Activism on the medicalization of sex and female genital cosmetic surgery by the New View Campaign in the United States

Abstract

The New View Campaign is a grassroots initiative begun in 1999 to challenge the over-medicalization of sex in the wake of publicity following the release of Viagra. This paper describes the history of the campaign and its activities, which started with analysing the construction of female sexual dysfunction, and moved on to develop a critical understanding of sexuality as a market for the pharmaceutical industry to exploit. The campaign has also had much to say about a positive model for sexuality, sex education, treatment of sex problems, and sex research. From 2006, we began to look at the new female cosmetic genital surgery industry. In 2008, we wrote letters to many government and medical professional groups expressing our concerns about female cosmetic genital surgery and asking for support. We also organised a demonstration outside the office of a New York surgeon who was doing this surgery and developed a webpage as a resource for students, scholars, journalists and activists. In 2009, we held an event in an art gallery that celebrated artists who support and encourage female sexual diversity. Supporters and colleagues of the campaign have published books and articles, and created visual and training materials, including a project called Vulvagraphics.