New research in Australia has emerged that has found that the vast majority of women in Australia think of their vaginas as unattractive. And that’s putting it lightly.
In a survey of nearly 800 Australian women (read: large, credible sample size), nearly half of all respondents said they had considered or would consider cosmetic genital surgery. A whopping 75% (!) said that they did not want their partners looking at their vaginas during sex, since they felt they would be a “turn-off.”
Half of the group, which had a mean age of 34, worried that their partner would find the look or odour of their genitals ”repulsive”, while one in four feared the size or appearance of parts of their vulval region were unattractive or inadequate.
Labioplasty is on the rise in Australia and more and more women are suffering such high levels of anxiety regarding the appearance of their lady parts that they can’t relax during sex.
One doctor relays a story of a patient:
”In my private practice I had a 16-year-old girl who came in and said her 18-year-old boyfriend told her her vagina didn’t look like the images he saw on the internet.
”That’s often where the beginnings of anxiety start.
”Young women are very confused.”
Unfortunately, the PhD candidate behind the research, Frances D’Arcy-Tehan, did not go as far in her policy recommendations as to question the role of pornography in shaping society’s expectations of women. A major driver of technological development, pornography has also been at the root of female subjugation and self-loathing. The issue is not only that women’s self-perception is being affected by pornography, but also men’s perceptions of women. That an 18 year old boy, instead of being ecstatic at the opportunity to have sex with his girlfriend, would question the appearance of her genitals is alarming. Because of this pervasive and perverse industry, boys are coming to expect not only certain standards of beauty from women, but also standards of behaviour in the bedroom, much of which has little to do with women’s own pleasure.
This is discouraging news.
