70 IN VULVA VANITAS – The Rise of Labiaplasty in the West By Madita Oeming, University of Paderborn, Germany Abstract Since the turn of the 21 st century, more and more women choose to undergo Female Genital Cosmetic Surgery (FGCS) to fit a vulvovaginal aesthetic ideal. With a focus on reduction labiaplasty as the currently most widespread of these procedures, this article examines FGCS through a critical cultural studies lens to position it within larger feminist debates about body image, consumer culture, and female agency. A central question is where our Western ideal of female genital appearance comes from that incites the desire to undergo surgical body modification? Against the backdrop of post-colonial criticism, the article challenges the distinction between FGM in non-Western cultures and FGCS in the West through questioning the notion of informed consent associated with the latter. By bringing together otherwise separate voices from various disciplines, the overall aim is to present FGCS as an intricate interface between biology, psychology, culture, and media discourse. 1 “It’s time to let my labia rip and rearrange this.” – from “Pussy Manifesto” by Bitch & Animal 1 Try this: walk into a drug store, grab a shopping cart, and put inside every product designed to optimize the female-coded body. Spoiler alert! One cart will not be enough. Shampoo to make our hair shiny, lotions to make our skin smooth, toothpaste to whiten our teeth, concealer to hide our freckles, gloss to boost our lips, face masks to make us look like we had enough sleep, fake nails, fake lashes, fake tan – the assortment is as endless as its subtext is loud and clear: your body needs modification! A plethora of anti-something products provide an exhaustive list of things we are supposed to work on: frizz, cellulite, pimples, puffiness, dark circles, body hair, brittle nails, stretch marks, belly fat, to name just a few; and of course, any sign of aging whatsoever, from grey hair to wrinkles to saggy arm skin. “We are bombarded everyday with countless thousands of messages informing us that we do not look young enough, slim enough, white enough” (Penny, Meat 1). Flawless faces smiling from posters and labels provide the counterimage, the – often unattainable – goal. 1 I am fully aware of the trans-exclusive politics inherent in wordings such as “female genitals” and of the fact that neither only women nor all women are vulva-owners. To avoid reinforcing the genitalia-centered gender binary our culture has so successfully constructed turned out to be an insurmountable task for me in writing about a subject matter basically originating from that very construct. Especially as a white cis-woman writing from a position of privilege, I can only apologize for my inability to find a solution to this dilemma here and express my hope to see the day when language and ideology alike are fully capable of both, trans inclusivity and gender fluidity. The complex question of how trans, gender-reassigned, or intersex people feel about their (neo-) vulvas is one I lack the expertise and data to tackle but would love to see answered comprehensively and respectfully in future research.