Thread by @MediClit

At 17, doctors convinced me that protruding labia minora were “unfeminine and embarrassing.”

I felt deep shame in response to false claims that this was caused by sex, masturbation, and male hormones published online and in medical journals.

But they are so pretty. 🥺

Until I saw doctors insulting my vulva, I never thought about whether it was pretty or not.

I checked to make sure my labia minora didn’t show in bike shorts and bikinis.

They just tucked up and protected me from camel toe. 😂

Beyond that, I didn’t think about it.

At 17, doctors convinced me the “ideal vulva” was one with everything hidden between the majora.

Now when I see vulvas where everything is hidden, I worry if something bad has happened to them.

I actually zoom in, looking for the clitoris, wondering if she okay. 🥺

Now, the big ones like this are my favorite.

I don’t even think my labia were this big.

I measured them. They were about 2.5 cm.

They never caused me any problems.

But to my doctor, they were “excess.”

They were “hypertrophic.”

He completely removed them.

19 years later, surgeons are still using shaming medical misinformation to market labiaplasty to women and girls.

I say “girls” because to me, teenagers are “girls,” not women,

I was barely 18, too young to know what was normal or not.

I’d never seen porn. I wish I had.

Not only did doctors sell genital cosmetic surgery with lies.

They also operated blind to basic anatomy for decades.

They misinformed about the role of the labia minora in sexual function.

They paid no mind to major nerves of the clitoris.

They denied risks.

I still don’t understand how, after 4 decades of this practice, women are still getting misled and mutilated.

Women are still attempting suicide after this.

This still is not considered criminal.

It’s not even considered medically negligent.

Lawyers don’t take these cases.

Why are people still silent?

Why don’t people stand up for the women and girls today who are getting mutilated and harmed?

I can change the textbooks, etc., but it’s not enough.

It’s not going to be enough until this is not acceptable to the medical community anymore!

At the ACOG Annual Meeting in 2018, OB/GYNs told me:

“I know everyone is doing labiaplasties, but they are not trained.”

“Women just shouldn’t be getting these surgeries.”

“OB/GYNs should not have to know clitoral nerves.”

“We have more important things to worry about.”