Our Bodies, Ourselves (14 page)

If you ask plastic surgery patients how they feel in the months after surgery, many say they feel more self-confident, but when women are asked before surgery how they feel about themselves and then asked the same question a few months or years after surgery, there is no significant difference. They may feel better about the body part that was “fixed,” but they don't feel better about themselves. That's because self-esteem is a stable trait for most people, and it doesn't change just because of a change in appearance.
34

The body has become a mere canvas, upon which the digital-age beauty business remasters our image of what is physically possible. But since perfection is ipso facto unattainable, what is really on offer, in the world of beauty as elsewhere, is infinite discontent.
35

—Ruth Brandon,
Ugly Beauty
(Harper, 2011)

Before mass media existed, our ideas of beauty were limited to our own communities. In fact, until the advent of photography in 1839, people were not exposed to real-life images of faces and bodies. Fast-forward to today's digital age and an entirely new landscape in which images inundate us at every turn. Whether we're watching TV, surfing online, or playing video games, idealized young, thin female imagery is everywhere:

I believe that every woman is utterly and completely beautiful. That said, when I find myself faced with produced images of beauty in magazines or billboards, I still can't help but wish I looked like them.

Researchers have found that ongoing exposure to certain ideas can shape and distort our perceptions of reality. How many naked bodies do most of us view on a regular basis in real life—not counting what we see in the media? Very few. But if we're consuming media, especially fashion magazines or pornography, we encounter more naked or seminaked female bodies than we would otherwise. One result of this pervasive imagery is that younger generations are learning what women should look like by viewing what are, more often than not, radically altered and objectified depictions of women in the media. Real women with pubic hair and breasts that aren't perfect round orbs begin to seem unnatural compared with the altered images.

Even if we don't accept the images we see in the media, we are likely to believe that others accept those images and still feel we must alter our bodies to conform to them.
37
Critics say these images are not only promoting a false sense of
what our bodies, including our genitals, are supposed to look like, but also affecting our sexual health by encouraging body modifications that can increase the risk of sexually transmitted infections as well as reduce physical sensation and cause other complications.
38

Every inch of a woman's body presents a new opportunity for improvement, including our vaginas.
39
Much as with waxing, it's difficult to ignore the obvious link these procedures have to pornography.

Some women have their inner vaginal lips cut and shortened to make them smaller or more symmetrical through a surgery called labiaplasty. The procedure aims to fix labia that are “too large, loose, floppy, bulky, excessive, uneven, redundant, or overpigmented.”
40
Others undergo surgical tightening of the vagina, or vaginal rejuvenation, which is touted as increasing women's sexual self-confidence and men's sexual pleasure.
41
This type of surgery has been performed in the United States since the late 1990s, but until recently it was typically performed to treat urinary incontinence in older women. These surgeries often come with major risks, including the possible loss of sensation or pain when aroused.
42
The procedure may even cause some of the same childbirth problems as female genital cutting, including bleeding and tearing in labor.
43

Although some people believe these procedures will enhance their sexual experiences, no research supports claims of increased sexual satisfaction. Importantly, experts say that perceived sexual enhancement as a result of genital reconstruction may be attributed in part to the psychological reaction to the surgery, rather than to physical changes from the surgery itself. The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) has stated that these procedures are “not medically indicated, nor is there documentation of their safety and effectiveness.” The group also has warned it's deceptive to give the impression that any of these procedures are accepted and routine surgical practices. In addition, ACOG recommends that women considering vaginal procedures be “informed about the lack of data supporting the efficacy of these procedures as well as their potential complications, including infection, altered sensation, dyspareunia [pain], adhesions, and scarring.”
44

Negative comments and pressure from a male partner can influence us to change our bodies, but often the pressure comes from within; we set standards for ourselves that we think we should meet. Los Angeles gynecologist and cosmetic surgeon David Matlock, made famous by the popular television series
Dr.90210
, has made a career performing and promoting his “Laser Vaginal Rejuvenation” techniques, which he trademarked and refuses to publish. According to Matlock, who claims to have performed more of the surgeries than anyone else in the country, “I can't tell you how many pages and pages of pornographic material woman have brought in
to me saying ‘I want to look like this.' …Even young women will look at loose hanging labia as a sign of aging and want to have it done.”
45

More discussion is needed to reassure women about the wide variation in the appearance of normal genitalia. Comparing pictures of normal and healthy bodies with surgically streamlined ones creates the impression that so-called aberrations are abnormal—when in reality, genital anatomy is as diverse as a person's fingerprints. Furthermore, by promoting a narrow definition of what's normal, female cosmetic genital surgery creates a disincentive for women to deal with cultural and personal forces shaping their body image and sexual identity. “Many women don't realize that the appearance of external genitals varies significantly from woman to woman. As ob-gyns, we know this to be the case from years of experience,” said Abbey B. Berenson, M.D., a member of ACOG's Committee on Gynecologic Practice.
46

The New View Campaign—with the endorsement of dozens of sex educators, doctors, and psychologists from around the world—is demanding new regulations that would require the Federal Trade Commission's consumer protection division to monitor the ads.
47
At a 2008 protest outside the Manhattan Center for Vaginal Surgery in New York City, New View members called for, “More research, less marketing.” The group is also calling for a moratorium on the procedures until monitoring and guidelines are in place.
48

As more websites and digital media vie for viewers' attention, it's up to advertisers to take a more compelling, edgier approach. More often than not, that means selling sex—or, more accurately, women's sexuality. (For a roundup of ads that depict the influence of pornography on advertising, visit feministfatale.com.) As the feminist activist Gail Dines, professor of sociology and women's studies at Wheelock College in Boston, told the New Left Project, “If you just turn on the television, flick through a magazine or look at billboards, you will see that porn has now become a blueprint for how the media represents women's bodies…. Today there is almost no soft-core porn on the internet, because most of it has migrated into pop culture.”
50

The digitally altered image on the left of Filippa Hamilton, a popular longtime model for Polo Ralph Lauren, caused an uproar in 2009 when it appeared in a department store in Japan. The clothing company eventually apologized for the ad but initiated another controversy soon after by firing Hamilton. “They fired me because they said I was overweight and I couldn't fit in their clothes anymore,” Hamilton said.
49

Male activists have also been part of the movement to reshape attitudes toward body image—especially among men themselves. In
Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity
, Robert Jensen, professor of journalism at the University of Texas, articulates the ways traditional notions of masculinity trap men into a need for dominance in their relationships with both women and other men.

Byron Hurt, filmmaker, antisexist educator and activist, and hip-hop critic, created the award-winning documentaries
I AM A MAN: Black Masculinity in America and Hip Hop: Beyond Beats & Rhymes
. In both films, Hurt acknowledges the racism that helped construct black masculinity in America, but he also holds out the possibility of an alternative space in which black men can redefine themselves in opposition to the voices of misogyny, violence, and homophobia.

Although some older actresses such as Meryl Streep, Annette Bening, and Helen Mirren continue as Hollywood mainstays, the silver screen rarely shows women over forty except in asexual, supporting, or comic roles.
51
Many of the women chosen to portray mothers in the movies are the same age as or younger than men playing their sons. And the older women we do see often look much younger, thanks to careful casting, plastic surgery, and digitally altered images.
52
As a result, those of us who choose to age naturally, without the aid of plastic surgery, meticulous beauty regimes, and restrictive dieting, are sometimes seen as “letting ourselves go.”

The media's image of perfection excludes women with visible disabilities. The almost total lack of representation means that the lives of disabled women remain a mystery to many able-bodied people. Disabled women are often portrayed as helpless victims who need protection, or as heroines who have beaten the odds. Because women with bodies that are disabled, fat, or old are seen as deviating from what is “normal” and desirable, we are often presented as stereotypes rather than as real people. The crotchety old woman, the loudmouthed fat woman, and the desexualized disabled woman with a heart of gold are widespread media clichés. Rarely is our beauty recognized or acknowledged, and we are almost never portrayed as sexual beings:

Living with a physical disability, I have learned from the dominant messages in society that I am not like other women. In fact, for the most part, I'm actually not considered a woman at all.

The percentage of women of color represented in the media has grown, but measures of success are complicated: The inclusion of women of color in some mainstream advertising is often a deliberate tactic to convey how much hipness or attitude a product has.
53
And the body ideal remains the same—skinny and large breasted with long hair—leading some women of color to judge themselves by that norm. One woman notes that as a teenager, she was obsessed with “achieving the ‘white girl' look: slim hips, perky breasts, flat stomach. I hated that I didn't look like white models in my magazines.”

Mainstream magazines and entertainment media still rarely feature women of color as cover models or lead actors. Consider
Vanity Fair's
2010 “Young Hollywood” issue: Nine of the industry's most up-and-coming young female actresses graced the cover—all of them white, thin, and able-bodied.
54

A young Korean-American woman describes the specific pressure caused by the white beauty ideal:

When I was growing up, everyone in commercials, magazines, and movies had big, beautiful eyes. I wanted bigger eyes, too. Older
Korean girls suggested using thread or tape to help the double eyelid form. I attempted it, but it never really worked. I just created the illusion with black eyeliner, but I was still really self-conscious about it and struggled with how I looked. I thought I'd get the surgery when I got older, even though my father was against it. Today, I'm thankful I never got it done. There are more Asians in the media now than when I was in high school, which helps. There are people who love the way my eyes look, just like I envied bigger eyes growing up.