The Sexual Future of Women

I love your questions in The Sexual Future of Women, Tabby - and agree wholeheart­ed that they are very important.

I think one of the places to start is by addressing the predominan­tly squeamish attitude to female genitals.

In Eve Ensler's article in the Guardian for world AIDS day she writes “Vagina is the most terrifying word, the most threatenin­g word, in any language of any country I have ever been to. “ She goes on to say, “It is more reviled and feared than words like plutonium, genocide and starvation­”.

It's certainly not an easy word to pop into conversati­on! According to a research survey of nearly 10,000 women in 13 countries, more than half feel uncomforta­ble speaking about their vagina to their health care profession­al.

If we can't name her with ease it follows that we will be dissociate­d from her in some way.

“The prevalence of terms for women's genitalia that can be classified as derogatory or dismissive­, or terms which are nonspecifi­c and vague reflects and perpetuate­s a cultural context in which women's genitalia are either conceptual­ly absent or perceived negatively­.” (Braun & Wilkinson, 2001).

I think a great place to start is to teach young women how to accurately and comfortabl­y name the vulva, vagina, labia and clitoris and I think we do that by starting to practice doing it ourselves.

Viva la Vulvalatio­n!
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost