Posted on 05/25/2007 10:18:53 AM PDT by EnigmaticAnomaly
One of the world's most prestigious health journals has lashed a fast-growing trend in the United States and Britain for "designer vaginas," the tabloid term for cosmetic surgery to the female genitalia.
The fashion is being driven by commercial and media pressures that exploit women's insecurities and is fraught with unknowns, including a risk to sexual arousal, the British Medical Journal (BMJ) says.
Known as elective genitoplasty, the surgery usually entails shortening or changing the shape of the outer lips, or labia, but may also include reduction in the hood of skin covering the clitoris or shortening the vagina itself.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that the practice is spreading fast in the United States as well as in Britain, but the picture is unclear, the BMJ says.
Not only is there a disturbing lack of data about the phenomenon, there has been negligible assessment about surgical after-effects -- and almost zero reflexion as to whether a labial "problem" exists in the first place, the BMJ says angrily.
In 2004-5, 800 "labial reductions" were conducted by Britain's state-run National Health Service (NHS), more than a doubling of the figure of six years earlier. Other operations were carried out by the private sector, although the full figures are unknown.
The authors of the article, London gynaecologist Sarah Creighton and clinical psychologist Lih Mei Liao, conducted their own small-scale probe into why women sought this surgery.
"Our patients sometimes cited restrictions on lifestyle as reasons for their decision," they say.
"These restrictions included inability to wear tight clothing, go to the beach, take communal showers or ride a bicycle comfortably, or avoidance of some sexual practices.
"Men, however, do not usually want the size of their genitals reduced for such reasons. Furthermore, they find alternative solutions for any discomfort arising from rubbing or chaffing of the genitals."
Patients who sought genitoplasty "uniformly" wanted their vulvas to be flat and with no protrusion, similar to the prepubescent look of girls in Western fashion ads, they found.
"Not unlike presenting for a haircut at a salon, women often brought along images to illustrate the desired appearance," say Creighton and Liao. "The illustrations, usually from advertisements or pornography, are always selective and possibly digitally altered."
Plastic surgery to the labia carries risks, for this zone carries nerve fibres that are highly sensitive and are a key pathway of sexual arousal, the article warns sternly.
"Incision to any part of the genitalia could compromise sensitivity," it says.
The BMJ piece suggests genitoplasty is a classic example of where commercial, media and social pressures artificially create a problem, fuel concern over it and then put forward a solution for it.
"There is nothing unusual about protrusion of the labia," it says.
"It is the negative meaning that makes it into a problem -- meanings that can give rise to physical, emotional and behavioural reactions, such as discomfort, self-disgust, perhaps avoidance of some activities and a desire for a surgical fix."
Glad you got the whole story now!!!!
Nice work.
It definitely was. :) Thanks!
no
funny, my magazines never speak to me, either angrily or nicely
don't you LIKE my coffee?
You would post that picture...
I think they are talking about tight clothing like biking shorts or bathing suits.
Camel Toe, they call it.
Do NOT gooogle that.
I certainly did not intend my remarks to be taken that way, and certainly wasn't trying to lump anybody. I can understand your exasperation, but you have to believe me when I tell you that I am far more skilled at repulsing quality women on an individual basis than doing so en masse.
Have you no heart?
I’M BLIND!!!!
There is no justification for the mutilation of a healthy bodily organ. Current medical science rejects circumcision as medically unnecessary. See Recent Medical Studies on Circumcision.
In the end, in these mutilatory procedures, we're claiming that God erred somehow in creating the human body. Perhaps it is we who err in the way we view the human body.
Interestingly, Hebrew circumcision presents a difficulty, (although less so than modern circumcision, which is more drastic) since God wills the mutilation of a healthy bodily organ. The difficulty is that circumcision appears to be an evil willed by God, rather than an evil permitted by God.
The solution lies in the fact that circumcision is related to God's covenant relationship with the Israelites; its sacrificial nature tells us something about this covenant.
God is within His rights to require sacrifice for the good of individuals or a people.
It is a foundation of Judaism that we are to control our animal desires and direct them into spiritual pursuits. Nowhere does a person have more potential for expressing "barbaric" behavior than in the sex drive. That's why the Bris is done on this specific organ. If we bring holiness into our life there, then all other areas will follow.A very interesting discussion of the problem of Judaism and natural law here.
Respect for Bodily Integrity: A Catholic Perspective on Circumcision in Catholic Hospitals
I hate that song! All copies of it must be destroyed!
I'm with you there. It's completely out of control. I don't see any simple legal remedy. In a sane world, candidates for plastic surgery would have to go before some kind of medical review board. But in today's world, people would just go and get it done under the table. There would be no shortage of butchers willing to do it for a price.
Bwahahahahahahahahaha!
*gasp*
Bwahahahahahahahahaha!
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