Should We Be Renaming The Vagina?

[FrothyDragon]

"THE nastiest name ever to be given to the female sex organ is ''vagina''. ''Vagina'' is Latin for ''scabbard'' or ''sword sheath''. A scabbard is owned by the same person as owns the sword that it exists to house."

(Taken from the Greer review of Wolf's latest book)

So. Given the connotations of the word, I propose that women rename their "vagina", to give us a word for it which doesn't imply male ownership.

Thoughts?

Is it?? I think I am one of those women who has no idea How is it bigger than you think it is then?

What you see is the tip. It extends down and then goes into a doughnut type shape around the vagina.

No need to be embarassed about your lack of knowledge Rosabud, not knowing this is extremely common.

Yes, I see your point nomore.

Is fanjo totally made up, btw, or does it come from somewhere?

There's a point that either Waris Dirie or Ayaan Hirsi Ali makes (and to my shame I forget which, which I should think they would both be cross about for different reasons!), that sometimes women who have been victims of FGM can be helped to regain some ability to orgasm, because of the shape and size of the clitoris. It's really good that someone has worked that out, I found it really hopeful when I read it.

Somebody posted a pic of the clitoris on here a while back, and it showed it engorged under the skin in various bright colours using some scientific scanning method. I thought that was really helpful, but I can't think of a google phrase that brings up the correct pic, or remember who posted it or on what thread.

Dont know how to post a pic, but this link takes you to one. And the extent of the clitoris has only recently been scientifically discovered - so hardly surprising you dont know about it. What does irritate me though is that nobody in the media talks about this discovery!

www.themarysue.com/clitoris-discovery-2009/

It's like the hymen not existing (or not the way we thought). But you still get articles in the magazines talking about it being 'broken'.

I think we need a Fanjo Facts thread!

Some days MN feels like one giant fanjo facts thread.

Section 1, things you can do with fanjos: Twat spiders to death

I'm serious though, an info thread would be good.

I really hope you don't. I'm not even a spider-phobe and that image freaks me out.

But yes, definitely, start one!

Uh yeah I'm sorry LRD, this where I got the spider twatting from.

I started a new thread on this

Oh, sorry, I know it's not really funny but that's hilarious. Ewww!

(I worry that my first automatic reaction was to call DH over and make him read it.)

I like yoni. Nice and child friendly, too. :)

How do you pronounce yoni? Is it like bonnie or pony?

It rhymes with pony.

I was looking for a word that was kid-friendly and not twee. There is no way on earth I could tell my daughter she had a twinkle, or a tuppence. Yoni's good and positive.

Interesting discussion, sorry I haven't got anything remotely intelligent to add (too late & too tired) but mine is called a noonoo. Always has been. Of course I wouldn't go to the GP and say hey I have an issue with my noonoo but in every day speech at home it's fine.

I dislike the word cunt so that would get a no vote from me.

I like the sound of yoni too. Wouldn't like to see it trashed though - it would be nice to think that any new name wouldn't eventually attract negative usage as a swear word or insult. But that's not down to the word itself, but attitudes towards sex and men and women in general, which are less easy to replace.

Apologies for sounding like a cynical old baggage .

Yoni makes me cringe - it's just sounding too much like woo and incense sticks.

Greer points out some of Naomi Wolf's terminology is a bit reminiscent of Orientalism and 'yoni' is part of that. It is a bit dubious, isn't it, in that respect?

I like the sound of it fine, though, it's nice.

I have never heard of the tantric sex industry before. Do I dare to ask what it is?

P.s. Fanjo is still the best word. And there is also vagine.

Vagine sounds wonderfully elegant and French. I worry for Buppy's contortionism if her minge itches like buggery, though.