Making the cut: Mass media and the growing desire for genital cosmetic surgery by young women and girls

Women and girls have long been confronted with unrealistic, unattainable body image norms. Additionally, the ‘ideal feminine’ body has been subject to constant change over the last centuries and decades. With the proliferation of the Internet, women and girls are continuously exposed to advice from heteronormative discourses of womanhood. Demand for cosmetic surgery has dramatically increased and is still expanding. Recently, women’s and girls’ awareness has shifted towards how they should ‘improve’ the aesthetic appeal of their labia, ‘optimise’ their vaginas, and generally make their vulva ‘healthier’, leading to a growing popularity of female genital cosmetic surgery. Proponents of surgical interventions (falsely) claim them as agentic methods of self-expression and promise ‘improvement’ beyond the individual’s control. The marketing of these procedures is predicated on shame and has been described as aggressive. Our postmodern era brings new visions of desired body image, and a rise of Internet-based digital connections between people. This means new body image ‘norms’ are instantly circulated and changed, and body image is continuously scrutinised and shamed. Coupled with increased accessibility of Internet-based nudity and pornographic material, and prevailing associations of shame and taboo about female genitalia, consequences particularly for young women’s perceptions of body image are drastic. This chapter discusses the Internet’s role in the recent desire by young women and girls to seek genital cosmetic surgery..