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`Designer vaginas
`Gynecological surgery isn't just for medical reasons anymore; some women say it enhances sexual pleasure.
`
`- - - - - - - - - - - -
`By Debra Ollivier
`
`Nov. 14, 2000 | For as long as she can remember, Jill wanted a different vagina. Not only was her labia minora slightly
`larger than her labia majora ("I'd see women in locker rooms and in magazines and be jealous," she says); after two
`children she also had serious incontinence problems.
`
`"My vagina had that 'flippy-floppy' feeling. I could barely feel anything. Sex was just not the same." Then a friend of
`hers saw an ad for Dr. David Matlock and his Laser Vaginal Rejuvenation clinic in Los Angeles. "My friend said, 'Hey
`Jill, you could do this!' It was meant as a joke. I found Matlock's number on the Net and was in his office within a
`week."
`
`Jill, a Manhattan lawyer, had two of Matlock's trademark surgeries: Laser Vaginal Rejuvenation (LVR) to tighten her
`vagina and "enhance sexual gratification" and Designer Laser Vaginoplasty (DLV) to "aesthetically modify" her labia.
`
`She calls her transformation "a miracle," and she is not alone in her enthusiasm. High above Sunset Boulevard, in
`Matlock's plush, 5,000-square-foot office, vaginas are being redesigned, labia modified, vulvae reconfigured. The
`women spreading their legs, exposing their personal secrets to the antiseptic trimmings and surgical prunings of a trusty
`laser are ad hoc pioneers in a rapidly growing industry. But is LVR truly a way of enhancing sexual gratification or
`simply a way of selling gynecological surgery while pushing the perfect vagina? With the reasons for LVR and DLV as
`diverse as the vaginas themselves, the answers are not so cut-and-dried.
`
`Laser Vaginal Rejuvenation began as a modification of a traditional gynecological vaginal surgery for stress urinary
`incontinence. The procedure, which has been a standard gynecological surgery for decades, involves the tightening of
`the vaginal muscles and support tissues, as well as the reduction of redundant vaginal mucosa (relaxed vaginal lining).
`By reconstructing the "optimum structural architecture" of the vagina -- namely, by reconstructing the outer third of the
`vagina: the orgasmic platform, internal and external vaginal diameter (introitus) and the perineal body -- Matlock claims
`that women not only are relieved of incontinence, but they also enjoy increased levels of sexual gratification.
`
`The connection between vaginal tightness and sexual gratification allegedly became apparent to Matlock 12 years ago
`when a woman came into his office with extreme stress urinary incontinence after the birth of four children. Matlock
`recalls her phone call weeks after the surgery. "She called back and said, 'Doctor, guess what? Since I've had the
`procedure sex is great. My husband says he has the same wife, but a new woman.' And I said, 'OK.' I just put that in the
`back of my mind."
`
`Later, word of mouth spread, bringing more women to Matlock's office in search of a tighter vagina not just to end
`incontinence, but for better sex. Some requested that, once on the surgery table, Matlock do a little cosmetic surgery as
`well -- a plumping up of a flaccid vulva here, a trimming back of a labium there. "I hesitated at first," says Matlock of
`those fledgling days, when a growing interest in sexual gratification and designer vaginas slowly brought women
`flocking to his office. "Then I modified my thoughts. I thought, OK."
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`Salon.com Sex | Designer vaginas
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`Matlock ran his first ad in the L.A. Weekly two years ago. Amid the clutter of ads for big breasts, tight butts, large
`penises and iron shins, the Laser Vaginal Rejuvenation ad featured a bikini-clad woman writhing in orgasmic delight.
`The headline read: "You Won't Believe How Good Sex Can Be!" Matlock's phones haven't stopped ringing since.
`
`Speaking with the gusto of a moral crusader, Matlock sits in his office with a panoramic view of L.A. looming behind
`him. On his large, shiny desk stands a transparent plastic model of a vagina and its reproductive system. "Gynecology is
`a supersurgical subspecialty," he says. "We dedicate our entire professional careers to the reproductive tract. But do we
`ever go back and look at the things that result from labor, delivery, childbirth? There can be relaxation of that structure
`and thus a diminishment or a decrease in sexual gratification. Do we concern ourselves with that? No. Not at all. We
`only concern ourselves with obstetrics. I think there needs to be research in this area, and I'll tell you why: Women do
`[his emphasis] enjoy sex. Women want to enjoy sex. Women want to be able to enhance their sexuality if they can."
`
`By marrying this type of sexual marketing rhetoric with gynecological science and cosmetic surgery, Matlock
`unwittingly formed a new and lucrative alliance. Today women from all over the world come to Matlock's office
`seeking a rehauled, resexed vagina. Like Jill, they claim phenomenal and life-changing results -- two adjectives that
`could very well describe what LVR and DLV have done for Matlock. Poised to launch an international franchising and
`licensing network, Matlock stands on the edge of a cresting wave that has already made him a millionaire several times
`over, generated media attention (Howard Stern has praised the man) and provoked the wrath of many in the ob/gyn
`community.
`
`"I think this is a way of preying on vulnerable women," says Dr. Linda Brubaker, fellowship director of Female Pelvic
`Medicine & Reconstructive Surgery at Loyola University Medical Center. "I reconstruct vaginas all the time. I agree
`that the field of women's sexual functioning is a poorly studied area. But I don't buy any of what Matlock is saying.
`There are standard pre- and post-operative intervention tests and tools that could be applied here to substantiate his
`claims. Curious that Matlock has not applied any of them to his own work, nor published any scientific material relating
`to his work, nor subjected anything to peer review. The longer this is untested, the better for him."
`
`Matlock makes no apologies in response to his critics. "I didn't create the market. The need was there. The market was
`there. I saw it. I'm serving that market." He looks out the window, a bit circumspect. "Doctors can be very vicious. They
`can be very, very jealous."
`
`Brubaker brushes aside his indictment of the ob/gyn community. To those considering LVR or DLV -- two procedures
`that are not without their risks, among them hemorrhage, infection, loss of sensitivity, lingering pain from nerve damage
`-- Brubaker says simply: "Run away, run away, run away."
`
`Apparently, a growing number of women are doing just the opposite. Consider Sherry. A 33-year-old financial
`consultant, Sherry went to "thousands" of gynecologists to discuss the problems with her "relaxed vagina" before going
`to Matlock. "Dr. Matlock was the first person who even remotely understood the situation." She describes the result of
`her surgery as "overwhelming -- psychologically, physically, it was just night and day. It's like being flat-chested your
`whole life and then finally having breasts." Here she pauses, then adds: "This is L.A. Everybody wants to be beautiful.
`Everybody wants to be 22 years old with big boobs. Everything can be bought and sold."
`
`Jill also went to "a gazillion gynecologists" who dismissed her problem. Then she met Matlock. "It's a personal
`preference. Life is short. For women who are severely damaged, sex should still be intense and passionate." And herein
`lies the crux of the problem. No one would disagree that "severely damaged" women are entitled to great sex. To drive
`this point home, Matlock lifts up a large alarm clock from his desk. "I don't want to be gross," he says, "but I could
`easily put this in the vaginas of some of the women coming in here. Do you understand what I'm saying? And that's just
`not right." But while a staggering 30 percent of women will develop some form of pelvic floor disorder resulting in
`incontinence or compromise of vaginal integrity after birth, only 5 to 10 percent will be so damaged that they can easily
`fit a household appliance in their vaginas.
`
`By obscuring the lines between the severely damaged and the naturally relaxed vagina, Matlock has leveled the playing
`fields among all women and widened the market potential for his genital landscaping. His tight-vagina hype also
`flagrantly misses the point. With sexual ground zero located in the clitoris, one can only wonder for whom the tight
`vagina truly tolls -- men or women?
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`Salon.com Sex | Designer vaginas
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`Says Sherry, "You give more pleasure to a man, which affects your own sense of sexual gratification. It's not necessarily
`about having better orgasms. It's the way you feel as a woman." In a moment of unguarded candor, Matlock himself
`suggests that a tight vagina might help you keep your man from running after younger women when he leans forward
`and asks, "Why not have the best sex you can at home? Why not? You tell me why these 40-, 50-, 60-year-old men are
`running after younger women? They want these women with these nice, hot, tight --" he puts his hands out here
`emphatically for me to finish the sentence. "Why is that?" he persists. (Which begs another question: Is surgically
`modifying your vagina the answer?)
`
`Giving a 40- or 50-year-old woman a 20-year-old vagina is not all that Matlock has in his bag of genital tricks. He can
`also restore her virginity through a technique called hymenalplasty. Essentially the reconstruction of the hymen, this
`procedure has brought to Matlock's office a steady clientele of Middle Eastern women. "You can't believe how
`hysterical some of these women are. They come in here and say they're going to get killed unless they get this done.
`They're telling us that back home their brother will kill them, that their father will kill them. It's terrible. The majority of
`these Middle Eastern women are coming in to have hymenalplasty because they're getting ready to get married in their
`home country. All of them tell me that the groom's side of the family can pick whatever doctor they want to determine
`whether or not she's a virgin, to determine whether she's worth it or not to be married to their son. So there are religious
`implications, there are social implications."
`
`That Matlock could become the Salman Rushdie of the Islamic vagina doesn't seem to unhinge him. On the contrary. "If
`I can help a woman in this unfair world," he says with a certain characteristic zeal, "then I'm going to go ahead and do it.
`I have no problems about doing it whatsoever. The man, he gets to do whatever he wants to do. Is he held accountable
`for anything? Absolutely not. But the woman is held accountable like this [he brings his hand to his throat like a knife].
`It's serious."
`
`Serious perhaps, but not always a question of life or death. Matlock cites the occasional flurry of Japanese women who
`come in for hymenalplasty. "At one point it became a regular thing. They'd come to the States, do a little school, go on
`vacation, then come here, have hymenalplasty and go home."
`
`As for Americans, while Matlock concedes that virginity before marriage is essentially a nonissue, a growing population
`of American women is seeking the "virgin experience" to share with their husbands. "I'm seeing quite a bit more of that
`happening," says Matlock. "Women coming in because they want the experience."
`
`Take Helena. A financial analyst, Helena first went to Matlock for Laser Vaginal Rejuvenation. "It was the best thing I
`ever did. My husband was ecstatic," she said. With her new vagina in place, Helena was drawn to the option of getting a
`new hymen. "My husband and I would have loved it if he had been my first. Our anniversary is coming up; we're
`renewing our wedding vows. We want to have the virgin experience."
`
`Helena paid for her new hymen with a credit card. When we spoke she was still waiting for the healing process to end (a
`process she described as "full of lots of pain and crying, but that I'd go through again if I had to") before setting up the
`special one-time conjugal event with her new vestal vagina.
`
`Hymenalplasty and its bizarre implications aside, there is nothing new about LVR and DLV. Vaginal tightening has
`been done for decades to help women with extremely compromised vaginal integrity. For the even fewer women out
`there with true genital "deformities" -- extraordinarily long or protruding labia, for example, or excessive vaginal flesh -
`- surgery has also been an option for years. "Labial surgery?" says ob/gyn Dr. Cornelia Daly. "There's nothing to it. It's
`been around for 30 years. Lasers have even fallen out of favor. We have more sophisticated tools that do the same thing
`these days." According to the ob/gyn community, Matlock has simply put a new spin (sex sells) on an old procedure.
`
`And yet in his hype he offers an appealing line. "There are over 25 medications for male impotence," he says. "It takes
`$500 to $600 million to bring one drug into research and development. Those are facts. Is there anything remotely
`similar there for women? No. Not at all. There are over 200 prosthetic devices for men on the market. Anything similar
`for women? Not at all. If men had problems like that -- if men had babies, and we had certain body parts stretched out as
`a result -- they would have been looked at, researched and solved a long time ago." And who would disagree? Adds
`Lucy, "If men had these problems they would have been solved in a petri dish long ago."
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`Salon.com Sex | Designer vaginas
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`The irony here (which seems lost to the doctor himself) is that Matlock wants to liberate women from the shackles of a
`man's world while selling them what could be the ultimate and most oppressive form of sex/beauty fascism. And as
`cosmetic surgery becomes more widespread, designer vaginas may become as common as the silicon breast -- a sinister
`prospect that has many women's advocates up in arms. "Women's genitals are fascinating, unique and beautiful," says
`pioneering sex therapist Betty Dodson, whose Web site includes a "genital forum" featuring a panoply of different
`vaginas in all their diversity. Dodson -- who for decades has helped women discover their genitals, and particularly their
`clitoris, which she describes as women's "little phallic symbol that terrifies the status quo" -- considers LVR and DVR
`as truly odious procedures except for very extreme cases.
`
`"Now we want little doll-like genitals and vaginal orgasms and Viagra for women!" she laments, reemphasizing the
`need for women to assert their "clit power" as the only true road to enhanced sexual gratification. "If men can get close
`enough to lick and diddle, they don't give a rat's ass about the size of your genitals or the shape of your labias," she says.
`Dismissing the link between vaginal tightness and sexual gratification as a way for men to cash in on women's
`insecurities and for women to appease the male ego, she practically yells into the phone: "We have catered to men's
`desires forever! We have lied to them and fooled them for centuries! Enough!"
`
`- - - - - - - - - - - -
`
`About the writer
`Debra Ollivier is a frequent
`contributor to Salon and Le Monde.
`She divides her time between Los
`Angeles and Paris.
`
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