FGPS · Understanding motivations to seek and carry out female genital plastic surgeries to contribute to better informed decision-making of girls/women and to support medics in developing ethical practices
Horizon Europe — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2023-04-01 → 2025-09-30
- EU contribution
- €175,920
- Participants
- 2
- Scheme
- HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Understanding motivations to seek and carry out female genital plastic surgeries to contribute to better informed decision-making of girls/women and to support medics in developing ethical practices
Female genital cosmetic procedures (FGCP) are increasing rapidly across Europe, prompting growing concern among medical and women’s organisations about both potential health risks and the normalisation of surgically “correcting” healthy genitalia. As demand rises, research has expanded across plastic surgery, public health, psychology, and feminist scholarship. Yet these fields often study FGCP in isolation, emphasising clinical outcomes, individual decision-making, or gendered critique separately. What remains missing is an anthropological and holistic understanding of how women come to view their genital appearance as problematic in the first place, and when and why FGCP is taken up as a perceived solution. This project addresses that gap by examining genital self-image among cisgender women in Belgium and the Netherlands, and investigating how they cope with feelings of shame, discomfort, or uncertainty regarding their genitalia—with FGCP emerging as only one of several strategies. The empirical research combines focus group discussions with women from the general population, and in-depth interviews with women who have undergone FGCP and with healthcare professionals providing these procedures. Using an empirical bioethics approach, the findings will be integrated with ethical analysis to develop practical, gender-sensitive decision-support tools for healthcare professionals, and public awareness materials that highlight genital diversity and challenge stigma. By reframing FGCP as a socially shaped phenomenon rather than an entirely individual choice, the project contributes to more informed and equitable clinical practice, while supporting wider cultural and policy change that promotes women’s bodily autonomy and wellbeing. Its anticipated impact is therefore significant: improving healthcare responses in the short term and reducing harmful social pressures on women’s bodies in the longer term.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
This project investigates why girls and women in Belgium and the Netherlands (increasingly) seek female genital plastic surgeries (FGPS) and how healthcare practitioners handle requests for these surgeries. The results will feed into the development of an informed decision-making tool for girls and women, a European standardised assessment tool to support health professionals in handling FGPS requests in a medically responsible and gender-sensitive way, and guidelines for policy-makers on how to regulate and/or reimburse FGPS. The project is important given the worldwide increase in FGPS and the current lack of insight into what drives requests for FGPS and how to handle these requests responsibly. The project creates an opportunity for Europe to establish itself as a world leader in responding to the surge in FGPS, which is happening across the (industrialised) world but which, so far, has not received an adequate response. The project is multidisciplinary and integrates theories from medical and social sciences, including medical anthropology, bioethics, and public health, transcending the disciplines’ traditional boundaries. It uses a mixed-methods approach, including semi-structured interviews, questionnaires, and desk research. The project will be hosted by Rhea, the interdisciplinary research centre on gender, intersectionality, and bioethics at Vrije Universiteit Brussels, in collaboration with the Ghent University Hospital Gender Team, an internationally renowned multidisciplinary team of plastic surgeons, sexologists, and gynaecologists who specialise in genital surgeries. With these teams’ support and my background in sociology, gender, and social anthropology and expertise in women’s health and genital surgeries, I am confident that I will successfully carry out this project and establish myself as a leader in the field of female genital surgeries. The project will prepare me for a career in women’s sexual health in academia, government, or civil society.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
Links
- View on CORDIS
- DOI: 10.3030/101107119
- https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/documents/downloadPublic?documentIds=080166e507f8341f&appId=PPGMS
- https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/documents/downloadPublic?documentIds=080166e511f40594&appId=PPGMS
Data: CORDIS, © European Union