I expect this is a well discussed topic but what word do you use for...

[MadameCheese]

...a girl's privates? Sorry my DS is 2 and already refers to his "willy". I'm expecting a girl in a couple of weeks but can't think of a term. This sounds like I'm the biggest weirdo ever, I don't think I've put it very well...

this comes up a lot and never seems to have a satisfactory answer, unfortunately there is no equivalent for "willy", more's the pity.

I think 'fanny' is the best female equivalent to 'willy'. Same as 'vulva' is best female equivalent to 'penis'.

When my boy's old enough to ask I'll select from them, depending how technical I want to be.

And namemcnamechange, I think that's probably the funniest post I've ever read on MN

Aah but Fanny in America means buttocks so that's confusing for our special relationship. And it is also a girls' name and thereby serves to reduce the female identity down to a single part of her anatomy a la Fanny Hill, Fanny Trollope etc.

Altogether now, don't be scared....

VULVA!

Vulva.

It took me 28 years before I could say vulva and would just talk about "down there" in hushed tones as my parents taught me and my sisters to call it a flower, fgs!

So when my DS1 asked what I had I told him the proper name, at first it would make me internally cringe (thanks mum and dad) but now I'm fine and happy to use it.

I'm with you neavsey. If boys get to use 'willy' in everyday use, there HAS to be an equivalent for girls. It's just not fair otherwise.

Completely agree that vulva should be used, not vagina, but in a playground / pre and primary school situation I think it's got to be 'fanny'. Afterall, we don't go around saying I've cut my digit, or I've fallen and grazed my patella, do we?

My dd says china (her version of vagina).

She mentioned it in front of my dad and he thought she'd been learning about China at school. Interesting conversation followed...

(Yes, I know it's vulva, but god it's an ugly word imo and reminds me of volvo.)

Ds calls his Bob which I think it great

The comparisons to patellas and digits are irrelevant. Some parts of our anatomy we use the given name for, sometimes we use a common colloquialism. But the important thing is that it's common and shared. My Grandma's best friend is called Fanny and I will not use a lovely woman's name to refer to a woman's snatch.

And I will not cower and whisper and titter when talking about female genitalia. I genuinely heard this conversation in a park once...

Child: Muuuuuum I've fallen off the swing and I'm hurt
Woman 1: What hurts?
Child: My vulva
Woman 2: She can't say that, it's rude
Woman 1: At least she didn't say cunt

Reader, I laughed.

showofhands I love you and want to have your babies

Well as long as you're the one giving birth AngryPixie. I don't want to damage my foofoo.

Girl bits and boy bits here so far, although have started to use vulva and penis with DD who's now 4.
Had to have serious words with my Mum a couple of years ago though for referring to them as her 'naughty bits'!!!

yy ShowofHands

DD has a vulva and DS has a penis - I'm not that keen on willy either

I LOATHE front bottom too, AngryPixie, and all the cutesie versions

And you can't use "fanny" in glasgow with a straight face

ShowOfHands - what is that poem getting at? I was never any good at English/literature etc. I even had to google sternum to see that you were discussing your breastbone .

I'm still not convinced by 'vulva'. I might try using it for a couple of months, see how I get on. Now I'm wondering how often I have to talk about my fandango .

DH calls them volvos, thinks he's funny.

doggiesayswoof - by tenuous link, I knew a glaswegian family who loathed people using the word doggie in the presence of their DC "because it's dog - right?!"

Bob! Fantastic!

Mostly 'private parts'. Occasionally 'minnie' or 'fanny'.

She isn't yet 2 yrs old. When she is a bit older I will tell her that it's called a vulva, don't worry MN PC brigade!

DS (5) calls his privates 'willy and balls' but he does know they are called penis and testicles.

I would rather she used the c word than ever use the term 'front bottom', quite frankly!

showofhands, I agree with your reasoning - I hate euphemisms too and also want to see an 'empowering' word we can all use - but I disagree with your conclusion.

Love it, loathe it, or just put up with it, 'willy' is the acceptable term for penis in everyday use. Wee urgently need a similar word for girls genitalia which can be accepted and used in the same way that 'willy' is. ' Vulva' it seems, no matter how how anatomically correct, just doesn't cut it. You have personal reasons for not liking 'fanny', but it works for me, and plenty of others who can't stomach 'flower', etc. I'm v. happy for my dd to use vulva, and she does, but I'm also happy for her to use 'fanny' too.

'We' obviously, not wee!

Vagina.

I have never really understood why it needed a different name.

we used the word tuppence when we were little, but true, as we got older, it was hard to have to decipher it...

vulva will have to do - it is a shame that we don't have a colloquilism.
(and i didn't realise the whole area was vulva until MN, so...)

I don't think we urgently need a term for female genitalia. We urgently need a resolution to problems in Afghanistan for example.

You won't standardise any term, the debate is too polarised and thankfully we already have a universally understood term that is the dictionary definition of the anatomical feature to which you refer.

You are entitled to teach your child to refer to their vulvas as twinkles or tuppences if you wish. I reserve the right not to. Now you must excuse me, my reachy grabbers need to get on with making din dins and feeding the pussy wussy.

we urgently need a universally accepted term for female genitalia if only to stop debates like this descending into the pussy wussy puerile.

"Girl's bits"

I taught ds1 about the proper names for his parts.

As a result, when the nice man came to fixc the sky, he was greeted by ds1 lifting his own t shirt and bellowing "Look at my winkie and my Testitulls!"