Imagine a man looking doubtfully down his penis in his early 50s and sighing, "Oh, would you look like he was at the age of twelve?" An absurd idea in men - in women, however, far less.
Intimate surgery is enjoying a growing number of patients; cosmetic surgery on the female genitalia is in vogue. "Procedures such as labia reduction are very popular nowadays, as they can reproduce a youthful, appealing appearance of the female genitalia even after multiple births," it says on the website of a plastic surgery practice. Also below, the woman may please look as young and smooth as possible.
400 different vulvas - all normal
Critics make the porn industry responsible for this trend, here Vulvar in childish bun look are sold as an ideal. Women and young girls do not necessarily want to look like porn stars, but above all "normal". But what is normal, please? There is only one consensus here: Visible labia minora do not conform to the norm, most of us think - but that's not true.
The "Great Wall of Vagina", a work of the British Jamie McCartney, created several years ago, illustrates this: Here are 400 prints of completely different-looking vulvas - and they are all normal. This is the message of the artist ("I like labia!"), Who criticizes the ideal of the infantile vulva propagated by plastic surgery: "This is fascism, where an entire industry invests in making women feel bad."
Whether or not the inner labia or clitoris is visible has nothing to do with age or even abnormality. It is simply disposition.
Imperfect and worth optimizing?
Ironically, the German Society of Intimate Surgery and Genital Aesthetics (DGIntim) confirmed in a survey of 104 women aged 16 to 64 this observation: "It is quite 'normal' - in the sense of 'not pathologically enlarged' and 'not an isolated case' - if the labia minora even protrude for more than 2 cm between the labia minora and / or the clitoris skin shows a clearly visible excess of skin, the survey has shown that only about one third of our participants are completely covered by the outer labia, and in just 40 percent of the clitoris skin from the front is not visible. "
This is also evident in the Labia Library of Women's Health Victoria in Australia or the Labia Project. Here, normal women show their normal genitals. And some describe how long they took to accept the sight of their visible labia minora.
Once again it shows that women perceive their bodies as imperfect and in need of optimization, while men's bodies seem to be more tolerant. But why is that? In the over millennia of men dominated and focused on men medicine, which understands women to this day as a deviation from the norm? Or the fact that the female sex is over-treated, as Christine Wolfrum and Luitgard Marschall claim in their book?
DISPLAY
Christine Wolfrum, Luitgard Marshal:
The over-hyped sex
A critical guide to women's medicine
Albrecht Knaus; 288 pages; 17.99 euros
Order at Amazon. Order from Thalia.
As soon as a girl enters puberty, the first visit to a gynecologist is on: Is everything really normal? So it goes on annually, as a pregnant woman sitting then felt for nine months at the gynecologist, and no later than the menopause, the next season ticket is handed out. The female abdomen is obviously in need of treatment and more prone to failure than an aging nuclear reactor. Anyone who grows up with this attitude, it is completely plausible that with the own genitalia and externally there is a need for optimization.
Things are not getting any better
Another popular surgical procedure is the vaginal constriction, also known as vaginal rejuvenation. While labia reduction appeals to women of all ages, narrowing is something for women who feel, for example, after a birth, that their vagina is too far and thus they are no longer sexually attractive to the partner. As a countermeasure, hyaluronic acid or autologous fat is injected into the vaginal tissue. A surgical procedure is also possible to tighten the vagina. On a vaginal birth, however, please refrain then, which would destroy the whole artwork.
"It is obviously more natural to change the female body than to change the form of sexuality," says sociologist Anna-Katharina Meßmer, a specialist in intimate surgery.
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But for whom do women undergo such an intervention? Do they do it for the sake of their husbands? Meßmer considers this a rhetorical short. In their opinion, the social ideals are decisive, as they occur in jokes - example: 'As if you throw a salami in the hallway.' "There is a social narration about it, which is always at the expense of the woman and not at the expense of the man," says Meßmer. "I think that's more important than the partnership."
Stay away from the erogenous zone
Of course, anyone who suffers from pain or feels impaired in everyday life, should be able to operate in the genital area. But the idea that an "optimized" vulva or vagina leads to a better sex life does not necessarily work out. Any surgery carries risks, it can lead to infections and wound healing disorders, in addition, scarring, adhesions or indurations are a possible consequence - and all in the middle of the erogenous zone of the woman.
There are still no long-term studies on the consequences of intimate surgery. But it can happen that women with tightened vulva or narrowed vagina feel less or do not want to be touched at all.