The perfectible vagina: Size matters

Abstract

With the construction of women's genitals as problematic, the 'private' female body becomes a site for potential improvement. Socio-cultural accounts of vaginal size in the West construct a tight (but not too tight) vagina as desirable, and a 'loose' vagina as undesirable. The importance of size is evident in contexts as diverse as slang, comedy, and surgical practices to tighten the vagina. After identifying the desirability of tightness, we analyse talk collected from women in individual and group interviews, and in undergraduate tutorials on intersex. In women's talk, we found a curious pattern: Women identified the cultural desirability of a tight vagina, and noted negative uses to which this is put (such as the positioning of women with 'loose' vaginas as promiscuous). However, when women described their personal concerns about vaginal size, these were couched in terms of anxiety about being too tight. We argue that constructions of vaginal size are problematic because they create another site of bodily concern for women, and are used to control and abuse women. We suggest that they also reflect a disregard of women's sexual pleasure, and a lack of familiarity with the functions of the vagina.