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The Other V Word
Five reasons to use the word ‘vulva’
Aug 16, 2020
- Your ladyparts don’t just consist of your vagina. They’re not just a hole. And anyone who treats them as such, be they lover or physician, needs to be condemned to spend eternity hanging upside down by their toe-nails in a vat of boiling tar.
- When things get tricky with your vagina, as they often do in menopause, your vulva may still be an opportunity for pleasure and fun. Don’t let it miss out!
- If things are tricky with your vulva, then you need to talk to your doctor about your vulva — not your vagina — or you might delay a diagnosis of vulvodynia or lichen schlerosus. And while you might prefer not to have these diagnoses (and I have both so I’m with you there!) they are both conditions that can be managed, and are best caught early. Check out The Vulval Pain Society if you need to know more.
- It’s a beautiful word. Yes, really. ‘Vagina’ always makes me think of vinegar and I suppose it is a bit acid up there! But ‘vulva’, is like ‘velvet’, and ‘lovelove’ backwards is basically ‘vulval’.
- A vulva is utterly unique — like a face. The poet Rilke wrote a series of poems called ‘Les Roses’, which are reputedly about the vulvas of his lovers. There are about 30 of them so I guess he’d been busy. But, if you really can’t bear it’s proper name, you could always call it your ‘rose’.
