Abstract:
Should vaginas only be seen if they are ‘perfect’?
Between the lamenting of Brazilian-waxing trends and the dichotomous reporting of the apparent au naturel fad (as recently sported by American Apparel mannequins), one cannot help but notice the discussion of female genital fashioning in the media and popular culture. No longer is the vagina relegated to the private sphere; it has become a beacon of female sexual assertiveness and social compliance (or defiance). Women of all ages are subject to a new standard of vaginal appearance, a standard informed by pornography and propagated by free enterprise and the mainstream media. By painful, costly and time-consuming means, women are altering their ‘bits’ to mimic those of a prepubescent girl: smooth, hairless and with a ‘clean’ vaginal slit with no visible labia minora.
Details / PDF:
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