Vaginas are like snowflakes and penises. Every one is a little bit different.
So I've gotten a few requests from viewers to talk about labiaplasty on the show, in
other words plastic surgery that people get on their external female genitalia, aka your
vulva. Anatomically speaking, a normal 'vagina' simply looks like a vulva, inner and outer
labia, clitoris, clitoral hood, vaginal opening, there. In terms of size and aesthetics, we
don't--by we I mean myself and well-trained doctors--don't actually know what a normal
vaginal looks like. Exhibit A, a 2005 study published in the International Journal of
Obstetrics and Gynecology called 'Female Genital Appearance: "Normality" Unfolds'. The conclusion
that they came to was and I quote, 'In general there are surprisingly few descriptions of
normal female genitalia in medical literature. In contrast, measurements for male genitals
are widely available and were published as early as 1899. Hmm. Not only is it assumed
that every guy's penis is a little bit different but there is even an old saying about not
being the size of the boat but the motion of the ocean. They've got data, they've got
rhymes, we know a lot about penises. When it comes to vaginas though, in 2005 huh? What
do those crazy things look like? Exhibit B is a 2010 study called 'Visual Depictions
of Female Genitalia Differ Depending on Source'. How did I get that out? Like the Exhibit A
study it notes how quote, 'Very little research has attempted to describe normal human variation
in female genitalia. No studies have compared the visual images that women might use in
constructing their ideas of average and acceptable genital morphology to see if there are any
systematic differences. What this study did was look at the images of vaginas depicted
in human anatomy textbooks, feminist publications, pornography. If you're looking at a bunch
of porn you're going to assume as the porn will display for you that smaller is better.
If however you're looking at feminist publications or human anatomy textbooks you will be exposed
to more of a diversity of female genital anatomy. I'll say it again: Like penises, every vagina
is a little bit different. Despite what a lot of porn would lead us to believe. I'm
not crusading against pornography, I am more advocating for education of what vaginas actually
look like. Porn vaginas are not necessarily real-world vaginas. Can we talk like adults
and agree on that? The most specific medical description of variation that I could find
said that they pretty much range from 5 millimeters long to 5 centimeters long. Get out your measuring
tapes folks cause that's a big difference. Even though in all likelihood a lot of girls
and women and hey even guys aren't aware of the wide variety of what a normal vagina looks
like, labiaplasty is on the rise. In 2012 in fact there was a fivefold increase of women
seeking cosmetic surgery for their vulvas. There are medically legitimate reasons for
seeking a labiaplasty. If labia are large enough they can cause discomfort in your clothing,
can cause a lot of friction, intercourse can be painful, researchers are finding more and
more with this rise of labiaplasty, a lot of it is compelled simply by aesthetic concerns.
Another study published in the British Journal of Medicine which found even when doctors
reassured women that their vaginas were perfectly normal, 40% of them still proceeded with the
labiaplasty. Today in the United States for instance we have anywhere from 5 to 50 thousand
women per year who are shelling out 3 to 10 thousand dollars out of pocket because this
typically is not covered by insurance to get part of their vulvas removed. In the UK the
rise of labiaplasty has been similarly swift to the point that last year the Royal College
of Obstetricians and Gynecologists issued a statement saying that women were seeking
out these operations because of and I quote, 'Increasing access to unrealistic and narrow
representations of vulval appearances in popular culture.' We are buying into a lie that a
vagina should look a certain way. By a certain way let me simply just say that there is a
plastic surgeon who prides himself on the invention of a procedure he calls 'the Barbie'.
Are we really living in a Barbie World? For the sake of vaginas everywhere, I truly hope not.