...let me take this time to remind everyone that vulvas are not vaginas, and vice versa. If it helps, remember that all the outside stuff is part of the vulva - the vagina is an internal organ.
This public service message is brought to you by the fact that I just read an entire scholarly essay that used the word "vagina" to talk, really, about vulvas - so please, folks, knock it off. This is a simply appalling lack of basic anatomy knowledge.
Thank you, and have a lovely Valentine's Day.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
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3 comments:
It's not Valentine's Day, it's Lunar New Year. :p
I thought maybe you were inspired by John Mayer's douchey interview where, among other things, he talked about looking at lots of "vaginas" online. And I'm thinking, "What, you're looking at gynecology sites?"
This reminds me of a friend of mine, years ago, talking about bathing his baby daughter and how weird it was to bathe her "vagina". I asked him, "Did you, like, go inside her?"
He looked absolutely disgusted. "No! God, no!"
"Well, the inside is the vagina. What you washed is her 'vulva'. That's the outside."
He repeated it. "Vulva, vulva, vulva. That's a good word to know." I didn't knock him, because he's not a native English speaker, but it upsets me that native English speakers of both genders confuse the two words. And what passes for sex "education" in our schools surely doesn't help.
All this to say, thanks for the reminder. :-)
My mother would tell you she did a great job on teaching me sex ed. She's very proud of herself for keeping the books Where Did I Come From? and What's Happening To Me? on her nighttable and telling my brother and me we could take either one any time we wanted.
But I did not learn about the vulva until I was in my mid/late 20's, and it wasn't from my mother.
The distinction was certainly never addressed in 6th or 10th grade health. Or the "Personal & Family Health" class I took in college.
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