'Labia library' to reveal the facts Alarm over growing demand for vaginal "rejuvenation" surgery has prompted the launch of Australia's first "labia library" in an attempt to provide a counterbalance to pornographic images that can make women feel abnormal. Following on from the controversy surrounding the University of Sydney's Honi Soit magazine, in which 18 women chose to have their genitals photographed for the cover, there is a growing movement towards showing the natural variations that can occur between women's bodies. Women's Health Victoria has an online resource, labialibrary.org.au, to address common concerns about labia size and shape, and to reduce body image anxiety. The site features a photo gallery of 20 unaltered vulvas to increase awareness about what "normal" looks like. Women's Health Victoria executive director Rita Butera said they were moved to act after an analysis of Medicare figures revealed claims for labiaplasty and vulvoplasty surgery in Australia rose from 640 a year in 2000-01 to 1565 in 2010-11. "Often what women see and understand to be normal is not real, so it's easier to think there's something wrong with your own body and that influences a lot of women's decisions around having cosmetic surgery," Ms Butera said. In some cases there may be medical reasons for having this surgery but the surge in the trend is so great that many women are having these operations for aesthetic purposes. Honi Soit editor Hannah Ryan said she chose to confront the issue on the cover of the University of Sydney's student magazine "to help women relax." "Pornography has a monopoly on creating cultural norms of what an attractive vagina might look like, leading to worrying trends of hairlessness and labiaplasty," she said. Australian regulations prohibit images of the labia or clitoris being published in magazines. Ms Butera said this left many women with no reference point other than pornography, where images were often digitally altered or, in some cases, the result of cosmetic surgery. "Our other concern is around the safety and efficacy of the procedures because there isn't a lot of evidence that exists, and what does exist is questionable in terms of quality, so decisions are being made when little is known about risks or benefits of the surgery," Ms Butera said. Jane Paterson, a plastic surgeon at Epworth Hospital in Melbourne who specialises in labiaplasty surgery, said the website would be a valuable educational tool for women but said concerns around the rise in operations were often overstated. "In the work that I do, the women are all pretty worthy patients who really need this operation," Dr Paterson said. The problem is excess soft tissue where the labia minora are too big and they hang outside the outer labia so therefore they're prone to rubbing and chafing and getting in the way. They start having pressure symptoms when they're wearing tight underwear and particularly active women who are into sport - distance runners, cyclists, horse riders. The images used on the website, which will be officially launched on Tuesday, come from the Canadian book I'll Show You Mine, a photo study of female genitalia.