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.
Forms of activism
Muff March
The London-based feminist group UK Feminista organized a protest march through Harley Street, an area synonymous with its private medical providers, in December 2011. More than 320 women paraded the street, with slogans like: "Keep your mits off our bits!", "There's nothing finer than my vagina!", and "Harley Street puts my chuff in a huff" The "Muff March" has been criticized for putting too much emphasis on pornography as a root cause of the problem.
Photo campaigns
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, 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. 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: 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.
New View is a New York City based, grassroots network of feminists, social scientists and health care providers. In a self-description, New View "is opposed to the growth of the unregulated and unmonitored genital cosmetic surgery industry that is medicalizing women's sexuality and creating new risks, norms and insecurities." The group initiated several events with the aim of empowering women and raising awareness for the topic under names such as the Vulvagraphics or Vulvanomics. These include workshops to "celebrate the role of art in activism and to kick off a campus-based movement to celebrate genital diversity", "flash activism" in front of surgeon's offices, conferences and street demonstrations.
Courageous Cunts
Courageous Cunts was a feminist website, founded in 2012, that is focused on issues of body empowerment and genital self-awareness. Its primary concern is the critical reception of women's health issues, sexualized body images and the sexual objectification of female bodies. Courageous Cunts considers itself to be part of the so-called labia pride movement, with the aim of raising awareness for critical issues around labiaplasty and empowering women to overcome body shame. The site ran a campaign during which women could publicly post photographs of their vulva to promote a natural genital image and protest against "porn aesthetics". Using the word "cunt" as their name was an act of reappropriation, as English professor Germaine Greer argues that the ancient vulgarism "is one of the few remaining words in the English language with a genuine power to shock".
