The Perfect Vagina : Cosmetic Surgery in the Twenty-First Century : Cosmetic Surgery in the Twenty-First Century

In the West, a specific ideal for female genitalia has emerged: one of absence, a "clean slit," attained through the removal of pubic hair and, increasingly, through female genital cosmetic surgery known as FGCS. In The Perfect Vagina: Cosmetic Surgery in the Twenty-First Century , Lindy McDougall provides an ethnographic account of women who choose FGCS in Australia and the physicians who perform these procedures, both in Australia and globally, while also examining the environment in which surgeons and women come together. Physicians have a vested interest in establishing this surgery as valid medical intervention, despite majority medical opinion explicitly acknowledging that a wide range of genital variation is normal. McDougall offers a nuanced picture of why and how these procedures are performed and draws parallels between FGCS and anthropological discussions of female genital circumcision (cutting). Using the neologism biomagical , she argues that cosmetic surgery functions as both ritual and sacrifice due to its promise of transformation while simultaneously submitting the body to the risks and pain of surgery, thus exposing biomedicine as an increasingly cultural and commercial pursuit. The Perfect Vagina highlights the complexities involved with FGCS, its role in Western beauty culture, and the creation and control of body image in countries where self-care is valorized and medicine is increasingly harnessed for enhancement as well as health.

In the West, a specific ideal for female genitalia has emerged: one of absence, a "clean slit," attained through the removal of pubic hair and, increasingly, through female genital cosmetic surgery known as FGCS.

In The Perfect Vagina: Cosmetic Surgery in the Twenty-First Century, Lindy McDougall provides an ethnographic account of women who choose FGCS in Australia and the physicians who perform these procedures, both in Australia and globally, while also examining the environment in which surgeons and women come together. Physicians have a vested interest in establishing this surgery as valid medical intervention, despite majority medical opinion explicitly acknowledging that a wide range of genital variation is normal. McDougall offers a nuanced picture of why and how these procedures are performed and draws parallels between FGCS and anthropological discussions of female genital circumcision (cutting). Using the neologism biomagical, she argues that cosmetic surgery functions as both ritual and sacrifice due to its promise of transformation while simultaneously submitting the body to the risks and pain of surgery, thus exposing biomedicine as an increasingly cultural and commercial pursuit.

The Perfect Vagina highlights the complexities involved with FGCS, its role in Western beauty culture, and the creation and control of body image in countries where self-care is valorized and medicine is increasingly harnessed for enhancement as well as health.

In the West, a specific ideal for female genitalia has emerged: a "clean slit," obtained through the removal of pubic hair and, increasingly, through female genital cosmetic surgery, known as FGCS. In The Perfect Vagina, Lindy McDougall provides an ethnographic account of women who choose FGCS in Australia and the physicians who perform these procedures, while also examining the environment in which these surgeons and women come together. Such physicians have a vested interest in establishing the surgery as valid medical intervention, despite the fact that majority medical opinion explicitly acknowledges that a wide range of variation is normal. McDougall offers a nuanced picture of why and how these procedures are performed and draws parallels between FGCS and the anthropological discussions of female genital circumcision. Using the neologism biomagical, she argues that cosmetic surgery functions as both ritual and sacrifice due to its promise of transformation while simultaneously submitting the body to the risks and pain of surgery, thus exposing it as an increasingly cultural and commercial pursuit. The Perfect Vagina highlights the complexities involved in FGCS, its role in Western beauty culture, and the creation and control of body image in capitalist countries, where medicine is increasingly harnessed for enhancement rather than health. **In the West, a specific ideal for female genitalia has emerged: one of absence, a "clean slit," attained through the removal of pubic hair and, increasingly, through female genital cosmetic surgery known as FGCS.** __The Perfect Vagina__ highlights the complexities involved with FGCS, its role in Western beauty culture, and the creation and control of body image in countries where self-care is valorized and medicine is increasingly harnessed for enhancement as well as health. Cover Title Page Copyright Contents Acknowledgments Prologue: Mandy’s Story Introduction: Vulnerable Vulvas 1. Melting Snowflakes: Toward a Clean Slit 2. Normativity and the Contradictory Nature of Normal 3. Seeking Vulval Perfection 4. Vulva Las Vegas: Science, Magic (a Gamble), or More of the Same? 5. Autonomy, Risk, Desire, and Magic Appendices References Index About the Author The Perfect Vagina highlights the complexities involved with Female Genital Cosmetic Surgery, its role in Western beauty culture, and the creation and control of body image in countries where self-care is valorized and medicine is increasingly harnessed for enhancement as well as health.