THE 'V' WORD

Female sex organs are very much still taboo.

You don't believe me? Listen, I've had at least a couple of my videos disappear from my video library on Facebook and the only word I used in those videos that may have been flagged up was 'vagina'. Silly me, I thought it was an anatomical term, but it seems like many people still see it as a dirty word.

Apparently, in many places a person cannot say 'vagina' without it being considered a 'bad word’, not just on social media. A lot of parents avoid teaching their kids what that body part is called and make up all sort of nicknames. And even in ads the word has been proven to be problematic and 'offensive'.

Isn't that weird considering the fact that sex and sexuality (mainly women's sexuality) are the number one tool advertisers use to sell their products (even completely unrelated products) and is something that's shoved in our faces in ads and movies the whole time?

Actually it's not weird at all.

You see when women talk about vaginas, it's not about sex and that’s ultimately why they seem more radical. We may be talking about a sex organ, but there’s no male gaze in the conversation, it’s usually women speaking to other women frankly and honestly about our bodies. Super scary stuff. And yes, a lot has changed in the past two decades. Remember when the 'Vagina Monologues' came out in the 90's no one was talking about vaginas at all and now women are marching with vagina hats on? Something has for sure changed.

But has it changed enough?

Are people just being politically correct but secretly cringing because something about the female sex organs still makes some of us feel very uncomfortable? Or are we really heading towards the day we can all be grownups and use the correct anatomical words for our body parts, being it our shoulder blades, earlobes or vaginas?

I guess only time will tell...