Vulva activism
It is supported by several independent feminist groups and based on diverse channels of communication such as cyberfeminism, protest marches and advocating boycotts against physicians and clinics that make use of deceptive advertising.
While the men's penis often serves as a symbol of virility and prowess, the vulva is associated with contradictory and oftentimes negative evaluations and meanings in western society.
The Anthropologist Carlos Sulkin depicts this connection as a culturally associative network, whereby the tabooing of the vulva and problematic ideals of beauty are closely linked.
Activists and supporters encourage women (and also men) to develop more positive attitudes towards the vulva and to accept anatomical variations as they are.
The aim is to educate men and women about normal female anatomy and its variations and break taboos surrounding the vulva.
Therefore, these depictions of female genitalia are often "beautified" to suit commercial need (or in some countries for legal reasons),[19][20] either by the selection of models with a certain anatomy or by photoshopping the images.
The authors conclude that: The continuing repression of female sexuality, wherein direct exposure to female genitalia may elicit a sense of impropriety or disgust, and the resulting censorship of untucked labia in media, may contribute to the perceived normalcy of the more tucked in or invisible labial appearance.Another 2022 study that used a similar methodology not only found natural, unaltered vulvas - again when compared to vulvas that had undergone labiaplasty - to be rated as less normal and ideal, but in fact to be disgusting!
[24] Also in other Western countries such as Germany, the picture is similar: naturally developed inner labia are considered to be ugly and disgusting, a deformity that should ideally be surgically removed.
Demands include that female genitalia be allowed to be depicted in the popular press (i.e. without the legal requirement of "photoshopping" the labia away, as is the case e.g. in Australia[19]), that parents use the anatomically correct terms in conversation with their children,[26] or that children's dolls such as Barbie not be shipped without vulvas[27][28] (in fact, "Barbie style" is a common term for an extensive form of labiaplasty in which the labia minora are completely removed[29]).
The London-based feminist group UK Feminista organized a protest march through Harley Street, an area synonymous with its private medical providers, in December 2011.
", and "Harley Street puts my chuff in a huff"[31] Muff March is about speaking back to a pornified culture which is pressuring women to go under the surgeon's knife and get a "designer vagina".
In a self-description, New View "is opposed to the growth of the unregulated and unmonitored genital cosmetic surgery industry that is medicalizing women's sexuality and creating new risks, norms and insecurities.
Think of it in terms of thin women who are often shamed or shunned in support of body image advocacy for larger girls.Furthermore, these campaigns as well have been criticized for putting too much blame on the porn industry and the subjection to male desires.
Courageous Cunts considered itself to be part of the labia pride movement, with the aim of raising awareness for critical issues around labiaplasty and empowering women to overcome body shame.
The site ran a campaign during which women could publicly post photographs of their vulvas to promote a natural genital image and protest against "porn aesthetics".
The project clears up ideas of norms and wants to encourage people to overcome the shame regarding vulvas that has developed over many centuries.
Vulvaversity deliberately refrains from aestheticizing or artistically depicting the photographed vulvas and thus shows unadulterated, unchanged images.
