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

It was SinclairSpectrum, not Lass who takes accounts from women following sexual assault. I don't think she sounded snippy or judgmental at all Lass.

I have a friend who is a women's health Physio and she also comes across similar issues of women who have almost no vocabulary to describe where they are experiencing symptoms.

Well as my Mum was a nurse and Health Visitor I was brought up with the correct terminology! I have found the misuse of the term vagina a tad irritating but actually, thinking about it properly for the first time after reading the comments above, it occurs to me that they are very different things and women do need to understand their physiology! Also with medics having a tendency to judge patients one does oneself few favours by showing ignorance. Anyone who has given birth must appreciate what an amazing organ the vagina is! The vulva is just a neat pad that is rather simple and elegant. It is a pity the medical terms are not really...

Lass - your post shows how CRUCIAL it is that we all 'know the words' to describe our bodies accurately.

Thank you for posting it.

I suppose at least they are being taught something.

I am in Scotland and my (nearly 11 yo) has yet to do any of this at school.
It has simply not been covered. At ALL.

We have had chats at home and got books from the library in the traditional manner, but at school - nada!

As part of my work I am required to take an account of sexual assault from female victims. This requires me to establish exactly what bit has gone where etc.
The amount of grown women who have no idea how to describe their own genitalia is astounding.
I appreciate there is an element of embarrassment but its more than that - they just don't know the words

Are you as snippy and judgemental with them? I don't think it can be terribly difficult to find words that every one can understand. I'd guess most girls and women can easily tell if they were touched inside or not.

Pubic area and halfway to your knees sounds good to me. Covers it all.

As part of my work I am required to take an account of sexual assault from female victims. This requires me to establish exactly what bit has gone where etc.
The amount of grown women who have no idea how to describe their own genitalia is astounding.
I appreciate there is an element of embarrassment but its more than that - they just don't know the words.

I'm 29, we were shown the vagina is on the inside and wed grow pubic hair on the pibic region where the proceeded to use a big stick to point at a massive hairy noon to show us where. There was also talk of the size of the labia minora growing bigger on some ladies than others. We were all like ????at nine years old.

I like foof - on the same snigger level as willy.

We use the word nuni (pronounced noo-nee). Seems to work but of course the right word is vulva. But I would always say vagina because that is what I was taught and it kind of sticks. Also because most of the organ is out of sight and I might be talking about things to do with the whole vagina (as you do) I would say vagina.

LOL Micah

Repeat - "fanny" SHOULD be equivalent to willy, it's exactly the same kind of word. The fact that it isn't is probably due to, I dunno, greater sensitivity talking about female genitalia than male?

Fanny would never catch on either where I live or in London. It is a vague insult. It's not at all comparable to willy.

I can't remember what my sex ed said. It probably did refer to the whole area as a vagina until human biology, where we learnt all the "proper" words.

I thought pubic hair was a big No no these days?

Don't they just teach girls that if they find any body hair growing anywhere they must remove it all immediately...

How do waxers explain pubic hair to their dc if they don't have any themselves?

I've never heard Fanjo except in the MN context - has anyone else?

Fallen Madonna I am a Science teacher BTW. I don't just have sex organ powerpoints - I almost spat coffee everywhere laughing at that one..

I quite like fanjo - it is comical like willy, it's not a word that can confuse people or that people like me have grown up taught to vaguely disapprove of.

Should my kids ever grow curiosity and ask why I don't have a willy I shall consider using that.

It's the hall lamp, Whirlpool.

or pudantic as the case may be

Fanny is a great word. Just about vulgar enough to cause offense to sensitive types. Twee enough to get away with in school, yet without sounding too anatomically pedantic

Obviously if you're having sex in the dark and your partner's having trouble find their way around, you just switch on your bulb of vestibule.

i told my daughter that she will grow hair on her fanny.

do i win a prize?

I have a bulb of vestibule? [Shock] what's that when it's at home then & are there any tricks I can do with it?

The vulva brigade and the grammar police is just crying out for a third circle venn diagram.

Have just tried to pin down dh (a GP) on this over breakfast. He went for groin for everyday easy use and then pudenda for more exact placement of pubic hair. Vulva is wrong. Vagina is very wrong and made him do a weird sort of itch shudder, which was rather empathic of him I thought, particularly as the poor man was only trying to eat his toast in peace.

Fanny is awful..."yerrr a fanny" is how it's used up here . I haven't heard it used much to describe female bits since I moved north of the border.

Agree that fanny ought to be the equivalent of willy.

The hairy bits are part of the vulva. Sorry for everyone who doesn't like the word (and I can sort of see why!) but if you're after the 'proper word' that covers all the external bits and bobs, it's that. As wikipedia says, 'The vulva has many major and minor anatomical structures, including the labia majora, mons pubis, labia minora, clitoris, bulb of vestibule, vulval vestibule, greater and lesser vestibular glands, external urethral orifice and the opening of the vagina (introitus).'

I'm all for 'fanjo' as a child-friendly equivalent to 'willy' - it's easy to say, inoffensive and unlikely to cause confusion.