Vagina

Countless times this week I have read articles that appear to make a mockery of a woman's vagina. Yes I said vagina. It seems to be very hard for some to say the word vagina. Some women know their vagina's by another name and yes it is technically a vulva but in this day and age vagina is more common than vulva (and to my surprise some women don't even know what that word is without giving it too much thought!). I've noticed most men can't bring themselves to say the vagina word without giggling. This week I also found out that a few people I know didn't even know the different parts of their own vagina's! They thought it was just made up of a clitoris, a canal and a set of lips!!! So here is a diagram just for you ladies...

image from this wonderful site Vagina Verite

Countless times this week I have also read many great articles about the extreme use of airbrushing a woman including her genitals and a rise of plastic surgery including labiaplasty. With our Aussie laws stating that pretty much the images of a woman's vagina must be airbrushed to heal it to a single crease (see Hungry Beasts great article), I am a tad worried about how media representation of a woman's body will affect my sons expectations of what a real woman's body looks like. I'm very concerned of how my daughter will view herself when she is older as she is growing up in this circus of a world as we speak. Will she grow up with countless images of airbrushed women and in real life want the same odd fake perfection for herself? I hope not. Hopefully I can teach her not conform to ideals set in magazines and every woman has a vagina but every woman's vagina is different. Oh yeah and that vagina is not a dirty word.