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Culture
29 Noviembre 2016 22:40
Between 2001 and 2010, the number of labiaplasty operations in England increased fivefold. The procedure involves altering the size of the labia minora of the female genitalia, and it’s usually carried out for aesthetic reasons. Because advertising, fashion, cinema, and pornography have convinced us all that our vulvas must be symmetrical, hairless, and perfect, women are increasingly willing to place their faith – and the most intimate part of their body – in the hands of a surgeon.
After visiting The Vulva Gallery however, we can see how wrong we were.
This Instagram account and webpage were launched in 2016 by Hilde Atalanta, an illustrator from Amsterdam who decided it was time to celebrate the genital diversity of women.
Her gallery is full of vulvas of all types, sizes, shapes, and colours.
Vulvas during their period: bleeding or with a tampon peeking out.
Bushy vulvas; bald vulvas; curly, blond, or black-haired vulvas.
Yellow, black, brown, and pink vulvas; even one that looks like a cat.
All drawn with a single objective: to vindicate the beauty of diversity.
“Labiaplasty because of cosmetic reasons isn’t a good development. I find it very difficult to see how far many individuals go to reach the ‘perfect’ looks. Of course, plastic surgery is something that we’ve seen growing in the past decades. But to have a surgeon cut away such a delicate part of your body - a part that is so sensitive, that gives you sexual pleasure, a natural part of yourself - just to look ‘pretty’; it’s hard for me to grasp that this is happening so often.”
On her page, Hilde says she understands why women feel the pressure to have the surgery, because, “like so many teenagers growing up, I’ve also been insecure about my own body - but still, it makes me really sad to see that the pressure so many individuals feel from the outside world is so big that they feel they need to undergo surgery.”
For Hilde, the solution is obvious: “The only way to change the way individuals experience their bodies is to educate them, and others, about natural variety.” And her way to do this is through her beautiful illustrations.
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