Apparently the word 'vagina' is incredibly offensive and should be kept off TV - even in an ad for sanitary towels...

mildew
i'm with you here, for a good reason
telling a DD about her vagina may seem needlessly biological at such a tender age but if she said for example "uncle jack touched my primrose/fandango/flower " ETC there is some scope for dismissing the talk as childish mantras, especialy when the truth might be awkward.
" uncle jack touched my vagina"
leaves little room for misinterpretation.

also, children and not attall embarrased by any words.

Gosh, I was never taught about the clitoris or female orgasms at school. Our sex education was entirely reproduction-based. Pretty much everything I knew about recreational sex came from a 'women's health' book my mother owned, and her collection of literary novels (thank you, AS Byatt).

I came across this earlier

The whole "being ridiculously coy about our vaginas" thing pisses me off.

I was babysitting over the weekend. At one point, my DS pointed out his cousin has a penis too. Then he asked what little girls have? "Girls have a vagina". Simple as.

Except it was greeted with 7 year old niece telling me "no, it's a mini. Vagina's a naughty word". I mean sure, use slang if you prefer. Just don't tell your kids that genitals' names are "dirty words".

I remember an interview between a boy and a girl, maybe in their late teens, and the boy said "yeah for boys it is just physical" and the girl said "for me, it is about emotions".

That really sticks in my mind. Perhaps it was my early feminist thinking and it stuck in my craw.

Such a crock of shite.

I do know that female orgasm was never mentioned or even alluded to.

I think it's really important that they teach about foreplay and secretions and sex is supposed to be fun and all the rest of it.

Rather than "male gets erection and sticks it up female and look there's a baby and you don't want that DO YOU".

i imagine things have moved on a bit, i hope so anyway!

We had a video of a woman giving birth (maybe to shock us all into never having sex??) and a video of a naked family playing volleyball on the beach (again, maybe to shock us all into never having sex??).

We were only taught in P6 though, so was about 10. I just didn't really "get" it, especially since my parents never mentioned sex (when I was about 16, my mum asked if there was anything I wanted to know about periods...I mean, a little late really!) so I had no other information.

We didn't get any sex ed in secondary school, so everything I know I picked up from Sugar and Just 17.

Thank God I know to swoosh out my fanny with coke after the deed, no babies here!

You lucky devil!

We weren't told anything apart from the bare minimum of mechanics. Then shown a video of a woman giving birth. And that was that!

We were also told where the clitoris was, 20 odd years ago.

Relatively normal isn't it?

OMG they are telling children what and where the clitoris is?

That's a bit unnecessary and newfangled isn't it?

What you all seem to be forgetting is that if it wasn't for our foul, stinking la-la's , man would still be in the Garden of Eden.

The poor menz.

Forcing them to acknowlege that we actually have a VAGINA and it's perfectly acceptable to use the word VAGINA must be terrible for them.

I think there is a trend for vaginal 'freshness' products creeping in, particularly in younger women.

I see a fair few young women who admit to using them, and quite a few who request vaginal swabs for "discharge" when all they've got is normal healthy vaginal secretions.

I think we've lost sight of the fact that it's OK for a vagina to smell like a vagina and some discharge/secretions is NORMAL.

There is nothing wrong with the word vagina. But I really don't want to listen to anyone telling me what vaginal discharge is ok and which is likely to be so offensive that I must buy and use their products to render myself acceptable in polite company.
I find that offensive.

Is vagina a bad word now then?? Perhaps that explains DDs aversion to it - no amount of persuading will convince Her she doesn't have 2 bottoms or on occasion a bottom and a willy!

I spent what seemed like hours last weekend trying to find and buy unscented sanitary towels.
FFS.

There is a market for vaginal deodorants and stuff here, but I wouldn't call it huge. Never seen anyone actually buy it.

And that Femfresh advert ("HEART YOUR FANJO/FOOFOO/LADYGARDEN") was roundly laughed it, even from quarters who don't identify as feminist.

So maybe there's not so much of a culture of the evil stinking vulva here.

Oh and welcome s & f and all the other folks posting!

In America there is a HUGE market in feminine "deodorants" and douches because the marketers have been so successful in convincing women that they "need" these (despite the fact there is evidence that they can contribute to a higher rate of vaginal infection because they alter the natural flora.) At least it hasn't got that bad here (and let's hope it doesn't.)

I think it's changed now, but I remember when you couldn't show a woman actually wearing a bra in a bra advert. They could show one on a mannequin or a woman could wear one over a poloneck, which frankly, looked really stupid. That was in America, so not sure if it was the case here and I think that has at least changed.

I seem to recall there was also a prohibition in showing armpits in deodorant commercials.

Having said that, I remember thinking the adverts for sanitary towels and tampons in the UK were so coy - cartoons of women cycling through a country lane with pretty music, that sort of thing. The adverts in America were more graphic - a tampon in a test tube turned upside down to show how absorbent it was, for example. But yes, the liquid was always blue and never red, like it was only for posh women! :)

You're very welcome, sunshineandfreedom! Your grasp of crossing-out, the sceptical face and no-holds-barred language leads me to suspect you'll fit right in

MooncupGoddess Hi! No, I'm not, I'm shiny new

Have been lurking for a while and decided to start posting. So yeah, hi!

Hello Sardine! And thank you for that valuable titbit. Have you considered inventing a special product to deal with the issue? You could make a fortune! We could help you write the no-holds-barred advertising copy.

Hello sunshine - are you sunshineandbooks of yesteryear? If so welcome back, it is lovely to see you again!

(If you've been here all along under a namechange then forgive me... I am useless at these things.)

Except when you're pregnant, mooncup.
Well for me anyway.
Industrial strength sanitary pads were required
Maybe that was just me