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Paper short abstract

It examines the biomedicalization and commodification of female genital anxieties in Turkey through vaginoplasty and labiaplasty. It shows how these processes operate through contested forms of expertise, shaped by gendered cultural norms, profit motives, feminist ethics, and alternative therapies.

Paper long abstract

This paper examines the biomedicalization and commodification of female genital anxieties in Turkey, with a specific focus on vaginoplasty and labiaplasty. Drawing on interviews from an ongoing study with gynaecologists, cosmetic surgeons, psychotherapists, and physiotherapists, most of whom are based in İstanbul, we explore how gendered concerns about vulval appearance, postpartum vaginal change, sexual dissatisfaction, and aging are produced, framed, and managed across different professional domains. These concerns are recast as surgical problems, with the benefits of intervention overemphasized while potential risks are downplayed. Such framings reinforce the notion of the female body and its parts as sites of potential imperfection that require constant monitoring, correction, and improvement.

Our preliminary findings suggest that some gynecologists have moved away from obstetrics toward cosmetic gynecology, where genital cosmetic surgeries offer greater financial return and professional autonomy, as well as reduced biopolitical surveillance. This shift is partly driven by the contemporary conditions of obstetric practice in Turkey, which involves high legal risk and low remuneration under strong state regulation of abortion and c-sections. By contrast, some gynecologists refuse to perform these surgeries, viewing them as patriarchal, profit-driven, and ethically problematic. Surgeons tend to frame these surgeries as technical solutions to culturally produced concerns, while psychotherapists and physiotherapists complicate this terrain by advocating non-surgical assessment and treatment. Overall, we demonstrate that biomedicalization operates through uneven and contested configurations of expertise. In this process, profit motives, feminist ethics, and alternative therapeutic logics continually reshape the boundaries between intimate care, biomedical enhancement, and professional practice.