It's true that surgery on both male and female children's genitals happens cross-culturally for various reasons, but I see it as quite a different discussion - as an example, it involves questions around tradition, while the documentary discusses new trends. (It is a charged topic, though, and I agree that the issue of consent is huge. Perhaps a new one for the Lounge?)
I believe in an adult's right to make an informed decision to edit his/her genitals, but in my opinion, the recent fad toward esthetic vulvar surgery is sad evidence of just how insecure marketing is able to make us. I don't know what the rates are of teenage or adult males undergoing circumcision for mainly esthetic reasons, but I find it just as unfortunate. In my opinion, this is compounded in that both the vulva minora and the foreskin do serve a role in protecting other genital parts, and play a role in pleasure. Speaking for myself, one of my labia minora extends very slightly beyond the other one, and its truncation would cost me sexual pleasure. There are a lot of nerve endings there, and the function of pleasure is intrinsic!
Heplful:
"Labia Minora: is a highly significant part of your sexuality for it not only is erectile, but it is integrally associated with your clitoris. Superiorly, it forms the prepuce (clitoral hood) and inferiorly, it forms the frenulum (bridle)."
I would ordinarily quote a secular source from a health website, but find
this paragraph regarding pleasure and the labia minora also helpful:
""Labia minora" are the Latin words for "small lips." They are two parallel folds of smooth, hairless, soft tissue that connect to the hood over the clitoris and can be most easily identified just above and beside the entrance to the vagina. At times the gentle stroking of these small lips gives a very pleasant sensation. Since these lips are connected directly above the clitoris, when the penis moves in the vagina and against these delicate lips, there is friction, tugging, and pullings, which carries sensation to the clitoris. This, direct stimulation of the clitoris is not always desired or necessary for sexual pleasure. The most consisent and easily detected physical signs of the wife's sexual arousal and readiness for intercourse is the expansion of the labia minora to two or three time their normal thickness...""
A corroborating, secular view
here.
Other functions of the labia minora, probably comparable with those of the foreskin:
"The 'labia minora' (or 'small lips') lie within the two labia majora. They are soft, delicate folds of skin that contain connective tissue but no fat. The labia minora are covered with moist, shiny mucous membranes and have no pubic hair. They surround the vaginal opening and meet at the top to cover the woman's clitoris. The main function of the labia minora is to lubricate the skin around the genitals and provide bactericidal secretions to help protect against infections. The size of each woman's labia minora will vary. Some women have labia minora that protrude past their labia majora, while others will lie totally inside the labia majora. Both are normal and do not affect the way they function." From
birth.com.au
