A cut too far

Today's Independent on Sunday includes an article by Claudia Pritchard criticising the labiaplasty trend, and highlighting a new form of female cutting - the so-called 'Toronto Trim' - which excises the clitoral hood as well as the labia.

It's good to see criticism of the pressure on women to get their vulvas reduced but the article falls short of the analysis I'd like to see in the media. As with so many articles about male circumcision the author's critique is weakened by the fact that she doesn't seem to have considered what the tissue is or does... It would be easy for a surgeon to counter her position by claiming that labiaplasty is no different from a nose job...

The reality is our genitals are not like our noses. I've got a roman nose but its size and shape does not affect my ability to smell. My labial form gives me huge pleasure, including direct stimulation, indirect clitoral pressure, and of course the vicarious pleasure of watching a man treat them as his toy...or even his lost foreskin.