Fashioning the Vagina: A Qualitative Investigation of Young Women’s Perspectives

This thesis examines young women's understandings and experiences of genital fashioning practices. Young women engage with genital fashioning within a context shaped by social influences and pressures. In particular, the mainstream media, sexual partners, and peer groups encourage women’s participation in practices of genital fashioning. Dually, within contemporary discourse, young women are exposed to postfeminist messages which assert individual capacity for agency, expression and assertive sexuality. These contradictory social expectations were negotiated by the participants who recognised capacity for agency within the complex cultural context currently inhabited by young women. This research contributes to broader debates about choice and agency.