Abstract
Background
Despite existing anthropometric data in the literature regarding the variation of female external genital anatomy, the ideal aesthetic characteristics have yet to be defined.
Objectives
Authors used crowdsourcing in order to better evaluate preferred anatomic characteristics of external female genitalia.
Methods
Fifty-six total images were digitally created by altering the proportions of the labia minora, labia majora, and clitoral hood. Images with differing ratios were presented in pairs to Amazon Mechanical Turk (Seattle, WA, USA) raters. Three different experiments were performed with each varying two of the three image characteristics to permit two factor modeling. The Bradley-Terry-Luce model was applied to the pairwise comparisons ratings to create a rank order for each image. Preferences for each anatomic variable were compared using chi-squared tests.
Results
A total of 5000 raters participated. Experiment 1 compared differing widths of the labia majora and labia minora and determined a significant preference for larger labia majora width and mid-range labia minora width (p=0.007). Experiment 2 compared labia minora width versus clitoral hood length and showed a statistically significant preference for wider majoras (p<.001), but no significant preference in clitoral hood length (p=0.54). Experiment 3 compared clitoral hood length versus labia minora width and showed a statistically significant preference for mid-range labia minora widths (p<.001) but no significant preference in clitoral hood length (p=0.78).
Conclusions
Raters preferred a labia majora to labia minora width ratio of 3:1 with minimal preference in clitoral hood length.
Commentary on: Labia Minora, Labia Majora, and Clitoral Hood Alteration: Experience-Based Recommendations
