Vulva Magazine focuses and reflects on the life of the modern woman, featuring inspirational stories from all over the world, with women of all ages, race, size - everyone is included! Vulva Magazine is a platform which gives a voice to women.
- QUESTION -
Vagina vs. Pussy
The word vagina has a complex relationship with the human mindset.
Sometimes it’s the most beautiful thing on earth. The vagina is self-cleaning, they grow and expand. They show you a damn good time and let’s not forget they come in all different shapes and sizes. Yet despite all of this, the word vagina also makes people squirm in their seats and call it disgusting.
FYI, to everyone out there, the word vagina comes from the Latin root that literally means “Sheath for a Sword”. Vaginas are literal warriors.
There are hundreds of words people have called their vagina. There are so many from different cultures and languages. You have street slang descriptions and then science or sex-related terms are thrown into the mix. From a Fanny to a Velvet Volvo to an Aphrodisiacal Tennis Court. There’s a lot. I asked people what word they used to describe their vaj. The majority of people I spoke to said they call it different names depending on the situation. (Hello dirty talk). This got me thinking.
When I was younger my mother called it Bits. Because she didn’t want to use the word vagina. In her own words, saying “bits” meant she could say it in public and I’d know what she’d mean, without causing offence or have people giving dirty looks to her because she used the word vagina to her kid. It has always stuck with me until recently where it made me cringe just simply referring to my lovely Silk Igloo as “bits”. Personally, my favourite now is The Death of Adam. Sorry Ad, Eve won this one.
If you say Vagina in public you will most definitely an upturned brow. It’s still a hush-hush word. Saying Vagina, Pussy, Cunt or anything relating to your genitals is a silent nod that you’ll be going straight to Satan.
What you refer to as the vagina may not be what you think either. The vagina is actually the passage from the vulva and the uterus. The vulva is the opening, it’s the first part you see and feel going up towards your vaj. It’s an organ within itself. Your uterus is where the devil descends every month and makes your body go into haywire. Yes, we are talking about periods. But having a Whisker Biscuit isn’t all that bad.
Sidenote: if you turn to the next page, you will find a Vagina 101 crash course of every part of your female anatomy.
On average a woman has 8,000 nerve endings in her Vagina. Whereas penis-habitators only have 4,000 nerve endings. That is insane. It also means when a male gets an orgasm, it won’t ever be as mind-shattering as a woman’s. Ha. Sorry guys, it’s 2—0 to Eve now.
Can we just take a quick moment to say thank you to the Cock Socket (slightly offended by this one), because they literally pop out a human being? A baby is grown within the uterus, pushed down the vagina and into the world. All you need is one ingredient and the rest is all the vaginas doing. The biggest baby born to the world was a 22 lb 8 oz boy in 1955. To put that into perspective, that is 1.6 stone. Just over 10kg. Like I said, incredible. A bloody masterpiece.
I might be swayed to call my vagina a Taco every now and then. Or for fun, maybe a Panty Hamster. Why not? You only get one and I’d like to take care of my Bearded Clam.
We need to remember that vaginas are designed to help women have periods, babies and enjoy sex. But every Mossy Cleft is different. They’re just like people. No one person is the same, so neither is a vagina. It’s like anything; you cannot compare yourself to anyone else. Your Lady Garden is unique. Just like you.
What do you call yours?
Information: All the information has been gathered from multiple online sources, as shown below. If you have a digital version of Vulva, just click the link and it will take you straight to the site.
NHS - National Health Service https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/sexual-health/vaginashapes-and-sizes/
Lunette https://uk.lunette.com/blogs/news/get-to-knowyour-vulva-and-vagina-better
WebMD https://www.webmd.com/women/picture-of-thevagina
Planned Parenthood https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/healthand-wellness/sexual-and-reproductive-anatomy/ what-are-parts-female-sexual-anatomy
Want more? Turn the page for a very exciting class of Know Your Yoni. It’s labelling time.
- VULVA 101 -
Know Your Yoni
Oh yes. It’s labelling time. We’re talking a lot about vaginas today, aren’t we?
This issue’s Vulva 101 Masterclass is all about a woman’s Kitty. When curating this issue, we found that several women did not know what their vagina actually was.
Why is it that women do not know their own female genitalia? There is a huge lack of anatomical knowledge in our population. Unless of course, you work in areas which surround knowing female genitalia parts, such as midwives, biologists, and gynaecologists. Like I said in the previous article when talking about female genitalia, the majority of people refer to it as the vagina - when really they are talking about the vulva which is the outer part of a woman’s genitalia.
The vulva concludes of four key parts; the labia, vaginal opening, clitoris, and the urethra. Within that, you have a few extras, which include the clitoral hood, the anus (yes that’s part of it) and two different labia’s; the labia majora and the labia minor.
minorIf you are talking about the vagina, you are talking about a woman’s reproductive system. This is a completely different part of a woman’s anatomy. This involves the cervix, ovaries, fallopian tubes, uterus and of course, the vagina. Fimbriae and the endocervical canal are also involved in the mix but then you are getting really technical.
So in response to this, we thought it could be fun to design a diagram ourselves and see if we can name every part of this beautiful vulva. You can do it. Some parts may be easier to identify than others. But we are sure all of you know where that lovely clitoris is.
If you don’t know, do not be embarrassed at all - it’s something you can learn and read up about it. Don’t feel shy either. Vulva’s and vaginas are fabulous creations and they should be celebrated, not hidden or be judged because it looks different or feels different to someone else’s. Thanks, porn. We love you, but come on now.
Let’s embrace our physical and sexual bods, get to know them and love ‘em.
If you are worried about any part of your anatomy, talk to a professional, your GP or gynaecologist.
The internet doesn’t know everything.
Do You Know Your Yoni? The Answers
How did you do?
Did you know that half of the British population could not identify or describe the function of the urethra (58%), labia (47%) or vagina (52%)? And furthermore, if we break it down by gender, YouGov found that 6/10 men (59%) and half of the women (45%) could not even label the vagina.
[YouGov. March 2019]
We got all the information from the sites, Hello Clue, and YouGov.
If you want to know more, their website is below. Happy reading!
https://helloclue.com/articles/cycle-a-z/vaginas-101 https://yougov.co.uk/topics/health/articles-reports/2019/03/08/half-britsdont-know-where-vagina-and-its-not-just
Time to get a mirror out girls and start exploring!
Written & Illustrated by Hannah Mathieson
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