Labiaplasty to impress the girls

Amanda Marcotte at Pandagon does an excellent job here on the astounding argument that women get labiaplasty to impress their female friends. Among other things, she points out that the author clearly has some rather odd ideas about what women do when they get together. (Marcotte’s post also includes a photo featuring some costumes to bear in mind for the next Halloween party you get invited to. Who would have expected such helpful tips from the Feminist Philosophers?)

Labiaplasty is actually a very useful teaching example for feminist philosophers: (a) It’s really hard (for reasons Marcotte mentions) to make the standard student argument that everything women do about their appearance is done for other women; (b) It at least seems to be a pretty clear case of porn shaping even women’s ideas of how they should look (whether it does so via their own viewings or via men’s comments). The reason for my qualification is that this article quotes one doctor who says shows like “Nip, Tuck” are cited by his patients more often than pornography is.