Scarleteen

Can sexual assault/rape to a prepubescent girl (occurring more than once or twice) cause abnormally extra long labia in the future? Could the assaults cause so much stimulation that the labia could eventually grow to be extra long and way easily over stimulated? I know that’s an odd question.

Hi NoraStar,

So, the basic answer is: no. Sexual assault cannot change or influence the shape of someone's genitals, unless the person who committed the assault did something like cut them. But the shape of your genitals is determined by things like genes (and the shape and length of labia are often way more variable than people think: Give'em Some Lip: Labia That Clearly Ain't Minor), not by whether or no someone survived assaults at a given age.

I do want to check: are you asking about this because of something you experienced when you were younger, or something you're going through now?

Asked because of stuff that happened many years ago, when I was very small. It has now caused me to develop a painful and rare condition called PGAD, which is related to over stimulation and it hurts so badly, it causes me to scream. Doctors suggested Labiaplasty bc of the abnormal length and nerve endings. Another woman I know who went through a similar thing believes the labia can get that way after being stimulated at a young age over and over and over. So I just thought I’d ask here.
PS: I have many doctors, therapists, counselors, and family as a support group.

Got it. I'm glad to hear that you have such a robust support system!

It sounds like you're working with a specific diagnosis, and that you and your healthcare providers are discussing solutions (although I do have to say that it looks like surgical interventions aren't typically one of the go-tos, but it may be you've already tried the other available options). To what the other woman said, it may help to think of it this way: children, including young children, masturbate. So if repeated stimulation at a young age lead to those genital shapes, we'd expect to see far less variation in genital shape and size than we actually do.

Yes it’s been four years of working through this.
To be clear, I do not want the surgery done and have chosen not to because others with PGAD have told me it is a terrible idea and causes the symptoms to worsen.

Also, I never masturbated in my life, so it’s hard to say. I’ve also never had sex (excluding the rapes as a child). But not every kid masturbates.

Got it, it sounds like you have a pretty clear idea of what you do, and don't, want when it comes to treating this!

You're right that there will always be some exceptions to general patterns of human sexual behavior. What we know is that most kids masturbate as part of the general self-exploration that happens at those ages, and that some people don't even remember doing it as a kid because they were so young when they did it.