Earlier in the year we reported there’d been a growth in ‘designer vagina’ operations. We’d found that the NHS has seen a growth in labiaplasty requests, with five times more being asked for than 10 years ago. We also saw that private cosmetic companies offering the procedure in the UK had grown to 65 private clinics this year compared to the 48 in 2013.
But now those clinics and the doctors working in them could be committing a crime if they contuinue to perform the procedures. As Home Secretary Theresa May yesterday told parliament, ‘designer vagina’ operations could be deemed as illegal as female genital mutilation (FGM), despite the woman choosing to have it – unless, of course, there’s a mental or physical health need.
May’s comments were made as a response to a home affairs select committee report on FGM in which MPs called on the Government to consider introducing a ban on cosmetic genital surgery on girls aged under 18.
May said: ‘Ultimately, it would be for a court to decide if purely cosmetic surgery constitutes mutilation and is therefore illegal’.
Which means that individual courts could be asked to rule whether purely cosmetic surgery falls into the same criminal category as FGM.
Now, we can completely see that the actual procedures for FGM and labiaplasty are very similar. And, of course, we certainly don’t support the influence of porn ideals affecting how we – nor our nether region – look. So we welcome May’s remarks as sending a much needed reminder that changing our bodies (or vaginas) to please these male enforced expectations is never a good idea.
But should it be made illegal? Surely it’s every adult woman’s right to choose what she does with her body, no matter how sad it might make us. It’s her body and vagina, after all.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.