Vulvas

[MeMyselfand]

What's all this vulva chat about, lately when I've seen any front bottom chat on here it's all vulva this and vulva that. Surely people don't call it their vulva in real life when talking to someone about it.

What do you call yours?

I can't quote. But "hat area" for head made tea nearly come out of my nose. You win this thread 😂😂😂

it's relevant to talk about your genitals during sex and there's no way in hell I'm going to start saying vulva. It's hardly a turn on is it

Why not?! You could get DH to whisper, "Your vulva excites me greatly. My penis is erect, I can't wait to engage in intercourse with you". You can pretend you're popping Mr Spock's cherry

It's called a teacup in our house.

Dd has eye tests using pictures. We were wondering why she calls a a teapot everytime they ask what she can see.

She probably thinks it's a cup but not my teacup

We have taught dcs the correct terms as well but use teacup and willy wonka as more affectionate terms

I get my kids to say vulva. I wouldnt expect them to use that when talking to friends. I personally have taught them the correct words so they can talk to an adult if (god forbid) it was ever be necessary to describe something someone has done. They know the difference between internal and external and the correct terminology. It doesn't hurt to know it.

I just watched an old episode of Call The Midwife, where an older lady had been suffering in silence about her womb prolapse. She didn't know that her "down there" was called a vagina. When asked why she hadn't told a doctor, she said, "I didn't have the words". I think it's important to give people the right words for their body parts so they can ask for help when needed. Nothing snobby about it!

I used to drive a Vulva.

Talking during sex is a different matter altogether, we can talk about our bits however you like but if necessary at other times, correct terminology is better.

When tslking to my doctor, I say vulva.
When I call to book a wax, it's for my couzette

So glad the vast majority of people aren't so uptight and can accept that, through longtime common usage/misusage, vagina has come to mean the whole shebang. Linguistic King Canutes will, of course, always continue to rail at the tide of semantic change. As you were.

Ooh, Volvo Couzette. That's much classier.

“Are you equally depressed that boys / men don't know correct terms for their willy and balls or is this "a feminist issue"?”

I would be amazed if you could find anyone of either sex over the age of about 6 who did not know that the “correct” terns were penis and testicles. (apart from my ds who thought they were called tentacles). So yes, it very much is a feminist issue.

For some reason this is a big issue on Mumsnet. I can't remember ever having occasion to say either. I can't think of a scenario where I would need to - doctor's appointment being the only one I would think.

I’ve never heard anyone outside of MN call their vulva/labia/clitoris/whatever their vagina. It seems a very weird MN thing to refer to every aspect of your genital as ‘vagina’ and to get so precious and defensive over doing so.

In real life if someone said ‘I need to shave my vagina’ they’d get a funny look or a joke about not cutting themselves when they try and slip a razor blade inside themselves!

MN is like a parallel universe I swear. Everything is back to front. People aggressively maintain that ‘vagina’ is the normal term for their genitals as a whole!

I do think it’s impeotant that we are able to name our genitals correctly. It reduces shame and stigma. How many men feel shame calling their penis a cock or a dick compared to how women feel when asked to talk about their own genitals? It’s important for healthcare, if someone is told to look out for lumps or warts on their labia or vulva and doesn’t know what that is? It might seem ridiculous but there are places where education about the female anatomy is so dire, women don’t have a clue about how to monitor themselves for any changes or infections, how to prevent pregnancy, the age old ‘we’ve been trying for a baby but not getting pregnant’ stories where the couple have been having anal sex instead of vaginal. And being in the UK doesn’t necessarily mean we’re educated:

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/inews.co.uk/news/health/female-anatomy-identify-vagina-vulva-eve-appeal/amp/

Only a third of British women in this study could correctly identify and label their own anatomy. That’s appalling. There’s no issue with people using jokey nicknames to call their bodies whatever they want but it’s usially pretty clear that a person referring to their vagina and meaning their vulva isn’t doing so in that way, they genuinely don’t understand the difference or which part is which.

It’s the least pretentious thing possible, naming a spade a spade. I don’t see why MN is so obsessed with being against people who are pro labelling anatomy correctly and spreading accurate information about women’s bodies, it does come across like some weird anti snobbery that just makes the person look like a dickhead.

Oh, and I call mine my kitty, tongue in cheek, as there aren’t any other names I don’t hate (pussy, fanny, minge, all make me feel nauseous) and it just kinda evolved as a cute joke that turned into our name for it. But I wouldn’t never say I was waxing my vagina, that just makes the speaker look dumb.

I don’t think penis is a nicer word than vagina at all! Vagina is quite a cool unique word I think. Don’t think vulva is particularly nice though, nor scrotum.

I get quite cross watching that naked dating thing where the screens gradually go up, because the presenter ALWAYS says vagina when she actually means vulva or labia. Very annoying.

@BananaToffo 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

I think part of the problem is that vulva is such an ugly-sounding word.

What is this, a race to the bottom? 😀
It’s normal to call a vulva a vulva. Same as calling a breast a breast ( not a nipple) penis, cranium, intestine etc all normal names surely?

Quite. So weird.

There’s an awful lot of anti intellectualism/reverse snobbery on MN, but it tends to focus on the weirdest most benign things like using correct terminology for things, facilitating your kids to have hobbies and cooking anything deemed ‘unusual’ or ‘middle class’ (‘hummus and carrot sticks for their packed lunch? Omg mine will only eat lunchables and red bull MN is a different world 😂’).

It's a bit like threads about changing your name when you get married, isn't it?
"The trouble is, vulva is such an ugly sounding word. Penis is so much nicer".....

I talk about my fanny which encompasses the internal and external- for medical purposes I tend to refer to issues ad being internally or in my pubic area - bit coy given than fanny is a bit rude I suppose. I do like the term stop fannying around

Apart from a few giggly drunken conversations I don't think I've ever spoken about it in public! It's not exactly something that comes up in conversation, or maybe I need less conservative acquaintances I call it vulva and vagina. I use that terminology with toddler DD too.

I used the word vulva on a call to 111 or whichever it is. The bloke at the end of the phone didn't know what I was on about.

BTW, Labuan is a small Malaysian island off Borneo (between Sabah and Brunei). My main memory of it is having hives all over from a massive allergic reaction.