Kay Ann
Hey! Today I’m going to educate you on some commonly held but not-so-true beliefs about the vagina.
Let me start by saying this is a part one, because there are too many for me to count and I’m hearing new misconceptions every day.
Like yesterday, I heard something about teeth in your vagina.
What kind of abstinence-only-fueled nightmare is that?
Anyways, let’s get onto the first widespread myth.
I need everyone to open up your eyes real wide, read every word I’m about to ferociously type on my MacBook, and get them into your head, OK? Ready?
Sex DOES NOT and WILL NOT make your vagina loose!
It just won’t. I hear many guys talk about how if a woman has lots of sex with lots of guys you can “tell.”
Like, no you can’t, Brandon – you can’t even tell that the girl you’re messaging on Instagram is ignoring you.
Now that I’ve covered how wrong it is, let’s talk about why it’s wrong. The vagina is made up of muscles and when a person with a vagina gets all hot-and-bothered the vaginal canal expands, because it’s pleated like an umbrella. This is because it does not feel good to be poked in the cervix, so the expansion prevents it, according to Psychology Today.
Consider this, when you extend your arm does it just stay all limp and extended because you used your muscles too much?
No! Muscles are meant to stretch and all that good stuff and the vaginal muscles aren’t any different.
This means that after you have sex, your vagina will just go back to the way it was before. And
guess what! That same principle also applies when you have a baby! What a miracle!
Or basic human anatomy – I guess you could call it that too.
My point is that, the next time you shame someone for having sex or having a baby by speculating how “tight” their vagina is, I want you to take a long, hard look at yourself in the mirror and think, “I am part of the problem.”
And then, just keep your thought to yourself when it comes to other peoples genitals, OK?
The next myth we are going to talk about is the myth of the hymen, and I know many people with vaginas who do not understand the mythical nature of this body part.
I’ve heard the hymen compared to a “freshness seal.”
Let’s all take a moment to acknowledge how absolutely degrading that comparison is.
Too much of the population believes the hymen is a piece of skin that somehow closes up the vagina and is broken upon insertion of a penis. Let’s think of the obvious reason this is bull**it before we get scientific – the period!
How would someone get their period and bleed out of their vagina if there was a seal there, and they hadn’t yet had sex? It’s truly insane how so many people overlook this detail.
Now, the hymen does exist, but it’s not the covering everyone thinks it is. Think if it like a balloon arch for your vagina. It doesn’t cover anything, it just kind of hangs out around the edge of the vaginal canal.
Being that the size of the hymen varies from person to person, some people may experience pain as it stretches or tears a little, but it does not break, according to Psychology Today.
The leading cause of first-time-sex pain is not enough lube.
The hymen myth and the tightness myth were invented to put a value on a woman’s virginity, which is another myth by the way, making them more valuable to be sold as wives by their fathers.
So, let’s stop doing this, because people with vaginas are not commodities to be bought and sold, and how many items we put in our vaginas does not equal the worth we have as people.
Part two coming soon.
[Editor’s note: Due to the unfortunate stigma surrounding women discussing sex, the author of this column has requested to use the pseudonym “Kay Ann.”]