At 17, doctors convinced me that protruding labia minora were “unfeminine and embarrassing.” I felt deep shame in response to false claims that this was caused by sex, masturbation, and male hormones published online and in medical journals. But they are so pretty. 🥺

I contacted the artist to ask if all of these vulvas were intact because I noticed some looked mutilated. She told me “Some are trans post op surgery.” I have a big problem with trans post ops being included in a “vulva diversity” video. Here’s why. 🧵

The problem is most post op trans vulvas look like female genital mutilation. It is much harder to find post op photos today than in the past, but in 2019, I wrote a Quora post explaining how surgeons do a very poor job making these outcomes look like intact female vulvas.

If we incorporate post op trans vulvas into a cultural conception of “normal female anatomy” what we are doing is normalizing vulvas that look mutilated. I’m not trying to offend. I’m saying the cultural conception of a vulva needs do be that of an intact female vulva.

I will also say that it is not right to trans women that they have been led to believe that their vulvas look female when they don’t. All I’ve seen are missing frenulums. They are missing a clitoral body. The “glans” won’t look natural. And “labia minora” are typically tiny.

This is obviously not a female vulva. It should not be included in a vulva diversity project! Cis women do not deserve to pay the price for non-anatomical trans surgery outcomes. People should be able to recognize what a normal, natural vulva looks like. That’s the point!

@MediClit ... you call yourself a feminist? I'm not an expert, but reducing a woman to the form of her vulva seems misogynistic af