Channel 4 10pm, Channel 4 + 1, 11pm., 17th August. Available On Demand also.

Ok, so I know the program is on already, but is anyone else watching this and what are you thinking?!

Lisa Rogers, the women who was "approached" to do the documentary wrote this as a blog about the show for all those who haven't seen it.

When Channel 4 approached me to make this documentary, entitled The Perfect Vagina, to investigate why vaginal plastic surgery is the fastest-growing cosmetic procedure in this country, my reaction was sceptical. So the next time I was at my GP's (about something entirely unrelated - my toddler's rash, probably), I enquired whether she ever had female patients coming to her expressing concerns about how they looked "downstairs". Bear in mind I live in rural Wales, not in some metropolis that might house exotic dancers and porn stars.

My GP, the lovely Dr Christmas, amazed me with her response. She told me she has 14, 15 and 16-year-old girls in her surgery, wracked with embarrassment and fear, worried that their genitalia is somehow disfigured or malformed. When she finally persuades them to undress and to let her have a look, they're virtually always absolutely fine. And this is a phenomenon that's only really taken hold in the last five years.

That was it. I was on a mission to assure young women that their bits were fine as they were, and not to start chopping them about because they didn't look like porn models, or because of some ill-informed, insensitive comment by an ignorant boy (or girl). I was on a quest to get my gender to question their insecurities, and see if I could find alternatives to surgery.

The journey I embarked upon was extraordinary. I found myself having an imaginary conversation with my own vagina, in the company of a holistic sex therapist. I discussed whether my clitoral hood was too big with a plastic surgeon. I held the hand of a 22-year-old as she screamed in pain whilst having the stitches taken out of her labia, and I discovered a 19-year-old who had considered re-stitching her own hymen, so desperate was she to appear a virgin on her wedding night. What had started as a something funny had ended up somewhere far more serious.

I have come to the conclusion that we desperately need to talk about these issues, and that the secrecy that surrounds the vagina is the breeding ground for the insecurity that accompanies it. Even saying the word "vagina" was difficult at the start of the process, and now I'm looking for a universally recognised euphemism for it. As Dr Christmas says, every little boy calls his willy his willy. There isn't a recognisable term for the vulva, because actually the vagina is the passage inside, and the word means "somewhere to sheathe your sword"! Yes, even the word means our sexual organs only exist in relation to a man. How depressing is that?


So "we desperately need to talk about these issues", what does everyone think?? Have any of you guys said no because a chicks bits are funny??? Do women have a distorted view of what's normal? Etc...

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Fuck me I never knew there were so many parts to a womans cunt!!

I've still got my legs crossed from when they hacked that 19 year olds bits off 20 mins ago! How mean that he sister made fun of her and told everyone! No wonder she was insecure...

I'm watching this now. It's absolute madness. I nearly jumped out of my chair when they gave Rosie a local anaesthetic and proceded to hack at her bits. Horrific.
I never realised so many people had issues with this.

The things I don't expect to pop up on my brower ,lol.

so I just had to have a look... at the thread,lol

I was watching some muslim program which covered the equvilent of a womans circumcision. Anyone know what they chop off for that?

Don't they remove the clitoris and the entire clitoral hood when they circumsise a woman?

the appearance is of no concern, however i have come across ladies who, lets say, were not aware of the need for hygiene......so that, and a hairy growler are the things that put me off. girls, dont worry what heaven's gate looks like, they are all good!

10pm.

I had to study female circumcision for part of my A Level English coursework as it was covered in a book I had to read.

They chop of the clitoris so the women experiences no pleasure, sex is a chore to her husband and not a happy experience. In some countries after the women has given birth they sow her up to make the area tighter, and in some cases the husbands have them stitched up when they leave for weeks on a time, only to have them un-stitched when they return.

It's pretty graphic what I had to study - good read though. Might post a condensed version.

channel 4 +1 11.00pm though

I've edited the post now, thanks Jon.

Got three holes aint you? As long as one looks allright!

Got it on +1 so I can catch up on the 1st part after it finishes on 4 now.

No, and the only one I've ever remembered for being out of the ordinary was one that was very short on having anything resembling labia at all - it was a bit like a bumcrack that went all the way round. It's odd that most women's worries seem to be about having too much labia - I've known a couple of women think theirs were too "outy" when they weren't though.

is of no concern to me really, I'm blessed with a bang tidy little package ;)

Ok it was a great program till all this hippy malarky!

Do you talk to your vag? lol that's the funniest thing I heard....

Don't know has it been mentioned previously in the program as I only just tuned in and now starting again on 4+1 but a lot of women worries about uneven labia too. As in one side bigger than the other. A bit like blokes worrying about their cocks not perfectly straight really.