Labia stretching is the act of elongating the labia minora through manual manipulation (pulling) or physical equipment (such as weights). In the article Designer Vaginas by Simone Weil Davis, she talks about the modification of woman's vagina and the outside influences women are pressured with, which can cause them to feel shame towards their labia minora. This new hymen is created to cause physical resistance, blood, or the appearance of blood, at the time that the individual's new husband inserts his penis into her vagina. But overusing it might cause tissue damage and lead to problems with your erections. During childbirth, an episiotomy (cutting part of the tissue between the vagina and the anus) is sometimes performed to increase the amount of space through which the baby may emerge. The Brussels collaboration on Bodily integrity is made up of "physicians, ethicists, nurse-midwives, public health professionals, legal scholars, human rights advocates, political scientists, anthropologists, psychologists, sexologists, sociologists, philosophers, and feminists from Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas with interdisciplinary or experiential expertise in child genital cutting practices across a wide range of cultural contexts". FGM is condemned by international human rights organizations. There is a consensus among the world's major medical organizations and in the academic literature that circumcision is an efficacious intervention for HIV prevention in high-risk populations if carried out by medical professionals under safe conditions.
