be different looking? Is it that there is an over-emphasis on sex in our communities that is causing an abnormal concentration of energies on perfecting the body for sex? Or is it that they have seen too many pictures that have been altered by photographic technologies, so that they are comparing themselves to an unrealistic model? I am reasonably confident to say that they have not all been lining up to show one another what their vulva looks like so they can know that they are all different!
I had major life-saving surgery due to vulval cancer 17 years ago involving the removal and remodelling of my vulva and the pain and suffering I have endured during and after surgery still haunts me. The thought that our young women would actively choose this procedure terrifies me because I know the emotional scars that accompany the physical ones.
I was recently awarded the WA Senior of the Year for my GYN and Sexual Health Awareness work, however, the one issue that I really feel I have failed to get a satisfactory outcome for is the attitude of educators and doctors/GYNs that seem too afraid to call a vulva what it really is. Schools continue to incorrectly label it the vagina. To describe it as the ‘external coverings of the vagina’ by someone who knows the difference is to misinform those very young women who are seeking surgery. To me it is the same as describing the penis as the external coverings of the testicle.
Dr Sonia, I implore you to call it a vulva so we are all clear what part of the anatomy it really is and so that when it is altered for life, these young women will know what they have lost.
I agree with Dr Sonia that, “These requests come from a lack of understanding of what is considered normal…” Surely, we can start to normalise the use of the word vulva and open the conversation with our young people so they can know that they also are normal and can appreciate their uniqueness instead of desiring to conform to an unrealistic image of what is normal.
Kathleen Mazzella OAM
Leading World Expert on Women’s Sexual and GYN Health Experiences
Join with me in insisting that they get it right, break down the barriers and stigmas associated with the use of the word ‘vulva’ and start to educate our young women that vulvas come in all shapes and sizes and what you’ve got should be treasured and valued just the way it is. Unless we speak out ladies, we will continue to be kept in the dark on these issues.