“We were able to significantly improve and reduce the level of staining of the intimate area, providing a more even and harmonious appearance,” reads the page of a gynecological procedures clinic where the so-called “ genital whitening”. Thanks to laser sessions combined with chemical depigmentation, they manage to “beautify” the intimate area, making it whiter. But why would a white vulva be more beautiful than a darker one? Another cosmetic procedure from the same clinic: the labiaplasty, designed “to improve the functionality and aesthetic appearance of the female intimate area “. What they do is reduce the size of the labia majora and labia minora, “correct” excess volume, malformations or asymmetries, providing, in his words, “a more harmonious and rejuvenated appearance”, which leads to “greater sexual pleasure and increased self-esteem”. the patients. Again: why would a symmetrical vulva with thin labia provide more pleasure than others? This decision will depend on each woman, I suppose. What makes noise is to see how you are Aesthetic clinics continue, at this point in the game, to install an ideal of white, thin, and proportionate female genitalia as desirable and functional, versus the asymmetrical, bulky, and pigmented ones of a lifetime.

It sounds grotesque but it is real; a few weeks ago the social networks of the community »The rebellion of the body They denounced as symbolic violence a series of advertisements in which cosmetic procedures related to female genitalia were sold. One of these aesthetic centers, which promoted labiaplasty or surgical reduction of the labia, even illustrated a “bulky” vulva with a photograph of a collapsing ham sandwich. “Because presentation matters” was the motto that accompanied the photo. The indignation of the followers was total. “Historically, the advertising and commercial industry has sold us specific stereotypes of beauty for each part of our body, including the most intimate parts, in general, with the promise of improving our self-esteem and as a path to empowerment, where it is associated. with aesthetics to the value we can have as people” they say on behalf of the Rebellion community. “We do not judge those who have undergone these procedures or who have thought about doing them, because these are ideas that the system installs as “needs” in the collective unconscious. We think it is important to make visible the effects and the costs that this has had on the expression of body diversity, for the benefit of a market industry, which sells us these interventions by creating insecurities”. Much of these “needs”, they say, have been installed from stereotypes imposed, mainly by the pornography industry and also by various cultural values, where the qualities of “beautiful, white and young” are positively reinforced. “These aesthetic features would make vulvas ‘desirable’ and ‘attractive’, however, these models are inaccessible to most people, generating deep feelings of frustration which often guide the decision-making to access this type of procedure with the idea that, in this way, acceptance and social value will be found.

The doctor Loreto Vargas Pampaloni , obstetrician gynecologist, master in sexuality and director of gynecologists in Chile, specifies in advance that the vaginal laser has very specific indications, such as in women who have had malformations due to menopause, women who have undergone chemotherapy or radiotherapy for gynecological cancer or certain specific autoimmune pathologies. However, actual and specific indications account for one-tenth of all procedures performed. “The percentage of these procedures that are actually necessary is very, very low. Needs are created among women who take advantage of their precariousness, still wanting the hegemony of vulvas, bald, white and turquoise, a bit like the vulvas of porn, which go to a casting of vulva. All this subject of bleaching among other procedures is not necessary and they are, in a way, procedures that mobilize millions and millions of pesos. I think there is little ethics and a lot of desire to make money”

There FIGO, (International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics) actually has clear guidelines regarding genital cosmetic surgeries; These must meet four criteria to be considered ethically permissible, including that they have a scientific evidence base for their efficacy and safety, which they say does not exist. Ethically, for FIGO, it is totally inadmissible for an obstetrician-gynecologist to propose, recommend, practice or direct aesthetic genital surgery. Despite this, in April of this year, in Chile, in full committee, the First International Congress of Aesthetic and Regenerative Gynecology , with exhibitors from around the world and an entry fee of up to US$1,455. (Data for the cause: of the 23 speakers, only one was a woman)

The doctor Vargas Pampaloni He says it should be assumed that most of these cosmetic procedures are unnecessary. “If we’re already starting to do something we don’t need and we have a complication, that’s a complication we don’t need either” he warns. “Also, because it’s a very lucrative market, there are a lot of people who don’t have the proper training, they don’t have the technical knowledge to be able to do them. I do not want to say that all the procedures are useless and bad, but I think that it is necessary to have a lot of criteria to decide what to do and what not to do and, above all, not to resort to misleading advertising. Because we are creating an unreal need and, in addition, expectations that we are not going to meet”. The matron Ximena Encinas He also warns, “Any surgery and procedure can have side effects and unwanted situations. If you are going to have a procedure, you need to know who you are dealing with and what complications may exist.”

Enlargement of the “G-spot” is another of the procedures performed in these clinics. It consists of increasing the size of the “G-spot” by injecting hyaluronic acid, improving, it is said, the surface of friction and friction. “Its application gives more volume to the tissues and sensitivity, thus increasing the intensity of the female orgasm, which leads to increased sexual pleasure.” Is it so? “The G-spot doesn’t exist, to expand something that doesn’t exist as a point seems completely unethical to me to present it in any way,” says Loreto, who explains that it is supposedly an anatomical point that lies more or less on the plane. anterior vaginal barrier, 3 centimeters, and that it is linked to the clitoris and that it is named after the name of the doctor who supposedly discovered it. “It creates a lot of fantasies and it also kind of underlies this approach to women’s sexuality as an object of pleasure and not as a subject and emphasizes coitocentrism. Often we believe that we can have the panacea to improve women’s sexuality and quite often intersectionality, discrimination, even mental load or situations of rights violation have much more influence on the way I live my sexuality than on increasing the “G-spot”. “. Other limiting beliefs, education to say it one way or another, castrating or very guilty are also much more important than the supposed point.

“All beauty stereotypes have the potential to negatively impact people’s overall health,” they say of Body Rebellion. “To the extent that they generate feelings of guilt, inadequacy and constant insecurity and therefore contribute to the development of limiting beliefs about how we ‘should’ live and express our sexuality. In the specific case of stereotypes towards the vulva, these can contribute, for example, to having unpleasant or satisfying sexual relations, to sexual abstinence or to avoiding self-exploration of the body because “I don’t look like not ideal”. Often, those who access this type of aesthetic procedures do not know the associated risks or adverse effects and, on the other hand, many women stop showing up for their medical examinations because they are ashamed of their genital appearance or for fear of being violated by various medical/professional commentaries, where some of these aesthetic procedures are suggested, often without even having thought of this possibility”.

For the specialist, it is not a question of having a toxic positivism and simply saying that you have to love yourself and love yourself as you are, because in fact you risk not loving your vulva. But It is important to question the aesthetic parameters imposed on us. » What is a beautiful vulva? What is an ugly vulva? If we look at the advertising of these clinics, they present a hegemonic vulva. And the percentage of the population that has this vulva is very low! “. As a recommendation in the face of so many offers of genital “perfection”, Loreto invites you to follow accounts such as The Vulva Gallery , where the true diversity of women is shown. “Vulvas and genitals are all different and that’s where the beauty lies.”