Today my 9 year old has been taught that as she grows older, hair will grow on her vagina!

Nah, you're all right

Thank you yonic I am new to the Feminism boards, cant believe I managed to upset someone on day 1

I was referring to a lack of knowledge within the male gender about terms that could be used to specify certain parts of the penis. I was not comparing like for like. Most men rock up at the doctors and announce 'my cock is sore', not 'I have an inflamed glans'. I was merely trying to illustrate that both genders can be equally ignorant of parts of their body.

Yops, the vagina is the birth canal, it's the direct equivalent of penis, not of frenulum!

At my antenatal class there was a young man who clearly didn't want to be there.

They had an argument. In the end he stormed out yelling "why do I need to learn about perineums, Its not like I have one!"

Of course you weren't snippy, Sinclair: if anyone was snippy in their posting, it was Lass, who can see a negative in a pile of gold.

Now we are getting into opinions and semantics, scallops. You think vulva is a commonly used term. Others don't. So be it.

I quite like the term vulva vestibule , I'd never heard of it before.

A bit like an ante room.

The only time I use the word 'vulva' is in the opening Volvo adverts for Sky Atlantic programmes. The guy says 'Volvo' in his scandanavian accent, which sounds like 'vulva'. It's funny Every. Single. Time.

Anyway, in our house, it is front bottom, back bottom, and middle bottom for babies.

There is only one word that covers the "whole kit and caboodle" as far as I know.
That word is "cunt".
Thank you Anglo Saxons.
(I wouldn't teach that word to a 9-year-old though)

I also took 'specialised terms' to mean terms used for very specific reasons or by specialists. Why would vagina or vulva fall into that type of category?

They describe specific parts of a body but ones that are often referred to. So why would that put them in the category of "specialised terms"?

The amount of use they get in the English language.

As much as the terms I used. What differentiates vagina or clitoris from frenulum or epithelium?

So you think vulva and vagina are specialised terms Yops

I bet most men would not know where their frenulum or epithelium is or what it does. These are all rather specialised terms.

I disagree. Neither girls nor boys are taught the correct terms for their parts - and certainly don't go on to use them in later life! There are far bigger issues to address than terminology - which imo doesn't amount to a hill of beans when it comes to equality.

Reminds me of a young friend, early 20s, who told me that she had been grabbed by the vagina at a club. After expressing the shock that kind of behaviour should provoke I asked did she mean the vulva. She was adamant that vagina was the outside bit too.

*minora

Exactly, SirC! I guess what I was trying to get at is that (in my experience at least) society views women's bodies and sexual activity as less openly acceptable than men's. Not using or teaching specific vocabulary for the female genitalia is both a symptom of that and contributes to maintaining it. So not having the words to direct your DH/P to your labia minor might (in not necessarily straightforward ways!) be tied in up in also lacking the sense that this is something you can or even should do...

minora

Your last sentence hit the nail on the head. It's attitude not vocabulary that empowers. I am guessing that your DM's friend was counselling people with far greater issues than not being able to direct their DH/P to their labia minor, for example.

Was that to me, SirC? I don't think I am, though I possibly phrased it a bit poorly. I can't remember the exact circumstances but I know my friend's DM was talking to people who had problems with their sex life - often it was the women who only knew of their genitals as a single thing (be it 'down there' / 'vagina' / 'fanny') who reported a lack of pleasure in sexual activity. It's not just about the lack of vocabulary but the attitude that caused that lack of vocabulary, IYSWIM....

I'd bet that most men wouldn't know the proper names for various parts of their genitalia either. I don't think this is restricted to women.

Eh? I think you're overthinking things a bit

A friend of mine's Mum once worked as a sexual counsellor or some such thing. She met many, many grown women who didn't know what their clitoris was, where it was, or what it did.

Different parts of the human anatomy do different things - being able to name them and understand what they do is important and, I think, sexually empowering. There are very serious issues relating to being able to name different parts of your genitalia (in reporting symptoms to a healthcare professional, or in reporting a sexual assault), but I think there's also a pleasure issue. If women are raised to vaguely view everything as a vague single term, this engenders a sense of it being somewhat shameful and ill equips them for communicating to partners about what gives them pleasure...

I am far from snippy and judgmental and I don't think I have been today.
I was remarking that I think its imperative that girls are educated and given the correct words so they know what to call areas of their own body.
Not sure how that can be seen as a negative?