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February 10, 2006

Outer and Upper Vagina

As evidence for my argument that we need to use words like vulva and cunt instead of vagina when we mean vulva or cunt instead of vagina, I offer this example.

The other day I found a flyer for NuvaRing contraceptive in my campus ladies' room. It features a photo of a woman walking along a sidewalk, a photo of a woman taking a surfboard onto the beach in the company of a guy who also has a surfboard, and a photo of a woman holding a menu as she sits in an outdoor café with a female companion. (Maybe it's just me, but these have never been activities for which I required contraceptives.)

The flyer also lists some frequently asked questions and their answers. My favorite:

"Will I feel NuvaRing?"

The response:

"Most women don't because, while the nerve endings of the outer vagina are very sensitive, the ones in the upper vagina are not."

Outer vagina? The vagina is an internal passageway. Outer vagina? That makes about as much sense as "outer esophagus" or "outer vas deferens" or "outer urethra"--unless, of course, you think "vagina" is the term that, like a nice pink thong from Victoria's Secret, covers ALL the relevant bits of female genitalia.

Apparently, a lot of people do. For although I found no reference to the "outer vagina" in any of the anatomy or medical books I own (it's so much easier to be a hypochondriac with your very own copy of The Merck Manual--the real one, not the dumbed-down version for lay people), I found plenty about it when I googled the term, as in "Honestly, if you look at Playboy, those women, on the outer vagina area, the vulva is very aesthetically appealing, the vulva is rounded."

The thing is, a lot of the time we can get along fine with imprecise language, but at some point, we're still going to need more precise terminology. I admit that we need a precise term for "the outer vagina area." But we've already got several, vulva being one, cunt being another, both being easier, more precise and more concise than "outer vagina."

By the way, at Saviour Onassis's suggestion, I recently watched Whoopi Goldberg's HBO special Back to Broadway (available on Netflix), and now I'm recommending it to you. Whoopi devotes about half an hour to discussing the evolution of menstrual sanitary products (I'm old enough to remember seeing my sister use those awful belts, but thank god the adhesive maxi-pads you just stuck to your underwear were invented before I fell off the roof) and menopause. Her account of the latter has really given me something to look forward to.... But aside from the frankness, one thing I appreciated was that she generally used an appropriate term for the space women have "down there": she uses the term pudenda. It's not my favorite term, but at least it's accurate.

Posted by holly at February 10, 2006 9:59 AM

3 Comments

By Reese Witherfork on February 10, 2006 4:20 PM

Hello there. I stumbled onto your site after a key word search of "writers, self-portraits, art".

Anyway, this is extremely comical to read (forgive me if the humour wasn't intended). I am frequently on the Romance/Erotica writer's blogs, where they are always discussing this same issue - whether or not to call a spade a spade when it comes to body parts and the mechanics of sex.

Excellent job with this site, by the way. Thanks very much.

By Holly on February 10, 2006 5:10 PM

Omigod, Reese, I can't possibly thank you enough for telling me this piece was funny. I worked at it--I was really pleased with the line about thinking that "'vagina,' is the term that, like a nice pink thong from Victoria's Secret, covers ALL the relevant bits of female genitalia." But I was afraid no one else would notice.

Thanks for dropping by.

By Reese Witherfork on February 10, 2006 8:12 PM

Hi Holly,

What surprises me more is that people even say things like "outer vagina." I'm surprised they don't just say "lower lower abdomen," or "upper upper leg."

Anyways, I'll be checking in with your blog regularly. It's really awesome.

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