It looks like body image issues are not only limited to the size of your jeans, or whether your eyebrows are of the same exact proportions. A study published in the International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology found that women considered “modified” vulvas more “normal” and more suited to the “society’s ideal” of the perfect vagina.
As if it wasn’t hard enough to accept our waistlines, we’re now terrorized by the idea that our ahems are not up to society’s standards!
Conducted by Claire Moran from the University of Queensland School of Psychology, the study aimed to confirm one of the many reasons why healthy women want to undergo labiaplasty.
The study was divided into two screenings. In the first screening, 97 women between the ages of 18 to 30 years old were randomly assigned to look at a series of images of surgically modified vulvas, non-modified vulvas, or no images at all. During the second screening, all groups viewed a series of mixed images of both surgically modified and non-modified vulvas.
The subjects had to rate each image according to their perception of what “looks normal” and “represents society’s ideal”.
According to BJOG:
The study found that women who had initially viewed the modified vulvas identified the modified images in the second screening as more normal than the non-modified vulvas. This was significantly different from the control group, who initially viewed no images, and were 18% less likely to rate the modified vulvas as normal.
Furthermore, when asked to rate the images according to society’s ideal of genitalia, women in all three groups rated the modified images as more like society’s ideal than the non-modified vulva images. Again, women who initially viewed the modified images were 13% more likely to rate the modified vulvas as more society’s ideal than the control group.
Moran explains that being exposed to images of prettier or more “desirable” labia further influences women to find their parts unattractive:
“Our results showed that exposure to images of modified vulvas can significantly influence women’s perceptions of what is considered a normal and desirable vulval appearance.
These findings further heighten concerns that unrealistic concepts of what is considered normal may lead to genital dissatisfaction amongst women, encouraging them to seek unnecessary surgery.”
Meanwhile in Malaysia, women between ages of 25 and 55 are starting to invest in vaginal rejuvenation procedures, too.
Ladies, just remember that there should be no sense of uniformity when it comes to your parts. Whether it’s pink or brown, or hangs differently, it’s time we learned that whatever our parts look like, it’s our duty to love it. And there’s even an app to help you with it.
