Emma Barnard

How do adolescent girls and young women understand and make decisions about female genital cosmetic surgery?

List of Supervisors:

Prof Marilys Guillemin, Prof Lynn Gillam, Prof Sonia Grover

Title of your PhD:

How do adolescent girls and young women understand and make decisions about female genital cosmetic surgery?

Abstract:

Little is known about the motivations underlying requests from young women and girls for consultation regarding concerns about labial or genital appearance and possible cosmetic surgery, particularly in the context of the procedure not being recommended nor endorsed by multiple professional bodies. Given these limitations, this PhD project utilises a qualitative approach to examine how adolescent girls and young women understand and make decisions about FGCS and seeks to address the gap in the scholarly literature as to how FGCS is conceptualised and experienced by this group.