It's amazing how many things look like a vulva; besides actual porn that is
Fanny, pink bits, punani, Va Jay Jay. No I do not have Tourette’s but wow there are a lot of different slang words for vagina. VULVA! Uncomfortable? Perhaps you should stop reading now. No two vulvas look the same, just like no two penises look the same. Shocked? You should be considering the censorship of women’s vulvas in soft porn magazines like People, Hustler, Playboy etc.
We are used to only being able to view the vulva in a certain way thanks to the classification board. According to them a vulva must be “neat and tidy” to pass the board’s classification guidelines. And yes, the vulva is the only body part to receive this deceiving form of censorship. Not all vulvas have a ‘single crease’ and women shouldn’t feel demoralised if they don’t look the same as the women who pose for men’s magazines. Because you know what? They too have different vulvas to each other, but graphic designers are instructed to ‘tidy them up’.
Heaven forbid a man should view a real vulva anywhere else but the bedroom. And to all women who haven’t seen a vulva other than their own, you are not alone. Just like we all have different coloured hair; eyes; noses; skin colour – we have different vulvas and it’s about time that they are celebrated rather than hidden away because it is too graphic or too rude. Please. How is an erection any less rude to a woman’s natural vulva? Why are we only allowed to view vulvas that are innies and not outies? Yes I went there (you know what I’m talking about).
This reminds me of the brilliant ABC series Hungry Beast which went behind the scenes to explore a growing trend in our society, labiaplasty. In short, plastic surgery for your labia. Ouch. The journalist, Kirsten Drysdale, used the segment to explore the porn industry’s airbrushing of female genitalia, which gave an unrealistic image of what was “normal”.
The Great Wall of Vagina by Jamie McCartney
I’m sure if you’ve picked up a porno (c’mon who are you kidding?) you would have noticed the unusual ‘perfection’ of the lips of the vagina, which is the labia. Industry sources claimed they were forced to airbrush pictures due to classification rules which deemed explicit depictions of female genitalia to be inappropriate. How is a woman’s natural vulva inappropriate? After all, it is the way our children are brought into this world and it should be marvelled at, not deemed offensive. I think it’s important for women to understand the deliberate censorship that exists around female genitalia, so that we can take steps towards eradicating it.
A former editor of Picture magazine is even quoted as saying in the documentary, “the labia minora is too offensive for soft porn”. Also interviewed is a graphic designer whose job it is to cut and paste the image of the woman’s vulva so it is ‘healed to a single crease’. What is happening here? Why aren’t we allowed to see the vulva for what it is? Perhaps the reason for the sudden increase in labiaplasty surgery is linked to the porn industry.
Unless you’ve had sex with a woman there’s a good chance that you’ve never seen another vulva other than your own. Ladies, if you take a look at your vulva and the vulvas in the porn mags you will notice a difference. A big difference. But, this isn’t something that should make you feel bad about yours. I can imagine that when women flick through these mags they wonder if all women are like this. They’re not. I’m not. And we need to realise the inappropriate behaviour lies with the classification board who make these offensive decisions. There is nothing offensive or rude about a woman’s natural genitalia. And women shouldn’t feel they need to have surgery to look like the women in centerfolds.
Often, when we don’t understand something, we fear it, which is only further perpetuating the cycle. The classification board needs to review these guidelines because an unrealistic portrayal of a woman’s vulva is degrading and sexist. I’m not against porn, as you know. I think porn can be quite a healthy expression of one’s sexuality. However, restricting the images available to the public is deceiving and it is causing issues surrounding body image for young women and it needs to stop.
The Hungry Beast conducted an extensive interview with the Australian Classification Board’s Greg Scott about the censorship of the female anatomy, in particular the vulva. When shown images of female genitalia, it’s no surprise that Mr Scott is unable a lot of the time to give a definite and clear response as to whether the image would be banned.
It’s another case of the ACB’s lack of clear guidelines resulting in some pretty inconsistent decision making. If you don’t know what is suitable for public viewing and each vulva is decided on a “case by case basis” it can be quite confusing. It’s almost like saying the airbrushing process works as a guilty until proven innocent method. The natural image of the vulva is digitally altered to the point where it doesn’t even look like a vulva anymore. It just looks like a slit, to be honest. No woman is that “perfect”. I use perfect in inverted commas because it isn’t perfect, it’s a sham.
What do you think of digitally altered vulvas in men’s magazines? Do you think the ACB (Australian Classification Board) has something to answer for when it concerns the rising number of labiaplasty operations?
I strongly recommend you watch the Hungry Beast episode and read Kirsten’s piece “Healing it to a Single Crease”
