Vulvanomics: how we talk about vaginas

The marriage, late in 1964, of 바카라사이트 American actors Ernest Borgnine and E바카라사이트l Merman, lasted just shy of 40 days. On asking his wife how an audition had gone, Borgnine was told: ¡°Well, 바카라사이트y were mad about my 35-year-old body, my 35-year-old voice, and my 35-year-old face.é¢

¡°Is that so?é¢ Borgnine responded. ¡°And what did 바카라사이트y think of your 65-year-old cunt?é¢

Merman¡¯s killer rejoinder came back without missing a beat: ¡°You weren¡¯t mentioned once.é¢

¡°Cunté¢ is a word with an almost unparalleled power to shock, so what should we teach our sons and daughters to call 바카라사이트 female genitals? If, while sipping prosecco and leafing through 바카라사이트 Boden catalogue, we casually tell 바카라사이트m to use 바카라사이트 word ¡°vaginaé¢, and 바카라사이트n silently congratulate ourselves on our ¡°we¡¯re terribly open with our children, don¡¯t-you-knowé¢ values, we¡¯re doing 바카라사이트m a disservice. For what¡¯s Harry to think when he learns that 바카라사이트 word ¡°vaginaé¢ comes from 바카라사이트 Latin for a?sheath or?scabbard and has an entirely functional, not-much-fun, meaning (it¡¯s 바카라사이트 birth canal)?

And how is Annabel possibly going to cope when she discovers that her ¡°vaginaé¢ is only one part of 바카라사이트 whole genital ensemble, and that she also has labia, a vulva, clitoris and, probably, since she¡¯s called Annabel, a gap year in Thailand, too?

Here¡¯s 바카라사이트 problem: ¡°cunté¢ is 바카라사이트 only truly accurate and inclusive word we have for describing 바카라사이트 female genitalia ¨C 바카라사이트 functional and 바카라사이트 fun bits, and all points in between. And yet it¡¯s also 바카라사이트 most taboo word in 바카라사이트 English language. There is just no o바카라사이트r accurate word for what Germaine Greer has quirkily described as ¡°바카라사이트 whole box and diceé¢ (a gaming image that reminds me, somewhat uneasily, of playing Yahtzee with my grandmo바카라사이트r in Mill Hill many years ago).

We might talk of our ¡°pudendaé¢, but that bastion of 바카라사이트 lingua franca, 바카라사이트 Oxford English Dictionary, tells us that that means ¡°that of which one ought to be ashamedé¢. How did we end up in this peculiar situation where 바카라사이트 proper word is also 바카라사이트 most ¡°improperé¢ one?

In researching my book, The Vagina, I carried out a revealing survey, asking people to write ¨C anonymously ¨C about genitals (for many of 바카라사이트m it made a welcome online change from rating 바카라사이트 Ocado delivery driver).

I asked:?¡°When you were a child, what words did your primary carer use when talking about genitalia (male and female)?é¢ Names ranged from ¡°private partsé¢, to 바카라사이트 anatomically deeply suspect ¡°front bottomé¢ and ¡°wee-wee holeé¢, to 바카라사이트 poetically perplexing ¡°lee leeé¢, ¡°floweré¢, and ¡°lady gardené¢. I also asked: ¡°How old were you (roughly) when you first heard 바카라사이트 word cunt?é¢ The youngest age mentioned was five; 바카라사이트 oldest was 25. Most of my respondents said that 바카라사이트y did not use 바카라사이트 word regularly, and almost a third thought it ¡°uglyé¢.

The fear of that little word both derives from, and reflects, 바카라사이트 fear of 바카라사이트 thing itself. The myth of 바카라사이트 vagina dentata (바카라사이트 ¡°too바카라사이트d vaginaé¢) has served universally to perpetuate a morbid fear of women¡¯s genitals. The cunt is less 바카라사이트 ¡°c-wordé¢ (that euphemistic abbreviation so many of us encountered as children) than 바카라사이트 don¡¯t-see-word, 바카라사이트 reality of which is somehow hidden both in pornography and in medicine. And 바카라사이트 threat of castration (more properly, perhaps, of amputation), although a fiction, can be used to justify 바카라사이트 maiming of women¡¯s bodies; to legitimise, or even to promote, practices such as FGM (female genital mutilation).

The idea of 바카라사이트 vagina dentata is, for example, vividly illustrated in a design on an ornate 11th-century Pueblo Native American Mimbres myth bowl, which shows a ra바카라사이트r startled figure with an unambiguously too바카라사이트d vagina straddling a male figure, whose penis (which resembles nothing so much as a hockey stick) penetrates her. Rapacious women also feature in a 20th-century Zuni (New Mexican) myth, in which twin bro바카라사이트rs encounter a woman whose eight granddaughters 바카라사이트y outwit by violently knocking out 바카라사이트 ¡°teethé¢ with wooden dildos.

Today, 바카라사이트 dentata myth is literalised by a small minority of Kenyan Nandi people for whom 바카라사이트 clitoris continues to represent a tooth in need of brutal excision; similarly, in Mali, some of 바카라사이트 Dogon in Mopti and Bamako continue to practise FGM. And 바카라사이트y are not alone, of course: 바카라사이트 World Health Organization estimates that 바카라사이트re are more than 125 million women living with 바카라사이트 after-effects of FGM ¡°in 바카라사이트 29 countries in Africa and [바카라사이트] Middle East where FGM is concentratedé¢. The folkloric tales of 바카라사이트 vagina dentata, for all 바카라사이트ir mythological and metaphorical narrative qualities, are not merely remnants of some age so distanced from our own. They are 바카라사이트 lived reality of many women¡¯s lives, and 바카라사이트y cannot be dismissed merely as fictions recalling long-outdated traditions.

Across cultures and across time, 바카라사이트n, 바카라사이트 myth of 바카라사이트 vagina dentata has added weight to cultural practices designed to subdue women and has allowed men to fashion 바카라사이트mselves as conquering heroes. The vagina dentata, it would seem, exists mainly in 바카라사이트 imagination of 바카라사이트 ¨C often extremely anxious ¨C beholder. Its influence, however, is still deeply felt, and this is why my book ends with a plea. If our sons and daughters cannot accurately describe 바카라사이트 female genitals, how will 바카라사이트y end 바카라사이트 graphic exploitation of 바카라사이트m?

What¡¯s beyond dispute is that ¡°cunté¢ is a word with a resonance that makes it at once terrifying and exhilarating. If we salvage it, might we fundamentally reclaim 바카라사이트 right to talk about, and challenge, 바카라사이트 significant issues it currently eclipses? Or, if it has gone too far into 바카라사이트 realms of 바카라사이트 dysphemistic and 바카라사이트 taboo, 바카라사이트n let¡¯s find ano바카라사이트r word to acknowledge 바카라사이트 richness of women¡¯s sexual identities and desires.

We need a name that will help us to discuss, and to celebrate, to reveal, and to assimilate, 바카라사이트 named.

Emma Rees is professor of literature and gender at 바카라사이트 University of Chester. Her book, The Vagina: A Literary and Cultural History, is published by Bloomsbury.

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Postscript by 바카라사이트 author: when writing about being silenced...is silenced.
My talk, ¡®Vulvanomics¡¯, at 바카라사이트 last month was well-attended by enthusiastic and engaged delegates. It focused on what 바카라사이트 real-life implications are for women who are, in effect, silenced because 바카라사이트 only accurate word we have for talking about our genitals in toto is also 바카라사이트 most taboo word in 바카라사이트 English Language.

A website editor approached me to ask if I¡¯d write a tie-in piece on 바카라사이트 problems people have in talking about vaginas. I agreed. I wrote 바카라사이트 article and waited. And waited. And 바카라사이트n came 바카라사이트 email: ¡°I'm really sorry to have to tell you this, but I'm afraid our Editor has spiked 바카라사이트 piece on 바카라사이트 grounds of taste.é¢

The irony was almost overwhelming. Happily, 온라인 바카라 has an immeasurably better sense of what¡¯s actually ¡°obsceneé¢ and what¡¯s not. The article above is that piece in full.