7 minutes or the knife – short video could decrease ...

1 7 minutes or the knife short video coulddecrease likelihood of labiaplasty surgery15 January 2016 PhD researcher Gemma Sharp found that a shorteducational video significantly changed how women sawthemselves and even led to them offering advice to otherwomen. Credit: ShutterstockWatching one short video could influence whethersome women choose to undergo labiaplastysurgery, according to Flinders UniversityPsychology researchers who have published astudy on how women's perception of 'genitalnormality' can be altered through education. The study, published in Body Image: AnInternational Journal of Research, surveyed 136female undergraduate students and measured theeffectiveness of two online resources one avideo, the other a photo resource designed toimprove women's knowledge of the variation innormal genital appearance and their attitudestowards their own comes as the number of cosmetic surgeriescontinues to rise dramatically, with labiaplasty ,which reduces the size and/or changes the shapeof the labia minora, cited as one of the fastestgrowing procedures in the US (ASAPS, 2014) andsimilar trends reported in Australia (AustralianGovernment Department of Human Services,2015).

2 With the permission of the ABC, Flinders UniversityClinical Psychology PhD candidate Gemma Sharpand Professor Marika Tiggemann used a 7-minutevideo produced for the Hungry Beast TV series,which explained the digital removal of labial tissuein soft-core the participants had watched the video , theirperceptions of normal female genital appearancewere measured by presenting them with sixphotographs of female genitals and asking them tomeasure them on a scale of 1-5 for found participants who viewed the videoprovided higher normality ratings (M = , SD = ) than those who did not (M = , SD = ),supporting their hypothesis that education wouldincrease women's understanding about thevariation in normal appearance of , many women who participated in thestudy said they would provide advice to otherwomen who were dissatisfied with theirappearance, opening up the possibility that theycould dissuade others from undergoing alabiaplasty due to a perceived Ms Sharp said the findings were unlikely toinfluence women who already felt their genitalswere normal but wanted an 'improved' look.

3 Shesaid they could be used to help provide betteradvice for women who wanted surgery becausethey felt they were also said such tools could be valuable ineducating younger girls about their bodies and whatthey should expect when they reached puberty."It was never our intention to persuade women one 1 / 2 way or the other about having a labiaplasty , wesimply wanted to find out whether or not they had arealistic idea of what normal actually looked like,and to ensure they made informed decisions," saidMs Sharp."We conducted a media education survey as part ofthe study, which showed that many women hadn'tactually seen many examples of female genitalia,and those who had were often looking at contentthat was modified through air brushing.

4 "Through our study we hope we can contribute towomen having a better understanding of theirbodies so that whatever decision they make is aninformed one."Ms Sharp is currently looking for women aged 18years and over from throughout Australia who haveundergone a labiaplasty to share their experiencesand participate in an online survey. More information: For more information or toparticipate in the survey, visit ..m/SV_8pPb3sI7Uw7 FqWp Provided by Flinders UniversityAPA citation: 7 minutes or the knife short video could decrease likelihood of labiaplasty surgery (2016,January 15) retrieved 13 March 2021 from document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, nopart may be reproduced without the written permission.

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