April 17, 2009

Oh, no…Kegels, trimming and rejuvenation…and?

Yes, it is true! There is a spa for your vag!  As reported in the New York Times, this spa is dedicated to the woman that seeks to “get in shape from the inside out.” “Pelvic fitness” was an idea inspired by teeth whitening. Uh, yeah.

First came the “medical spa,” or medi spa, offering dermatology services in a retail setting. The medi spa begat the dental spa, bringing tooth bleaching to storefronts nationwide. The dental spa begat the podiatry spa.

And now comes the first medi spa in Manhattan wholly dedicated to strengthening and grooming a woman’s genital area. Phit — short for pelvic health integrated techniques — is to open this month on East 58th Street.

Dr. Lauri Romanzi, a gynecologist who performs pelvic reconstruction surgery, said she came up with the idea for the spa one day while walking by an outlet of BriteSmile, the tooth-whitening chain. She liked that the stores cater to people with healthy teeth.

This makes vaginal plastic surgery seem tame. There’s just nothing off limits from the hands of the beauty industry.  They’ll make you feel insecure about anything and everything to make money.

With the ubiquity of pornography, the pelvis had already become a marketable area for modification, ranging from the Brazilian bikini wax to genital surgery referred to as vaginal “rejuvenation.” Doctors have even coined a term for such genital “beautification”: cosmetogynecology or cosmogynecology.

The advent of the pelvic spa, however, takes body fixation to a new level, furthering the idea that there is no female body part that cannot be tightened, plumped, trimmed or pruned.

“Whether the marketing is pushing the women or women are pushing the marketing, I don’t think anybody knows,” Dr. Berenson said.

I say, “Leave my pussy alone!” They are not suppossed to look the same, smell the same or feel the same, damn it. With the vag spa, or PHIT (Pelvic Health Integrated Services), the aim is clearly NOT about pelvic “health” when you consider their web address: perfectphit.com. Perfect fit, huh? It’s about making all our vags the same and, I ask, who determines this sameness?

There are no medical standards for determining what constitutes normal “fitness” or how to evaluate it, said Dr. Abbey B. Berenson, a gynecologist who directs the Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Women’s Health at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.

“If this is being recommended to women who have no symptoms, then there are no medical organizations or literature that support that that is necessary,” Dr. Berenson said.

It’s time to reclaim our bodies for ourselves and resisting imposed beauty standards that make our heads spin, our self-esteem shrink and our pussys look like they were manufactured on an assembly line.


1 Comment »

  1. Barbie Doll
    This girlchild was born as usual
    and presented dolls that did pee-pee
    and miniature GE stoves and irons
    and wee lipsticks the color of cherry candy.
    Then in the magic of puberty, a classmate said:
    You have a great big nose and fat legs.

    She was healthy, tested intelligent,
    possessed strong arms and back,
    abundant sexual drive and manual dexterity.
    She went to and fro apologizing.
    Everyone saw a fat nose on thick legs.

    She was advised to play coy,
    exhorted to come on hearty,
    exercise, diet, smile and wheedle.
    Her good nature wore out
    like a fan belt.
    So she cut off her nose and her legs
    and offered them up.

    In the casket displayed on satin she lay
    with the undertaker’s cosmetics painted on,
    a turned-up putty nose,
    dressed in a pink and white nightie.
    Doesn’t she look pretty? everyone said.
    Consummation at last.
    To every woman a happy ending.
    Marge Piercy

    Comment by Linda Breault — June 22, 2013 @ 8:52 pm

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