Vagina or vulva? Which word is correct?
Why does the word vagina make people so angry?
Maybe because nobody uses it correctly.
You see, what we all call a vagina is not actually a vagina. It’s a vulva.
But did anyone ever learn that in school? Not that we know can remember. It was always ‘girls have a vagina and boys have a penis’. Right?
When we stumbled upon this article online it had the whole office giggling because if there’s one thing that’s guaranteed to stir debate on Mamamia: it’s the mention of the v-word.
We don’t shy away from conversations involving that word.
Writer Lindy West from Jezebel wrote:
I am in the business of entertainment. And vagina, for whatever reason, just sounds funnier than vulva. It just DOES. “Vagina” also has a long history of making people incredibly uncomfortable—there’s a confrontational value to it. “Vulva” is clinical, anatomical, medical. Boooooriiiiiing. Vagina is like “junk.” At this point in our linguistic evolution it’s become a general term for the general lady-area.
Now, if I wrote for an anatomy blog, or a high school health class blog, or a blog about two twins who were unfortunately named Vulva and Vagina O’Houlihan, then I’d go out of my way to be as specific as possible (because I don’t want people to think that it was Vagina O’Houliahan who got an Irish dancing scholarship to Notre Dame when actually it was Vulva!). But I don’t. I write for a general-interest, humorous lady-blog, where every single reader knows exactly what the fuck I mean, in context, when I say “vagina.” And I’m going to keep saying it. Because WHOOOOO CAAAAAARES?
And courtesy of Buzz Feed, 10 Things That Accidentally Look Like Vaginas. Or Vulvas, depending on which team you’re on.
Sideways eyes from Buzzfeed.com
Think about it… when was the last time you ever used the word ‘vulva’ in a sentence? Actually, when was the last time you used to the word ‘vagina’ in a sentence? Vulva or vagina. Does it matter? Do you care?
 on http://www.mamamia.com.au){kind=link}
Comments
93 Comments so far
in skool we learned vagina not valva or wat ever its called but arnt they meaning the same thing!!! i mean its just words potato potarto, or watever
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I have just given my 10 year old a book to read about puberty.
We had the most challenging conversation yesterday about her confusion over the words vulva, vagina and genitals.
We use the word “fanny” at home even though she knows the real words, but try explaining the difference between them all while in the checkout at the supermarket.
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What about team labia?
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Since the correct term is “vulva” , where did the word vagina come from?
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Vagina is the inside bit (the tunnel). Vulva is the outside bit (the entrance).
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seriously , my comment “okaaaaay ” was deleted. can I not say anything without it being deleted? I don’t understand why okaaaay would upset anyone. how can elli below can say the word c***, but I can’t say okaaaay.
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Depends on context. In a sexual conversation, my partner and I will call it pussy or quim or c***. But otherwise, I’ll use (correctly) both vulva and vagina. The vulva is not the vagina so I don’t get why you’d call it that.
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When I’m speaking in coversation I might say “giney” or “vajayjay” (and I have been admonished for doing so: http://www.mamamia.com.au/social/did-you-know-designer-vaginas-were-government-funded/), but that doesn’t mean I don’t know the difference between my vulva and vagina. Here’s a TMI example for you: the other day when I was at the beach, I remarked that I had a grain of sand in my vagina. I then corrected myself, because it was actually in (on?) my vulva. Fun times!
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Well, if you can use vagina instead of vulva, why not use “to” instead of too”, or “reigns” instead of “reins”, or “there’s” instead of “their’s”. I mean everyone knows what you meant, and these words even sound the same, unlike vagina and vulva…
How will people ever learn that it’s a vulva, not a vagina, if websites etc keep on using the wrong terminology? You could say the same thing about grammar, punctuation etc. Hell, why not fire all the editors, sub-editors and proof-readers, we won’t need them anymore! And as the author above so caringly put it: “WHOOOOO CAAAARESS?”
I think the use of vagina when you mean vulva contributes to the dumbing down of society. It’s a slippery slope.
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Well Rose, I dont know if id refer to it as a slippery slope so much as ‘different contexts’.
If my friends use the wrong to or too or their or theyre on a blog or on FB – it doesnt bother me.
But if my staff use the wrong too or to or their or theyre in a media release then I correct them. Just like I sometimes dont use aposrophes when im not writing in a formal situation. Its not a big deal, you still understand what I mean.
Similarly, If I go to my doctor with an genital issue I would use the correct terminology because it matters. But if im chatting to my girlfriends I use vag beause they know what I mean and it really doesnt matter.
See, not a slippery slope, context.
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Fair enough if you’re are chatting to your girlfriends, I totally get that.
But I’m talking about written articles on commercial websites (such as Mamamia, Jezebel) and in the media, which is, to my mind anyway, what this article is about.
When an author posts to a readership of upwards of 300 000, does she/he consider them to all be their girlfriends? Sure, the tone of said article might be all ‘girlfriendy’ but that’s artificial, the reality is different. So in this context, I consider it to be a slippery slope.
I think its more about choices – the writer’s choice to use whichever terminology is preferred, the editor’s choice to edit or not, the publisher’s choice to publish articles that use this terminology, and the reader’s choice whether to care or not.
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Sure understand your point completely. In terms of journalistic integrity the right terminology should be used, but lets face it Mamamia isnt really journalism
But in terms of audience I agree with you, I think MM has a responsibility to be a lot of the things to women that it isnt, I guess this is just an example of where you feel that it misses the mark.
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Agree with this comment. Mia should simply state outright that MM’s ‘house style’ for usage of this word is – [vag/vulv as the case may be]. Let’s be done with it. And then, set up a separate area for the genital nitpickers (!) in the same way there is one for the ‘sponsored post’ nitpickers.
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I don’t understand this article at all. What I call a vagina IS a vagina i.e. the birth canal. And when it comes to ‘boys have a penis, girls have a vagina’ isn’t that talking about the sex organs involved in reproduction and is therefore correct? It’s not like we require a rhyme for every specific part eg ‘boys have a scrotum, girls have a labia minora’. Very strange article.
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I agree, who cares? It’s your vag, gina, vajoots, punani, vajayjay, box, hooha, muff, lala, – call it whatever you want.
I call my boobs my girls or my twins and it doesn’t make people crazy why are we so crazy about what we call female genitals? I dont know one guy who would refer to his penis as ‘penis’!
Those crazy Christians over at Christwire they think its ok to call it your ‘Fleshy Fault Line’ or ‘Satans Trap’ or even ‘Magic Crepe’
http://christwire.org/2011/11/51-christian-friendly-words-for-vagina/
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hallelujah! my thoughts exactly. “crazy Christians” made me laugh, then what they call things made me laugh harder.
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I’m a Catholic, and I happily call mine a c***. When I was in year 6, our parish priest told our whole class before we went to confession that swearing wasn’t actually a sin (admittedly, in a speech about the offensiveness of blasphemy, but my 12 year old mind glossed over that bit.) The whole idea that you can’t say “c***”, “vagina” or “vulva” because you’re Christian is bananas! Misogynistic bananas!
Although, my favourite name on that list is definitely “Neighbour of Anus.” That might just enter my vocabulary… Goodness, I love Christwire!
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Penis, testicles and vulva in our house, though it does sound like vovo coming from a two year old.
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team vagina all the way. Everybody knows what a vagina is. sometimes people don’t know the term vulva. I didn’t , I thought the vulva was the lips of the vagina.
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The last time I used the word Vulva i was about 8 years old and in the swimming change rooms. My mum had recently informed me the difference between the two V words and I thought it was a good idea to educate my friends on the issue. My friend got really angry and told me I was wrong and that HER mum told her it was a VAGINA and I was just SO wrong. We got into a big fight.
So this article makes me feel indignant to this day that I was the correct one!!
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I call it a muff. I know that’s really bogan but for some reason I think it’s cute?
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call mine anything but a “snatch”.
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I love the use of proper wordsto describe our bits. When used properly kids don’t have a freak out or unnecessarily embarrassed later on.
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I’m team Lady Garden.
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Oh me too! Glad I am not the only one.
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Damn what happened to my post? I was actually replying to Snap!! below.
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In our house, it’s called a maxwell. Maxwell-Williams = good china = vagina. If husband is trying to be particularly ingratiating it can be called Spode.
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That’s deadset classic – too funny!
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Even funnier because Jessica Simpson’s new baby girl called is Maxwell Johnson!
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R74s8lJO3NM
LOL!!!
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I work in the health field and use the words vagina, penis and anal everyday. I actually forget that people find these words quite shocking when dropped into everyday conversation. This has caused quite a few awkward silences!!
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Same, midwife, so I got over any shyness about using the correct words for body parts years ago. Believe me, when you get to stare at a vulva for a couple of hours at a time, put your (gloved) fingers up someone’s vagina or rectum, put a catheter in their bladder, via their urethra, or pack dressing into someone’s testicles, sorry scrotum there is no room for shyness.
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I understand this. I work in training simulation? We get deliveries of vaginas vulvas scrotums with working parts. The deliveries sound interesting but it hadst taken long for us to stop ‘giggling’ and use the correct word in all situations.
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I generally use the term vagina but yes, I do know the correct terms. Just don’t like the word vulva. Sounds too close to vulgar to me.
I do tend to use more slang terms like fanny in less serious conversations though.
I don’t have kids but if I do someday, I will teach them both the technical terms and the slang terms. Although in everyday conversations, I would rather my daughter used a term like ‘fanny’ rather than ‘vulva’. Just like I would expect her to say “my finger hurts” instead of “my phalanges hurts”.
But really, unless you are talking to your doctor about something specific, does it matter what term you use, as long as the person you are talking too understands what you mean.
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Ah ha! See this is what my mother should have done, taught both the technical and slang terms. Noooooooo, of course she didn’t. I didn’t know what it was called until somewhere in the middle of primary school. Of course I found out when a girlfriend and i were um… comparing notes.
It gets worse, because “vulva” sounded to rough to my mum (her first language isn’t english, so that didn’t help) she told us it was a “Peach” …. ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG! To this day (and I’m 28 now) I just say I like ‘stone fruit’ – I can’t say I like peaches! bahahaha!
ETA – My husband was told it was a ‘line’ when he was a kid – boy, we probably have some hang-ups between us!
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Sorry I don’t really get the point of the article. Vulvas and vaginas aren’t the same thing. I don’t know how people can get them confused. I mean everyone knows the difference between penis and testicles.
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Yet your comment proves the point in itself: it’s not the testicles you see, but the scrotum.
Seriously, do not we not have far more important issues? And I say this as a father of three girls. (and I don’t care if you refer to testicles, balls, scrotum, sac…or at all!)
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True, but I was more getting at people being less confused with male genitals ie they don’t confuse penis with testicles, or use them interchangeably. But I suppose scrotum would have been the more correct analogy here
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My mother used “vulva” for my entire childhood. It made me CRINGE something fierce, in France nobody uses that word ever, it sounds horrid. But she’s a nurse, and I was , as a consequence , the type of toddler who said “owwww my tibia!!!!” . So once at school (must have been 7 or so), I told the teacher that word , i don’t remember why (something toilet related i’m sure), and i clearly remember her confused/shocked looong silence while she stared at me. You’d have thought i had said butt plug or something . This word is wayyy too adult to be used by a child , it’s really “grown up genitalia ” related . I don’t know how it is in australia but in france it really is.
So, I cringed for the rest of my childhood , still cannot pronounce it or hear it without having this strong feeling of reject. I don’t use vagina either . All medically correct terms for this part of me makes me cringe. What do I call it then ? it starts with a “P”. When my partner tries to dirty talk, he has no idea that he’s using the only word that doesn’t bother me. The only one that actually doesn’t “feel ” dirty to me ^^
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Love the photos. I’m on Team Vulva.
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I felt attacked by MM commenters a while back because I used vagina instead of vulva. They made me feel stupid & uneducated. Everyone knew what I was talking about but they felt the need to point out I was using the wrong term & that maybe I should get a mirror & check what was down there….clearly I’m team vagina!
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Do boys say ‘my penis hurts’ when they mean their balls? No. Girls say ‘my vagina’ even then. Why isn’t that ridiculously reductionist? If we can adopt new technologies in a heartbeat, I’m sure an adaption to the words we use for something all women have wouldn’t be too taxing for us to manage.
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I think as long as we have moved past the following words – front bottom, fanny, girl bits and woo woo. I think the general ‘penis’ and ‘vagina’ are good for referring to the genital area and then you can break it up into all the bits (not literally) e.g. testicles and penis for boys and then vulva, clitoris and vagina for girls. When they’re little you don’t want to confuse them too much… they will be mixing up their labia minora’s and their labia majora’s all over the place!
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“break it up into bits – not literally -” I am dying with laughter!!!!
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Who cares what they call it, as long as you get to visit once in a while…….
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A guy once asked me if he could “spear my bearded clam?”
Needless to say, they were the last words ever spoken.
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LOL!!!
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Ive never heard that one before! I’m glad you treated that one the way he deserved.
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Vulva (Volvo)………for life!
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I’m on the vagina, penis, bottom team. My husband and I tossed around as to whether it would be balls or testicles. The word testicles makes me giggle more than vagina, but we went with testicles with our kids
my toddler gal already laughs at the word vagina. I tested the word ‘vulva’ on her….her response ‘no mummy, that’s my ‘gina and its mine not yours’. So it seems our private parts talks are working with the word vagina just fine!
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vulva makes me laugh..because of Seinfeld…Mulva?
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I ALWAYS think of that episode too!
Haha
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Delores!!
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I love Seinfeld. I was really bummed when it finished.
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When discussing a medical procedure with a doctor (or something like that) which requires accurate nomenclature, Vulva…
In casual conversations where accuracy isn’t important, Vagina…
What’s wrong with that?
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I always knew you had a secret vulva, JJ
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I have been called one from time to time…
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The four letter spelling I assume?
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Vagina for sure. Vulva sounds like a car that old people drive.
And yes, I know I’m stereo-typing etc etc etc.
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Twilight has made vulvas (vos) the cool kids car.
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Team vulva 4 sure!
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Vagina over here. Of course I know the difference, I just don’t think that ‘vulva’ will ever really take off…
There are lots of things we all so that aren’t correct.
We say to kids, ‘hold up 5 fingers’ and they hold up one had. We don’t always stop and say ‘well no, that’s four fingers and one thumb’. ‘If you want to hold up five fingers, you will need to use both hands, and keep your thumbs out of sight’.
And Big Ben… the huge clock in London… the clock isn’t called Big Ben. The big bell inside is.
See what I mean?
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Last time this topic came up someone made a very good point about how in every day language we refer to “bottums” rather than “buttocks”, “anus”, “rectum” etc. Or “eye” rather than “iris”, “retina”, “pupil”, etc. I guess if you have a medical problem it makes sense to be specific, but otherwise I’m a proud member of team vagina.
I think it’s good to teach children the correct terms, for the sake of their general knowledge, but I don’t think we have to be scientifically correct in every day language use.
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I agree… I am having visions of school-yard debates involving bottom vs anus and vagina vs vulva… there will be kids going home thinking they have new body parts
I’m having a little joke by the way, I do really, honestly understand the importance of teaching kids the names of their body parts.
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It was always ‘vagina’ to me until I had my daughter – and read about the importance of teaching children correct names for body parts. Now, it is a ‘vulva’ for me, for her, and also for my husband and son.
We’ve just gotten used to it, but I have to admit it does amuse me to see how confronting many people find it that my children use the correct name for their body parts.
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I know what you mean. I always taught my boys the correct terms for their body parts. People are shocked if he uses the word penis or if I say it in front of him, you would think I was swearing! It has come in handy if he ever has any pain or discomfort. At least I know where he is hurting
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I had a guy use the word vulva with me once during sex! That was our one and only encounter!
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I don’t think vulva or vagina should be used during sex. This is one area that slang is appropriate
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Haha that’s hilarious! Can you please, please quote what he said??
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Oooh that just made me shudder!
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Surely pussy would be the technical term in that situation?
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Pussy is the one word for it I can’t stand! Really really hate that word for it.
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In the book “Heart of the Flower: the book of yonis” (which I edited) it says ‘vagina’ means “sheath for a sword”. Language is powerful so I choose only to use the term vagina when i’m referring to that part of my anatomy. I don’t like the idea that my vagina only exists to house someone’s sword! Otherwise I say ‘yoni’ which means something like divine passage or sacred temple. Sits better with me.
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The comments section today is going to be fascinating. I’ve noticed a lot of posters on here get very cranky about this. Some of the recent ‘nude in the gym changing room’ commenters were very cross at the suggestion that they were shoving their vaginas in peoples faces. It was actually their vulva. Pffft.
I say vagina. I know it’s a vulva. Yes, the vagina is the internal organ and the vulva is the external organ/s. We don’t shave, wax or laser our vaginas. We shave, wax and laser our vulvas. I really don’t see what the big deal is if we say vagina and not vulva.
I think vagina is a darn sight better than some of the derogatory terms used ie. minge, gash, fishing hole, crutch, beef curtains, piss flaps, dirt box and my personal *unfavourite*, cunt.
Besides, vulva makes me think of a volcano……….
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I read a disgusting term once in my partners magazine: tuna taco! That was an ‘ewww!’ moment
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Was in a Mexican restaurant last weekend and fish tacos were a specialty. I don’t know how many times I heard the phrase “I love a fish taco” but it seemed that all the boys had to say it at least once.
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“Pink tacos” I’m pretty sure that’s a Mexican food chain in the USA. They must have a sense of humour.
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Both used in sentences many times in a day at work. Don’t understand the weirdness people have about using the correct terminology for any body part.
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where the hell do you work?!
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Im guessing she’s in health in some capacity’ possibly gynaecology/obstetrics.
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Vagina Vagina Vagina! It always amuses me when someone feels the apparent need to say “well actually it’s called a vulva so you are all wrong and I’ve told all my children it’s a vulva and vagina is incorrect and what’s so wrong with the word vulva and….” zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz who cares indeed.
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BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Vagina O’houliahan hahahah DAY MADE ! and yeh whatever as long as ppl own it and dont get embarrassed but I have to say Vulva sounds sooo much less icky Vagina is just not an attractive word really ….great article MM !
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Because “vagina” makes the clitoris disappear.
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And what about our wonderful mount of Venus’? Somewhat denuded, but hopefully not eroded, mounts at that (google and learn girls!!)
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Google and learn? I’m pretty sure it’s MOUND of Venus…right?
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To the person “Cold”, who rudely accused me of being rude and grumpy: hahaha, what on earth? Being a bit defensive, aren’t you? All I did was question someone saying “google and learn” because they seemed to be misinformed. I even went and googled to make sure, after I posted the comment. Funny
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I deleted my comment myself 30 seconds after I posted it. I misread your post and the one you were responding to. Maybe I was being grumpy! Anyway, I read it and hit delete almost straight away.
I’m sorry you saw it, hope the fact that I deleted it proves I know it was wrong.
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Ohh ok, no harm done!
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Haha – I always use Google for spellcheck, it’s so handy when it says “do you mean…” – why, yes, yes I do!
Google and learn (the mound is not a mountain)
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In france it is!
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pubis
Where does the word originate from ? latin maybe? So we’re probably closer to the original translation
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It’s mons pubis
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Ah yes, ofcourse, that is the correct terminology. Thanks
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