page_title: Labia pride
section_title: Photo campaigns
hierarchical_section_title: Labia pride / Forms of activism / Photo campaigns
caption_attribution_description: For some years now, the market for cosmetic genital surgery is rapidly growing while young women are increasingly concerned with their bodies. Courageous cunts is an activist group to oppose this trend. We started the Vulva Libertad initiative to convey an image of normal - not pornified - vulvas. This is a grassroots project! Get active, join in! - http://courageouscunts.com
context_page_description: Labia pride is a feminist movement which aims to raise awareness of the normal appearance of the vulva and opposes the trend towards cosmetic surgery on the female genitals. It is supported by several independent feminist groups and based on diverse channels of communication such as cyberfeminism, protest marches and advocating boycotts against physicians and clinics that make use of deceptive advertising.
context_section_description: The growing demand for labiaplasty surgery is sometimes attributed to the idea that many women, as well as men, have unrealistic expectations regarding genital appearance. Almost all explicit depictions of female genitalia that people are confronted with are produced by the sex industry. Pornography is usually produced in a commercial context and primarily addresses male customers. Therefore, these depictions of female genitalia are often "beautified" to suit commercial need (or in some countries for legal reasons), either by the selection of models with a certain anatomy or by photoshopping the images. In practice, this means smoothing out irregularities and "digitally shortening" the labia minora.
  A whole generation of young women who have grown up with ready access to the Internet are learning about their bodies and sexuality through this medium...Often the first and only way girls get to have a good look at other girls' naked genitals is through pornography, [which gives] a false view of what real women look like.
  — Madeleine Davies
  Several feminist groups, such as the Large Labia Project or Courageous Cunts try to oppose the influence that pornography has on anatomic expectations. By encouraging women to release images of their vulvas and post photo submissions of anonymous vulvas on their websites, they want to establish a sphere for women to get realistic impressions of normal vulvas.
  However, the campaign itself has been criticized. By giving the false impression that protruding labia are the anatomical norm and small inner labia are the adaptation to beauty standards, it ignores the fact that many women have naturally small labia:
  In an effort to make "real women" feel better about themselves, some labia proud ladies are taking shots at girls whose labia actually look like the imaginary "Barbie" ideal. Turns out, some girls are actually born like that. Labia, like boobs or entire bodies, come in all shapes, sizes, colors and textures. Shaming one to make another type feel better is bad news. Think of it in terms of thin women who are often shamed or shunned in support of body image advocacy for larger girls.
  — Jessica Sager
  Furthermore, these campaigns as well have been criticized for putting too much blame on the porn industry and the subjection to male desires. It is argued that even though this might be the case to a certain degree, other factors that boost these surgeries are basically ignored. There is no evidence that smaller labia are actually preferred, as much or more "large labia" porn exists than any labeled for small.
caption: Women post photographs of their vulvas "to publicly catalog normal genital diversity" and "counter unrealistic standards"[1]
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