This year Norwich Science Festival hosted its first (but hopefully not last) discussion about vaginas to a packed-out Norwich Arts Centre. According to the Eve Appeal, almost half of British women do not know the basic anatomy of their genitalia, which can have a major impact on their health, body image, and sexual pleasure. Thankfully, speakers Hoda Ali, Florence Schecter, and Elaine Miller were sure to bust as many myths (and crack as many jokes) as possible.
But how well do you know your vagina? Would you consider yourself on par with Hoda, Florence, and Elaine, or part of the 50% that don’t know where to begin?
Let’s start with the words you might use… flower, gash, minge, muff, pussy, sarlacc pit, ‘down there’ are just a few of the common words and phrases used to describe female genitalia but did you know the term ‘vagina’ only refers to one specific part? Yep, the vagina is actually just the tube extending from the vulva (the outside bit) to the cervix (the lower part of the uterus). The vagina the part where you might put in tampons, fingers, pensises, or the part where menstrual blood and babies come out from. The external bit that many people refer to as the vagina, is actually the ‘vulva’, the collective name for all the external sex organs, such as the clitoris, labia majora, and labia minor (to name just a few!)
A second bit of information you may be surprised to know, while menstrual cups have shot up in popularity in recent years, you may be surprised the first menstrual cup was actually invented in 1884. While the device didn’t become available until almost 50 years later in 1932, the cup was designed to go inside the vagina and funnel out menstrual liquid into a wider cup between the woman’s legs. While it doesn’t sound as comfortable or practical as today’s menstrual cup’s designs are, it’s comforting to know that menstrual cups aren’t a new fad and have actually been helping many people for generations!
Speaking of older generations, how much do you know about the Grandma Theory? This is the theory that the reason humans experience a menopause (which is rare in the animal world) is because we need older humans to help care for younger humans. Due to the narrowness of our hips, humans tend to experience a short pregnancy, meaning we often need to recover a little longer from childbirth and that human babies are often a little less able to care for themselves than other animal babies. Naturally then, we need a group of older and world-experienced humans (read: grandparents) that can help us raise babies and don’t have any more babies of their own to prioritise.
While most people who experience childbirth make a full recovery, a common myth is that of the “wizard sleeve”, which perpetuates the belief that after childbirth the vulva’s labia (or ‘the lips’) remain loose and dangling. But rest assured, as physiotherapist Elaine Miller tells us that the vagina will return to pre-pregnancy state within 6 weeks of childbirth! According to Elaine, however, after 6 weeks of parenthood, penises remain uninspiring!
Speaking of feeling uninspiring, studies have shown that only 1 in 5 women actually orgasm from penetration alone and, while 86% of lesbians and 64% bisexual women say they orgasm during every sexual experience, only 45% of straight women can say the same. While this is mainly due to a lack of education, often from both men and women alike, about female anatomy and pleasure, all three speakers had one piece of advice: find out what you like and talk to your partner about it! This might take time – there’s still a lot of stigma around these conversations – but if these conversations are going to benefit half the population, then it’s something we all need to know and talk about.
Written by Eve Mathews
– Florence Schecter, founder of The Vagina Museum : https://www.vaginamuseum.co.uk/about/people
YNA COLLECTIVE 