I love my "Meaty Labia". I feel sorry for women who don't love their labia the way it is. I bet if you ask Dr. Hunter what he likes, it would be the opposite of what women are asking him to change.

For some of us it's not even about liking them, it's how it can reduce the quality of life. As a runner who runs about 5 miles a day, it is starting to become a problem for me. When my labia are swollen, one side will somehow slip past the other and catch on the inner seams of my running pants. I'm usually several miles from home and I can't do anything about it. By the end of my run the area is rubbed raw and I am sore for several days until it heals. I have heard of labiaplasty, but am a little scared of the idea. However it may be something I'll have to look into.

Ah yes, the influence of porn reaches everywhere these days. Okay, I get some women may actually have a problem--but I sure wasn't hearing about models/runners/moms having that pesky labia "falling out" of their knickers ten years ago.
Should people be able to have this surgery? Sure, just like they should be able to smoke. It is a free country after all.
Hey! You know what the Western equivalent of a chador is? A size 4 mini skirt and a designer labia.
Oh, I guess no one is free. My bad.

Uhhhh . . . I am a little confused . . . is the labia the same thing as a "girl wiener"? If so, as long as it isn't bigger than my "man wiener" then I don't care how big a chick's labia may be.

Huh. So, you want women to get their labia sheered off to make some kind of paisley designer boutique version of surgical wondrous perfection? Why don't you go get laid? By a marble statue? Or a plastic doll of some sort?

eek. This is sicko. Sorry. But not sorry. Yes, women do have the same essential xx xy stuff as men, but more "recessive". Men seem to like it...er, until now. With all the marketing pressure and such.

"Mount of Venus" go hang. What, are the surgeons ready with knives and anesthesia handy to make women yet "more perfect" e.g,less like women and therefore yet again more suited for insecure men? I HATE THIS STUFF!!! ERGH!!!

Ok I'm being
"emotionally labile" hmmmm wonder where the roots of that word come from...

g

I think it'd be much easier to modify the clothing over the body, that way nothing will 'hang out'. Just an (obvious) thought.

Though of course if individuals need such surgery, proper counselling and risk assessment is the way to go.

The idea of having any part of your body unnescessarily cut off is just downright gross.It seems we haven't come too far from the days when women used to have their two bottom ribs removed in order to have smaller waistlines.This is sad.

This is what adds to the pressures of the world we live in today. Can we not even accept the way our private parts were born?? Do they have to be altered to fit an "ideal" in todays world? Is this just another thing that one needs to feel self conscious about?? This is sad.

I wonder how many of the women who are horrified at this sort of plastic surgery consent to the mutiliation of their baby boys by circumcision?

Hi everyone, I am a student doing my masters degree in psychology at the moment, and i am particularly interested in human sexuality. I do believe, that for some women, this procedure is medically necessary (i.e. the women who experiences pain while running and rashes), but I also believe that this could easily become a "fad" due to societal pressures on women to fit into this perfect mold. This procedure should be offered for medical reasons ONLY, not cosmetics purposes. I too believe it is sad that this procedure is becoming more common. I can only hope that this is due to medical conditions...

Since no one else has said it. I am a male that finds large labia beautiful and smaller hidden labia minora far less attractive. I am certain that there must be many more like me - so - the idea of surgery like this to meet someonel elses (where did this notion of the perfect or correct labia size start anyway?) idea of gentital beauty - Puhleeez!

I am one of those 'academicians' referred to in this post - a psychologist who has been researching understandings of women's genitals, and now specifically genital cosmetic surgery, for over a decade.

It is vital that we have a critical debate about this topic. Yes, there are some women for whom the labia minora cause physical discomfort. But there are many others, for whom the distress is psychologically and socially produced.

Is surgery the solution? It may be a solution for an individual woman - but we simply do not have the answer to this question. At present, there is no adequate published data to support the claims that are made in the media and elsewhere, about how transformative it will be. Furthermore, and of even more concern, there are not data about the risks and dangers. In the last couple of years, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists published a position paper on female genital cosmetic surgery, which urged caution about these procedures, as medical information about risks, and benefits, are not yet known.

But there are two more important questions:

1. While people might argue for 'rights' and 'choice', it's important to question where those 'choices' come from. There's nothing naturally undesirable about 'longer' labia minora, just as there's nothing natural about wanting to have them removed. We westerners live in a very individualistic culture, and see ourselves as entirely self-determining. Instead, I would suggest our ideals and desires are very culturally-influenced. People don't like to think that there might be any parallels between what is often called 'female genital mutilation' (FGM) and this. 'FGM' is often seen (in the west) as only a result of cultural (patriarchal) oppression of women; Female genital cosmetic surgery is seen only as (western) women's 'choice'. But we can't have it both ways. We can't think that only some women in some cultures are influenced by culture. We all are, westerners and non-westerners alike. And there's a long history in the west of negative cultural meaning around women's genitalia, and specifically 'longer' labia minora. Recent cultural shifts around pornography, pubic hair removal, and oral sex also help make sense of these surgeries.

2. What are the effects on women as a whole, of the promotion of this surgery? Does it create a new 'norm' for ideal appearance, another aspect of their bodies that women worry about not getting 'right'? I guess the point I would like to make is that as much as culture influences individual practices, individual practices feed back into culture. Girl's apparent increasing concerns about genital abnormality (and lack of awareness of female genital diversity) are a real concern for their future sexual and reproductive health.

I hardly know where to begin. Dr. Lamm is my colleague at New York University and yet I did not know that he is an "expert in sexual health." As best I can determine he is not a member of any sexology organizations nor has he attended their conferences (International Academy of Sex Research, Society for the Scientific Study of Sex, Society for Sex Therapy and Research, World Association for Sexual Health, American Association for Sex Education, Counseling and Therapy, etc etc). I don't believe he has published any peer-reviewed research on sexuality.

However, regardless of his qualifications to be writing a blog on sexuality (on a PSYCHOLOGY TODAY page, no less, now I am really confused!!), I wonder what the topic of labiaplasty has to do with sexuality.
Yes, I know that some surgeons claim that some women are distressed by their labia and can be sexually inhibited, but surely surgery is not a simple retail store situation where unnecessary procedures (in 2007 the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology ruled that labiaplasties were "not medically necessary") are sold to women because some self-interested party has decided it's a trend.

I have looked at many surgeons' websites promoting labia surgery which show before-and-after photographs which distress me tremendously. The before pictures show a wide variety of perfectly normal vulvar anatomy and the after pictures show a scary prepubertal-style standardized uniformity.

Dr. Lamm offers no review of the surgical side effects of this surgery, no examination of the sexual consequences, no discussion of the different surgical approaches and their outcomes.
I am truly disheartened by this blog entry.

I recommend interested readers consult some of the resources on http://newviewcampaign.org/userfiles/file/Resource%20list%20on%20FGCS.pdf
Look at the surgeons' before-and-after photos and see what they communicate to you.

I especially draw attention to genitally positive positive videos by Betty Dodson such as "Viva la Vulva" and “Selfloving:Portrait Of A Women's Sexuality Seminar” http://www.dodsonandross.com/boutique/videos
Perhaps Dr.Lamm might find them of interest as well.

Leonore Tiefer, PhD
Department of Psychiatry
NYU School of Medicine

Why wonder about this? Isn't this just another form of elective surgery? In deciding on elective surgery, people have a duty to educate themselves and make decisions for themselves -- not for the good of society in general or their gender. It seems this is just another facet of the debate on advertising medical options -- from new pills to hospitals and doctors. And, it seems, that train has left the station.

I agree that further study is needed -- to help people make informed choices. But, I do not understand why a campaign to eliminate this procedure's advertising -- which I now see in newspapers -- or to lead the fight against this procedure -- is any different than banning advertisements for penis enlargement, breast implants and erectile dysfuntion. After all, male groomers now advertise the "optical inch". If there were a way to effectively surgically enhance male penis size or add to girth, it would blanket the airwaves and be a new medical growh industry. After all look at all the pills "Smiling Bob" has sold, and there is no science that supports them providing any change at all.

i have to tell you, it might be vain of me...but the girl that I love has a meaty labia...and it visually turns me off to the point where i don't enjoy going down on her...i don't have the courage to say anything though...