Personal hygiene

[Pepperedbeef]

I read a twitter exchange arising from an article about poor female genital hygiene. One user said, “unperfumed soap and water, it’s not hard girls”. Lots of people responded saying you should never use soap on your vagina. The reply was “not inside it, no but on the folds”. This left some dumbfounded. Do some females really think that no cleaning agent should be used in the area at all?!

The worst is when you go into the toilet after someone who has been in there previously and smell their odour!

So MN is only for balanced informative discussion?

Oh no, obviously there’s plenty of nonsense like the latest ‘Cheeky fuckery’ threads or yet another boring P and C spaces rant. However, there’s been an influx of creepy bodily functions type threads, I’m just voicing my surprise that this one hadn’t been permanently deleted, and wondering further why it’s been moved to Sex of all places. As I said, it’s almost like they’re try to encourage the perverts now.

An unfortunate side effect of MN liberal guidelines Edmund. My posts break no guidelines, but I should have put more thought into the area of MN I originally posted in. I’m not really sure why people post in threads that they find objectionable or unnecessary

I’m not really sure why people post in threads that they find objectionable or unnecessary

If you can post weird threads about smelling other women’s genitalia then others can post about how unnecessary they find it. As you pointed out, it’s an open forum.

As for ‘more thought’ about which forum you should have posted in, which area of MN do you think this bests fits? That’s a genuine question.

Body and soul? Education? I’m not sure as I usually default to AIBU.

Education . I guess it wouldn’t be out of place with all the piss perverts.

OP, I'm with you. I have nothing of substance to offer this subject matter but I can't understand why seemingly adult women just don't move on. You haven't committed a crime and those that want to share are free to do so as are those who don't.

I've been on forums since the inception of the internet and MN is remarkably sanitised. It suits a certain type of audience. Post and answer at your peril.

Frankly this isn't something to get worked up about. If people don't understand how the internet works in as much as that when you've posted something online you cede control over it to a large extent then they should stay off the internet.

I've found that having any sensible discussion on MN about 'sensitive' issues is nigh on impossible.

If you wanted to get in with the masses you probably should have posted something including either a 'CF' a 'MiL' or a wedding invite.

Ho-hum.

I really don’t know Edmund, I don’t know what has happened re the perverts on here so I can’t comment. As we both agree, it’s a public forum, with all that things that come with that

Either way YANBU. I often wonder how many of these perennially 'pearl clutchers' manage in day to day life.

thanks Vlad. I agree. I don’t take any replies to heart, the internet is a funny old place

I really take issue with the accusation of 'pearl clutchers' just because some of us have objected to this post being resurrected

Given the influx recently of trolls who clearly get off on reading/posting about issues like this, do you not understand why some of us find this post objectionable?

I do but you are of your own free will able to hide and or ignore these posts. Trolls will troll regardless of subject matter. There are trolls who seemingly spend their entire existence on the maternity boards talking about babies and miscarriages that never happened. People will get off on the most mundane and oddest of subjects. I don't think this post wrt women and their vaginas/vulvas is all that remarkable. This very thread is case in point regarding MN pearl clutching. Why can't the OP talk about fishy smelling vaginas and so forth without everyone getting worked up about being quoted in the Daily Mail. It's bloody ridiculous.

I have absolutely no issue about being quoted in the Daily Mail! I am only too well aware that everything we post here is in the public domain.

That's not why I think this is an ill-advised thread.

I used to be very conscious of my smell when Imhad a period and wondered if others could smell - it was a distinctive smell like strong cooking margarine

So essentially because you think there's some dirty man at the other end of the screen getting his rocks off about women and their cleanliness or otherwise about their vulvas?

The point still stands. No-one is forced to post. You offer as much or as little as you want by virtue of being an adult capable of making decisions. I find this kind of attitude ridiculous. No-one is forced to share anything. People making snarky remarks about fetishes and the like are being ridiculous. Do I think this post belongs in the 'sex' topic? No. It doesn't. Does it belong in AIBU? I'm not sure - aibu is home to all manner of subject matters but I'm not going to hit the report button over someone questioning smelly vaginas. Perhaps someone somewhere might learn a thing or two. There was another thread a while ago in which adult women were astonished to learn that the vag is indeed a self-cleaning organ and need not be douched in imperial lather strawberry-lemon scented soap.

I have been prolifically posting on another thread wrt the MeToo movement - someone there took issue with the idea that we were being asked to share our experiences of sexual assault. My view was that we need to voice them. Horses for courses but I cannot tolerate this puritanical view that often prevails on MN regarding things that we as women deal with in day to day life. Give me that on any day than another thread bemoaning a MiL that dared to offer looking after her grandchild.

Vlad thank you for your common sense. An earlier post called this thread misogynistic because it is only about women, presumably on the basis men can have malodorous genitals too. Some people and their thought processes are baffling!

I took part in the finger thread yesterday.

I was well aware that it might have been started by some perv looking to get his kicks but I didn't give a shit.

I share what I am comfortable with sharing. I would never share information about my children on some of the iffy threads, but no one here is doing that. If people are comfortable discussing sucking fingers and smelly vulvas then it's their choice and we don't need protecting from that.

Perverts will get off on a variety of different threads, share what you are happy to share. We don't need constant reminding that something may have been started by a perv.

Besides, people shout 'troll' at pretty much any thread these days.

Vlad thank you for your common sense. An earlier post called this thread misogynistic because it is only about women, presumably on the basis men can have malodorous genitals too. Some people and their thought processes are baffling!

My issue with that point is all these people on here who claim they can smell an unwashed fanny at 30 paces. Only fannies- i don’t think anyone has mentioned they can smell an unwashed knob.

So why is that? Do we think that;

a) these super sensitve smellers are somehow only sensitive to fannies, and cock doesn’t register in the same way

b) only fannies smell. Because they are inherently leaky and dirty, whereas cock is just like skin and “cleaner”.

Or
c) maybe question whether thay can actually smell fanny.

I am quite sure there are equal amounts of men and women with hygiene issues, and there are as many men as women who don’t wash enough. So i raise an eyebrow when i read yet again about smelly fannies and if you can’t smell it you’re nose blind, yet no one seems to notice smelly cocks in the same way...

U2 just clarify in my case - I’m not a perv

really I think you spectacularly missed the point. It was about women misunderstanding where soap can and should be applied (see my NHS link all you “water only on the genitals”). On the twitter thread I read the penny seemed to drop for some women that when the advice says no soap on/in the vagina, it means the vagina, not the area around it as the NHS describe it. That twitter thread of which I was only a reader was about getting rid of unpleasant vaginal odour. In fact as others had said, vaginal odour is only present if there is a medical condition. Otherwise the smell is coming from the sweat and possibly urine that has gathered on the area around the vagina, which is perfectly normal, but needs removing from the area with soap, not just water.

Men do not have vaginas so please explain how talking about dirty penises which are physiologically different from vaginas would benefit this conversation?

I don't think you are one, but I don't care too much if you are

oh are we supposed to only answer the question asked in the o/p?

It seemed to leave that discussion when people stopped talking about the benefits of soap vs water and moved on, as these threads normally do, to being able to smell an unwashed fanny 3 tube carriages away. I was pointing out that it is always fannies smelling, there are never any anecdotes about being able to smell mens genitals.

Fwiw, i think water is plenty. All these smelly fannies could be being caused by soap upsetting the ph/bacterial balance actually resulting thrush and bv. There is no way to know if the woman on the next bus has a smelly fanny because she has washed with soap, leaving her with an infection, or hasn’t washed at all.

Water does the job fine for me- i suffer from recurrent thrush and this is medically advised. So in my case the smell, if any, would be caused by washing with soap.

Really, but I have no anecdotes about smelly (clothed) penises and perhaps neither did anyone else. Do you? The woman I worked with smelt bad due to poor genital hygiene. The women on the twitter thread were not claiming BV or any other infection but admitted to avoiding soap in the area entirely, causing the bad odour. Stale sweat smells. We generally use soap on our armpits and feet because we sweat there too. Those are the facts behind my posts.

But where's the mans stuff for cheesy cock and sweaty bollocks?
Unperfumed soap or showergel , at least daily, works just fine.