Vulva

What is the vulva?

The vulva is the whole of the external female genitals. That includes the mons pubis, the outer and inner labia, the clitoris, the opening of the urethra, and the entrance to the vagina. So what you see from the outside is the vulva. The vagina itself is the internal canal, something entirely different, even though the two words get mixed up all the time.

Vulva or vagina?

This is the most common mix-up, and it is not mere nitpicking. The Cleveland Clinic explains that the vulva covers far more than the vagina: the vulva is the external part, the vagina is a supple, muscular canal inside the body. The encyclopedia confirms that in everyday speech “vagina” often gets used wrongly for the vulva. The correct word for everything you see from the outside is vulva. That sounds like a detail, but knowing the right word for your own body makes it easier to talk about, and to say what you like.

Everything that belongs to it

The vulva is a set of parts that each do something. The mons pubis is the soft, hair-covered part at the top. The outer labia sit on the outside, the inner labia within them; those inner ones can be small or stick out quite a bit. Between the labia sit the clitoris at the top, below it the opening of the urethra, and below that the entrance to the vagina. The clitoris is the most sensitive part and, for most women, the main source of pleasure, with far more nerve endings than anywhere else.

Every vulva is different

This may be the most important thing to know. No two vulvas are the same. The Cleveland Clinic describes how labia come in all sorts of shapes: symmetrical or not, tucked away behind the outer lips or hanging outward instead. The Dutch-language encyclopedia puts it simply: vulvas differ in shape and color from woman to woman. So there is no “normal” or “correct” vulva. The images from porn, where everything is smooth and symmetrical, are a narrow and often edited selection, not a standard.

What the vulva actually does

The vulva is not decoration. It does real work. This is the area through which you menstruate, pee, and a baby can be born. The labia protect the more sensitive parts behind them, a little like the eyelids do for the eye. And then there is pleasure: the clitoris is full of nerve endings and, for most women, the main source of sexual enjoyment. So it is an area with several functions at once, from the everyday and practical to the purely pleasurable. That makes it all the more of a shame that so little gets said about it plainly, because the more you know it, the more you can do with it.

Why the name matters

It looks like linguistics, but it touches something bigger. Plenty of women were never properly taught what their own body is called or looks like, and that feeds insecurity and shame. Someone who can name the parts can also more easily point out what feels good and what doesn’t. Knowing the difference between vulva and vagina is a small start toward being more at ease with your own body.

What the vulva is not

“My vulva doesn’t look the way it’s supposed to.” There is no “supposed to”. The variation is huge and completely normal. Protruding or uneven labia, a darker color, all of it belongs to the wide range of normal.

“The vulva is just another word for the vagina.” No. The vulva is the whole external part, the vagina only the internal canal. It is the vulva, and the clitoris in particular, where most of the feeling sits.

What I see of it myself

In my work as a gigolo I notice how many women feel unsure about how their vulva looks, often from comparing it to porn. Such a waste, because what I see is how different and how beautiful they all are, precisely in that difference. I’m in no hurry to go inside anywhere; the whole vulva deserves attention, and the clitoris most of all. Women who learned to feel ashamed often relax visibly the moment they notice that nothing needs “correcting”. There is nothing to hide. What is there is exactly right. That attention without judgment is exactly what an intimate encounter with me means. And the more at ease you are with your own body, the more you can enjoy it.

Read on

• G-spot describes a sensitive zone that belongs to the vulva and the front wall.
• Female ejaculation is about the Skene’s glands around the urethra.
• Vulva from the Cleveland Clinic gives a clear anatomical explanation.

Sources

• Vulva. Cleveland Clinic. Supplies that the vulva covers the external genitals (mons pubis, outer and inner labia, clitoris, urethral and vaginal openings), that the vagina is the internal canal, and that no two vulvas are the same.
• Vulva. Wikipedia. Supplies the full list of parts, that “vagina” is often used wrongly for the vulva in everyday speech, and that there is a lot of variation in appearance.
• Vulva. Wikipedia (Dutch). Supplies that the vulva is the external part of the female genitals, that it is often mistakenly called the vagina, and that vulvas differ in shape and color from woman to woman.

Related terms

• G-spot. A sensitive zone on the front wall behind the vulva.
• Female ejaculation. Comes from the Skene’s glands around the urethra in the vulva.
• Sexual response cycle. Describes what happens in the vulva during arousal.