This essay was written by Greta Bollmeier, in partnership with Winx.
But first, here’s what else people are talking about on Diem:
should you post stories very often when your crush is following you back?
I’ve lost sexual attraction for my husband and I don’t know what to do.
When I was 14, I read a book about a rich teenager who was fixated on how her vulva looked and wanted to get surgery to change it. I’d had my period for years at this point, but I realized I had no idea what my vulva looked like. And I still didn’t want to know. I avoided using tampons until my senior year of high school because I was afraid to touch my own vagina. It completely freaked me out. This story is a common one- women are freaked out by this part of their body; they don’t understand it, they don’t associate with it. Why are we so self-conscious about how we look down there? Let’s talk about it.
First, a quick lesson in anatomy that we didn’t get in school: when we talk about vaginas, a lot of the time we’re actually talking about the vulva. The vulva is the external part of your genitals that includes your labia, clitoris, vaginal opening, and urethra. The vagina is the internal part that connects to the uterus. See the diagram below!
So why are we missing this very basic information about our own anatomy? I blame poor sex education in school. More than half of the states in the US do not require medically accurate sex education, and even more teach abstinence-only sex-ed. While the content of abstinence-only curriculums vary state to state, they generally don’t include information on birth control, condoms, or how to prevent STIs and pregnancy. They’re definitely not teaching us that the clitoris is our pleasure center, or that your vagina is actually called a vulva.
Want to keep reading? Check out the full piece on Winx’s Real Talk.
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