“Time has come to see how women measure up.”
-The Vagina Institute
To address the current anxieties and judgments women face when confronted by the looks of their genitals, it is useful to describe the ways in which these anxieties are manifested. One place that serves as a good example of the pressures that can be brought to bear on women’s attitudes about their genitalia, and the “choice” to alter them, is the pseudo-medical website for The Vagina Institute (http://www.vaginainstitute.com).
They have a page titled, “Interactive Vaginal Tests,” where they ask “How well does your womanhood measure up?” For $17.95 a month, one can gain access to the site, where they “put on display vulvas and vaginas in a visual and uncensored manner allowing you to see and explore the differences between pretty and ugly female genitalia.” (1) The Institute also offers the service of assessing member’s vaginas themselves. Each member can submit a photo of their vagina, along with their height and weight, “vaginal measurements,” and a list of vaginal odours and fluids. The Institute will inform the participant if their vagina is sufficiently “pretty” or “ugly,” “large” or “small,” “normal” or “abnormal.”
Fig. I
If one fails to pass as “normal,” “pretty,” or “small,” The Vagina Institute can recommend some literature for their benefit. “Labia Enhancement,” an e-book, provides subscribers with “step-by-step guides on ways to improve, correct and fix labia minora, labia majora, mons pubis and vagina disorders such as asymmetrical lips, length problems, sagging, wrinkles, loose skin, etc.” (2) Apparently, these “disorders,” can “degrade the appearance of your genitalia making them look ugly and used” (ibid.). Again, for a fee, women can “naturally” create pretty and nice-smelling vaginas. The publisher of this helpful book is none other than The Vagina Institute (see figure 1).
The Institute claims to provide services and statistics, which are touted as scientific and accurate, although these services have been carried out by the site itself, and from no outside sources. “The information, data, research and photo encyclopedia is based on factual studies and are accurate [sic.] when it comes to exploring female sexuality in a manner never seen before”(ibid.). It is also claimed to be presented with “gender neutrality.”
In addition, the Institute claims to help women tackle their sexual fears and insecurities. It seems quite a noble goal when The Vagina Institute states: “Many women feel insecure about their sexuality and their ability to show their genitalia in a care free manner due to the stigma associated with female genitalia.” However, as quickly as it seems that the Institute is offering a helpful and necessary solution, they once again stigmatise the orifice when it is judged as being “pretty” or “ugly,” with the corrective solution being genital alteration. Because, naturally, “all women want to be pretty down there” (ibid.).
The Institute also seems to address the captivating image and the deeper psycho-analytic notions of the mythological “Vagina Dentata” (see figures 2 & 3):
Fig. 2
Some vaginas or female genitals even have a look like the one they have teeth [sic.]. This when seen by an intimate partner can be quite frightening and more so if the lights are dime [sic.] and shadows are appearing around the teeth like lips. Part of the fear given through myth is that a vagina like this will bite his manhood off. However, reality is that your partner might think that you are abnormal or have some disease, which caused your vaginal lips to take on a deformed looks [sic.].
The Institute, while aware of the flaw in judging the poor vulva, sends it off to be reformed rather than revered. “Vagina Dentata,” in this case, is not a symbol that represents man’s fear of woman, of the “unknown,” or of his own societal and physical impotence, but is simply a misunderstanding enhanced by poor lighting.* In fact, it is not that the vagina has teeth; it is simply that the vagina is “abnormal,” “deformed,” or “diseased,” and that is why the man is afraid.
While it is exciting that the female genitalia can step out from behind the “shroud of mystery” that it has crouched behind for centuries past, it is worrying that it would step into the hands of this “Institute,” which claims authenticity and accuracy, yet provides little more than petty stereotypes, “locker room” knowledge, and biased information. This website hardly advocates women’s sexual or emotional health, its studies are far from “factual,” and the site’s content itself is in sore need of a good proofreader.
The dishonesty of this site is particularly offensive because it claims to represent “norms,” “facts,” and “statistics” when it actually leads women away from any “real” knowledge about themselves and their bodies, and only re-affirms their worst fears. Upon further scrutiny, the site comes off as nothing more than a two-bit salesman with a collapsible stall in a red-light-district, flanked by salons which feature girls shooting ping-pong balls out of their vaginas.
However, the problem is much larger than the site itself, which is simply a metaphor for what is transpiring in Western culture as a whole. The problem is that women and men are “buying” it.
Fig. III
- The myth of the vagina dentate, derives from primitive masculine dread of the “mysteries” of women and sexual union. It evokes castration anxiety, whereby the man fears loss of the penis during intercourse, and more generally it relates to “fears of weakness, impotence, or annihilation by incorporation (connected to unconscious notions of “returning to the womb”).
References:
1. <http://www.vaginainstitute.com/>%5Baccessed on 7 July 2007].
2. <http://www.labiaenhancement.com/> [accessed on 5 August 2007].
The invention of the Internet has revolutionized notions about what is private and what is public, as one can enter this public domain from the privacy of his or her living room. The female sexual organs are entering into this public sphere, but it seems the public can only stomach the pre-pubescent gloss of the uncomplicated slit. The discourse around content regulation must take into account gender-related concerns, as online content, in particular pornography, represents a primarily heterosexual, masculine ideal of “barely-legal” female bodies, which is dictating and limiting women’s sexualities. As tobacco companies have been found to be destructive to public health, so are the unrealistic images of women that both sexes are consuming, which women are going under the knife to replicate.
The Ashes of Persephone... 