With moral decline reaching epidemic proportions, it is hard to find much of anything nowadays to actually shock us, move us, or spur us out of our lethargy. If the following item does not do it, then we are in worse shape than we may have thought. We will then need resurrection, not just revival.
The article in today’s paper really floored me. And I must confess to having had to turn to the dictionary to discover what a few of these terms meant. But even without, one can pretty well guess what it is going on here – and it is appalling. The bottom line seems to be this: teenage girls are having surgery on their private parts so they can look more like porn stars.
That seems to be the substance of this shocking article in today’s press. The article in question actually deals with the aftermath of all this: young women going to get psychiatric help after having had this cosmetic surgery. Both are bad enough. Together they are reprehensible.
Here is how the Sunday Age ran the story: “Women as young as 18 are being referred for psychiatric treatment after cosmetic surgery to enhance the look of their genitals fails to make them feel better about their bodies. The head of psychiatry at St Vincent’s Hospital told The Sunday Age three women had been referred to its body dysmorphia clinic this year after undergoing labioplasty surgery. One feels permanently ‘disfigured’, has not had sex for three years and has become so anxious about the way her genitals look she is on medication.”
The story continues (and pardon the graphic imagery): “Professor Castle [the head of psychiatry at St Vincent’s Hospital] said some medical specialists were not so scrupulous and would operate repeatedly on patients who should not go under the knife. ‘I’ve seen girls having these operations at 18,’ he said. ‘Then they go back because they want another procedure and finally the gynaecologist or surgeon says maybe this isn’t quite right.’
“He said the young women he treated often felt pressured into surgery because they feared men would not find them attractive if their labia did not conform to a standard seen in pornography, in which the labia are often airbrushed out. Last week The Sunday Age revealed the number of Medicare claims for labioplasties had tripled in less than a decade.
“‘It’s really sad, these women say they had the surgery because they didn’t want to be teased, they thought they looked abnormal, they thought men wouldn’t like it. Young women can be very insecure and if they haven’t had a sexual relationship they get scared of what might be said.’ Professor Castle has called for legislation requiring makers of pornography to label all images that have been airbrushed, in a bid to give young women more realistic expectations of their bodies.”
Another article speaks about how this is becoming a fast-growing trend all around the Western world. “Demand for cosmetic vaginal surgery is rising in the United States, as well, where the procedures typically cost upwards of $5,000. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, 1,030 vaginal rejuvenations were performed in the U.S. in 2006, a 30 percent increase from the previous year (the group only tracked the procedure for those two years).”
It seems everywhere young women have found a new role model. So who says the porn culture is harmless? This is horrendous, and it is all because popular culture is forcing young girls to get “the look,” and the mainstreaming of the porn culture is aiding and abetting this. Today pop culture and the porn culture have merged to wage war against our young people.
For years the porn industry has sought to present an image of being a legitimate business, a mainstream industry. Well, it has now pretty well succeeded in this. It has merged big time with popular culture, and today it is often quite difficult to distinguish between the two.
Porn stars have released books which have become best sellers. They appear on prime time chat shows. Porn stars appear quite regularly now in popular films, TV shows, and music video clips. TV shows – and movies – like Sex in the City are about only one thing: sexuality in every shape and size imaginable.
With the pornification of pop culture now nearly complete, is it any wonder that we are learning about how our own daughters are mutilating themselves in order to get the look? Since when have porn stars become role models and examples for our young people?
Of course the sleaze industry keeps insisting that sleaze is harmless and does not affect anyone. Yeah right. Try telling that to these 18-year-olds. They should be at the prime of their life, seeking careers or further education, and instead many of them are cowering basket cases, with physical and emotional mutilation, worried about not having the latest porn star look.
We can tell when any civilisation has reached the end of its rope: when its citizens cease to blush, cease to display any sense of shame, and cease to recognise evil when it stares them in the face. When we can read about something like this without thinking twice, without feeling a sense of disgust, then we have clearly lost our way as a culture.
Given such a moral deadening which is creeping over the entire Western world, we need not speak of if it will finally die out, but simply when it will.
This is very sad indeed Bill, very sad.
Darrell Yip
Didn’t the sexual revolution do such a fantastic job of saving women and girls from body image issues…
We are facing a hollow society and all the madness it entails.
Phil Twiss
Bill, is this horrid sickness related to the other mutilation “vajazzle”? (NB: more adult content)
John Angelico
Just more damage caused by the porn industry.
Marcus Anderson
Some people hosting family shows at prime time are Porn stars. I am amazed that Danii Minogue is judging a show, she has posed in porn mags, there are others I’m sure. These people are in the lime light as far as the youth go, so what message do they get?
Lynda McGregor
Sorry John but I had to look that one up as well. Yikes, where will it all end?
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
What is so irritating about these gormless women is that they are constantly saying “I’m ugly” whilst waiting for someone to counter with “oh no you’re not”. Gok Wan does a popular TV show called “How to look good naked” and he, to his credit, transforms many a dreary looking woman to realise her potential and to accept herself and look radiant and healthy, in all different shapes, sizes, shades, and styles. It’s usually quite a heart-warming moment! These are real people, not standard , airbrushed mannequins -stick thin or top heavy, depending on the requirement of the customer. If these people really had a disfigurement then they would need to exercise strength of character and a positive attitude to overcome the perceived disadvantage but most of them have nothing wrong with them whatsoever and and just seem to whinge.
Looking at one of the links about the Designer Vagina, one is shocked that young people would want to entertain themselves with pornography. As Darrell Yip says, “It’s very sad”. The saddest comment came from a woman who said, with no sense of irony, she feels much better after labiaplasty,as now she looks like her ex-boyfriend’s favourite porn star. I wonder if the ex ever noticed her face?
People should be more out-going and do something for others to help in the world and then their un-self-conscious inner beauty will shine through. The skin-deep kind of beauty, such as cosmetic surgery, nips and tucks merely upsets the balance of a person’s natural form and the person invariably ends up looking awkward and unhappy in their skin.
Norwithstanding all that, I do have some sympathy with anyone with low self-esteem and I suspect it has something to do with family breakdown and a fear that a relationship can come apart on the flimsiest of pretexts. Divorce and inability to sustain harmonious families has reached epic proportions and this trail of destruction creates an atmosphere of insecurity and unhappiness.
Rachel Smith
Thanks guys
Not meaning to change the topic but… I just noticed this article was the 1500th I have posted on the website. I guess it at least shows that I am keeping off the streets…
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
The epidemic of pornography has certainly hits greater highs if young girls are having surgery to make themselves acceptable for boys. Where are these girls mothers? They shouldn’t be getting scared because they haven’t had a sexual relationship. They should be able to have candid conversations with their mothers about their appearance.
Fathers should be having some guts and loving their wives exclusively. I don’t understand how any dad would be happy to find out that his daughter went under the knife to improve the condition of her vagina.
We certainly need to be showing a better alternative to the children.
Aaron Downs
Congratulations Bill!
Now returning to the topic at hand.
I know a lot more about FGM than surgery but it occurs to me that scar tissue in that area of the body would not be conducive to childbirth. I wonder how many of these young women are going to encounter serious problems (physical) later in life as a cost of their insecurities.
Kylie Anderson
Can I direct people to have a look at Melinda Tankard-Reist’s website – http://melindatankardreist.com/
Melinda has been documenting on this for years, along with several other women.
I work with teenagers, and I see the effect of the porn culture on their lives. Sadly, many services that are meant to be helping teens do little to redress this situation, essentially saying as long as you have a condom any and all is okay.
While on this topic have a look at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JUWDYYc74k
This is ex-porn star Sally Lubben discussing the effects porn have had on her life, and yes, if you follow the links, she is now a Christian, praise God.
Greg Randles
This is so sick!!!!
It is disturbing that doctors will accommodate the requests of these obviously disturbed girls.
Where have the parents gone that those kids need this affirmation to make them feel good?
Cannot comprehend this.
Anne Van TilburG
Bravo Bill, 1500 that’s got to be some sort of record. Not that i imagine you would want a celebration with a cake and streamers. Well maybe just a little cake?
Daniek Kempton
Congratulations, Bill! May the Good Lord bless you with at least another 1,500!
It is my hope that the doctors who are performing these horrific mutilations will lose their medical credentials AND a whole lot more. If this doesn’t constitute depraved indifference, as well as malpractice, I do not know what is!
BTW, the video Greg Randles mentions in his reply is extremely eye-opening! I knew about the disease rates, but had never heard about the total humiliation and physical abuse women suffer on the sets. I’m sure the devil enjoys every wretched moment of their suffering.
M.E. Huffmaster
And hey, it’s not just vaginas they want changed either. Breasts are big (absolutely no pun intended), so is liposuction. And I think boys are also fronting up for things like pectoral implants etc.
In my view as a (I hope, normal) guy, fake breasts and the whole porn-star look are total turn-offs, and I think this view is probably shared by a lot of men.
David Williams
This is pretty alarming news, but when MSM can hail sleazy Playboy porn magnate Hugh Hefner as “a symbol of women’s freedom to make choices”, we know our society is in more than just a moral decline; ‘in rubble’ might be a better way of putting it.
Trevor Grace
But remember that many “leading” figures in our society think that we do not take sexuality and sexual practice seriously enough, or do not fully accept it as openly as we should. I’m thinking of UK “gay rights” “campaigner” Peter Tatchell, who has been given an “honorary” (!) degree by the University of Sussex, and has had a blue plaque put on his house (these plaques are put up on houses in British cities to honour people who have done somethink worthwhile, like a great writer or suchlike, normally long after they have died; I’m sure there’s an Australian equivalent). No doubt such as Tatchell will be given a national honour soon – and that will be a sure sign that as a nation we have become as decadent as it is possible to be.
John Thomas, UK
Greg thanks for the link to Sally Lubben. That’s powerful and I thank GOD for her.
Daniel Kempton
It seems to me that the so called ‘self esteem’ movement, so prominent in Educational programs, is continually backfiring. This abuse of plastic surgery is just one example of the failure of S.E. when we walk away from God’s Word of our total acceptance by God, through the finished work of His Son, which enables us to accept ourselves.
Stan Fishley
While we are being very upfront about this issue, can I just add the comment that the ‘bits’ that women are surgically messing around with are the main female erogenous zones given to them by their Creator. How tragic if surgery were to destroy what God has given, and how devilish.
Debbie Ryan
I just noticed Bill’s comment about this being his 1500th article: “I guess it at least shows that I am keeping off the streets…”
I had to laugh at that comment… documenting the vortex of depravity is an endless task. One which can never be completed – you’ll be keeping off the streets for a while yet!
Marcus Anderson
No question about that Marcus.
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
“Last week The Sunday Age revealed the number of Medicare claims for labioplasties had tripled in less than a decade.”
So my tax money is paying for this?
Why am I not surprised.
Jereth Kok
The moral decline and anti-God mindset in this country and elsewhere is getting to the stage where one (thankfully) feels like an alien in a strange land. Thankfully there is still a body of people out there who share my sentiment, and are attempting to do something about it, Bill included. Thank heavens we are saved by grace. Lets hope they also find it, like each one of us.
John Heininger
I think that this shows how far society has gone down the road to ruin.This would have to be the most disguisting form of the sexualisation of our young girls. I felt sick to the stomach as I read this article. Whoever is promoting such operations and the so called Drs who do the operations should be charged with child abuse or violence against women. It is the total rejection of God who created us.
Madge Fahy
Dear Bill, Thank you for drawing attention to this disgusting practice unpleasant as it is to learn about it. I can’t say I am surprised. People will do anything. As Father Corapi once said God put limits on our intelligence but not on our stupidity. I have often wondered what God thinks about the stupidity of women who have caused the beauty industry to expand like it has. Beauty parlours do a roaring trade and to me it seems wrong to waste money like this when there are so many people in the world who do not even have clean water to drink. I never dreamed that women could be so silly as to go this far to please men. I thank God more than ever now for the most beautiful role model that women could ever have in the Blessed Mother and feel so sad that these silly girls have been so taken in by the false idea of women as sex objects for men. I notice the feminist movement keeps very quiet about these abuses and as for the doctors some people will do anything for money.
Patricia Halligan
How good of prof. Castle to ask that porno images be marked as air brushed!
Perhaps he could have asked that the surgeons doing these mutilations to be bought under the full force of the Victorian Crimes Act.
At a time in church history when “not under Law but under Grace” is our misquoted catch cry is it any wonder we are largely silent. What we are seeing is the result of the churches sin, in that we are too afraid to speak up for fear of ridicule on many issues, adultery being just one albeit one guaranteed to raise the ire of many. Thanks you for your article Bill.
Julyan Sumner
I saw a documentary on SBS a couple of months ago about this cosmetic surgery being performed a lot in England. As you can imagine it was quite enlightening and at the same time disgustingly sad that these young women go to such lengths to feel comfortable about their sexuality.
Veronica Schenck
This is very sad indeed Bill, very sad.
Darrell Yip
Didn’t the sexual revolution do such a fantastic job of saving women and girls from body image issues…
We are facing a hollow society and all the madness it entails.
Phil Twiss
Bill, is this horrid sickness related to the other mutilation “vajazzle”? (NB: more adult content)
John Angelico
Just more damage caused by the porn industry.
Marcus Anderson
Some people hosting family shows at prime time are Porn stars. I am amazed that Danii Minogue is judging a show, she has posed in porn mags, there are others I’m sure. These people are in the lime light as far as the youth go, so what message do they get?
Lynda McGregor
Sorry John but I had to look that one up as well. Yikes, where will it all end?
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
What is so irritating about these gormless women is that they are constantly saying “I’m ugly” whilst waiting for someone to counter with “oh no you’re not”. Gok Wan does a popular TV show called “How to look good naked” and he, to his credit, transforms many a dreary looking woman to realise her potential and to accept herself and look radiant and healthy, in all different shapes, sizes, shades, and styles. It’s usually quite a heart-warming moment! These are real people, not standard , airbrushed mannequins -stick thin or top heavy, depending on the requirement of the customer. If these people really had a disfigurement then they would need to exercise strength of character and a positive attitude to overcome the perceived disadvantage but most of them have nothing wrong with them whatsoever and and just seem to whinge.
Looking at one of the links about the Designer Vagina, one is shocked that young people would want to entertain themselves with pornography. As Darrell Yip says, “It’s very sad”. The saddest comment came from a woman who said, with no sense of irony, she feels much better after labiaplasty,as now she looks like her ex-boyfriend’s favourite porn star. I wonder if the ex ever noticed her face?
People should be more out-going and do something for others to help in the world and then their un-self-conscious inner beauty will shine through. The skin-deep kind of beauty, such as cosmetic surgery, nips and tucks merely upsets the balance of a person’s natural form and the person invariably ends up looking awkward and unhappy in their skin.
Norwithstanding all that, I do have some sympathy with anyone with low self-esteem and I suspect it has something to do with family breakdown and a fear that a relationship can come apart on the flimsiest of pretexts. Divorce and inability to sustain harmonious families has reached epic proportions and this trail of destruction creates an atmosphere of insecurity and unhappiness.
Rachel Smith
Thanks guys
Not meaning to change the topic but… I just noticed this article was the 1500th I have posted on the website. I guess it at least shows that I am keeping off the streets…
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
The epidemic of pornography has certainly hits greater highs if young girls are having surgery to make themselves acceptable for boys. Where are these girls mothers? They shouldn’t be getting scared because they haven’t had a sexual relationship. They should be able to have candid conversations with their mothers about their appearance.
Fathers should be having some guts and loving their wives exclusively. I don’t understand how any dad would be happy to find out that his daughter went under the knife to improve the condition of her vagina.
We certainly need to be showing a better alternative to the children.
Aaron Downs
Congratulations Bill!
Now returning to the topic at hand.
I know a lot more about FGM than surgery but it occurs to me that scar tissue in that area of the body would not be conducive to childbirth. I wonder how many of these young women are going to encounter serious problems (physical) later in life as a cost of their insecurities.
Kylie Anderson
Can I direct people to have a look at Melinda Tankard-Reist’s website – http://melindatankardreist.com/
Melinda has been documenting on this for years, along with several other women.
I work with teenagers, and I see the effect of the porn culture on their lives. Sadly, many services that are meant to be helping teens do little to redress this situation, essentially saying as long as you have a condom any and all is okay.
While on this topic have a look at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JUWDYYc74k
This is ex-porn star Sally Lubben discussing the effects porn have had on her life, and yes, if you follow the links, she is now a Christian, praise God.
Greg Randles
This is so sick!!!!
It is disturbing that doctors will accommodate the requests of these obviously disturbed girls.
Where have the parents gone that those kids need this affirmation to make them feel good?
Cannot comprehend this.
Anne Van TilburG
Bravo Bill, 1500 that’s got to be some sort of record. Not that i imagine you would want a celebration with a cake and streamers. Well maybe just a little cake?
Daniek Kempton
Congratulations, Bill! May the Good Lord bless you with at least another 1,500!
It is my hope that the doctors who are performing these horrific mutilations will lose their medical credentials AND a whole lot more. If this doesn’t constitute depraved indifference, as well as malpractice, I do not know what is!
BTW, the video Greg Randles mentions in his reply is extremely eye-opening! I knew about the disease rates, but had never heard about the total humiliation and physical abuse women suffer on the sets. I’m sure the devil enjoys every wretched moment of their suffering.
M.E. Huffmaster
And hey, it’s not just vaginas they want changed either. Breasts are big (absolutely no pun intended), so is liposuction. And I think boys are also fronting up for things like pectoral implants etc.
In my view as a (I hope, normal) guy, fake breasts and the whole porn-star look are total turn-offs, and I think this view is probably shared by a lot of men.
David Williams
This is pretty alarming news, but when MSM can hail sleazy Playboy porn magnate Hugh Hefner as “a symbol of women’s freedom to make choices”, we know our society is in more than just a moral decline; ‘in rubble’ might be a better way of putting it.
Trevor Grace
But remember that many “leading” figures in our society think that we do not take sexuality and sexual practice seriously enough, or do not fully accept it as openly as we should. I’m thinking of UK “gay rights” “campaigner” Peter Tatchell, who has been given an “honorary” (!) degree by the University of Sussex, and has had a blue plaque put on his house (these plaques are put up on houses in British cities to honour people who have done somethink worthwhile, like a great writer or suchlike, normally long after they have died; I’m sure there’s an Australian equivalent). No doubt such as Tatchell will be given a national honour soon – and that will be a sure sign that as a nation we have become as decadent as it is possible to be.
John Thomas, UK
Greg thanks for the link to Sally Lubben. That’s powerful and I thank GOD for her.
Daniel Kempton
It seems to me that the so called ‘self esteem’ movement, so prominent in Educational programs, is continually backfiring. This abuse of plastic surgery is just one example of the failure of S.E. when we walk away from God’s Word of our total acceptance by God, through the finished work of His Son, which enables us to accept ourselves.
Stan Fishley
While we are being very upfront about this issue, can I just add the comment that the ‘bits’ that women are surgically messing around with are the main female erogenous zones given to them by their Creator. How tragic if surgery were to destroy what God has given, and how devilish.
Debbie Ryan
I just noticed Bill’s comment about this being his 1500th article: “I guess it at least shows that I am keeping off the streets…”
I had to laugh at that comment… documenting the vortex of depravity is an endless task. One which can never be completed – you’ll be keeping off the streets for a while yet!
Marcus Anderson
No question about that Marcus.
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
“Last week The Sunday Age revealed the number of Medicare claims for labioplasties had tripled in less than a decade.”
So my tax money is paying for this?
Why am I not surprised.
Jereth Kok
The moral decline and anti-God mindset in this country and elsewhere is getting to the stage where one (thankfully) feels like an alien in a strange land. Thankfully there is still a body of people out there who share my sentiment, and are attempting to do something about it, Bill included. Thank heavens we are saved by grace. Lets hope they also find it, like each one of us.
John Heininger
I think that this shows how far society has gone down the road to ruin.This would have to be the most disguisting form of the sexualisation of our young girls. I felt sick to the stomach as I read this article. Whoever is promoting such operations and the so called Drs who do the operations should be charged with child abuse or violence against women. It is the total rejection of God who created us.
Madge Fahy
Dear Bill, Thank you for drawing attention to this disgusting practice unpleasant as it is to learn about it. I can’t say I am surprised. People will do anything. As Father Corapi once said God put limits on our intelligence but not on our stupidity. I have often wondered what God thinks about the stupidity of women who have caused the beauty industry to expand like it has. Beauty parlours do a roaring trade and to me it seems wrong to waste money like this when there are so many people in the world who do not even have clean water to drink. I never dreamed that women could be so silly as to go this far to please men. I thank God more than ever now for the most beautiful role model that women could ever have in the Blessed Mother and feel so sad that these silly girls have been so taken in by the false idea of women as sex objects for men. I notice the feminist movement keeps very quiet about these abuses and as for the doctors some people will do anything for money.
Patricia Halligan
How good of prof. Castle to ask that porno images be marked as air brushed!
Perhaps he could have asked that the surgeons doing these mutilations to be bought under the full force of the Victorian Crimes Act.
At a time in church history when “not under Law but under Grace” is our misquoted catch cry is it any wonder we are largely silent. What we are seeing is the result of the churches sin, in that we are too afraid to speak up for fear of ridicule on many issues, adultery being just one albeit one guaranteed to raise the ire of many. Thanks you for your article Bill.
Julyan Sumner
I saw a documentary on SBS a couple of months ago about this cosmetic surgery being performed a lot in England. As you can imagine it was quite enlightening and at the same time disgustingly sad that these young women go to such lengths to feel comfortable about their sexuality.
Veronica Schenck