Read My Lips by Debby Herbenick, Vanessa Schick Page B
Authors: Debby Herbenick, Vanessa Schick
Ads: Link
bringing them together that day, or on another day, to talk and learn about these topics together as a group. After all, boys and girls could benefit from talking with each other about the changes they’ll be experiencing over the next few years. Both sexes could learn to talk with respect and compassion about otherwise mysterious topics such as menstruation and erections.
9 REASONS TO LOVE YOUR VULVA AND VAGINA
It makes it easier to use non-applicator tampons.
It makes it easier to use birth-control methods like diaphragms and NuvaRing.
It might make you feel more comfortable filming your own birth experience video, should you give birth one day.
You may be more comfortable talking with your healthcare provider about your genital health.
You may be more open to receiving cunnilingus. Or just plain into it.
It could enhance your masturbation to watch yourself in the mirror.
Your vagina and vulva will be with you forever, so you may as well make friends.
The vagina can be warm and wet to touch, which can feel good.
During a self-exam in front of a mirror, it can be fun to make your vulva “talk” by squishing the labia together.
There should be no shame in learning about vulvar and vaginal health. After all, everyone with a vulva and vagina probably wants them to be healthy. Here in this chapter, we’ll identify health challenges faced by vulvas and vaginas worldwide and identify key steps that you can take—starting today—toward vulvar and vaginal wellness. That said, we only have room enough to devote one chapter to vulvar and vaginal health issues, so you should consider this a brief overview rather than everything you will ever need to know about genital health. For more extensive information about genital-health issues, we recommend reading The V Book 1 (see Resources).
WHAT WE’RE MADE OF
The vulva is a highly sensitive area of women’s bodies. Men’s genitals are almost completely covered in skin. This skin acts as a protective barrier to the outside world against common irritants and other things that could otherwise harm the genitals. The only opening that men have on their penis is the urethral opening (through which they urinate and ejaculate), and it’s a pretty small opening, so not much is going to get through it.
Women, however, have the urethral opening and the vaginal opening, with the latter being significantly larger than the tiny little urethral opening. As such, we’re more exposed to the outside world and its many irritants. Also, the vulvar skin is more sensitive and vulnerable to irritation than men’s genital skin, so it can be helpful to learn the best way to care for our genital parts. Because genitals and sexual health are such taboo topics in many cultures, many girls and young women don’t receive accurate information about how to care for their vulvas and vaginas. It’s not necessarily the fault of their mothers, aunts, or grandmothers—after all, many women in older generations never learned much about how to care for their genitals, either. We hope to change that. We hope to give you enough information about how to care for your vulva and vagina so that you feel confident about caring for yourself and sharing this information with your girlfriends as well as with your mom, sister, daughter, niece, grandmother, or neighbor. Even if you don’t want to have explicit conversations with friends or family members about v-parts, you can always recommend this or other vulva/vagina-friendly books to them.
VULVA SELF-EXAMINATION: HOW TO CHECK YOURSELF OUT DOWN THERE
One of the simplest and most important ways that you can care for your vulva is to get to know it well. Just as you can care for your skin by checking for suspicious moles or other indications of skin cancer, you can care for your vulva by looking at it about once each month as part of a vulvar self-examination (VSE).
What you will need:
A well-lit room (if the room’s not brightly lit, a flashlight will help)
A
9 REASONS TO LOVE YOUR VULVA AND VAGINA
It makes it easier to use non-applicator tampons.
It makes it easier to use birth-control methods like diaphragms and NuvaRing.
It might make you feel more comfortable filming your own birth experience video, should you give birth one day.
You may be more comfortable talking with your healthcare provider about your genital health.
You may be more open to receiving cunnilingus. Or just plain into it.
It could enhance your masturbation to watch yourself in the mirror.
Your vagina and vulva will be with you forever, so you may as well make friends.
The vagina can be warm and wet to touch, which can feel good.
During a self-exam in front of a mirror, it can be fun to make your vulva “talk” by squishing the labia together.
There should be no shame in learning about vulvar and vaginal health. After all, everyone with a vulva and vagina probably wants them to be healthy. Here in this chapter, we’ll identify health challenges faced by vulvas and vaginas worldwide and identify key steps that you can take—starting today—toward vulvar and vaginal wellness. That said, we only have room enough to devote one chapter to vulvar and vaginal health issues, so you should consider this a brief overview rather than everything you will ever need to know about genital health. For more extensive information about genital-health issues, we recommend reading The V Book 1 (see Resources).
WHAT WE’RE MADE OF
The vulva is a highly sensitive area of women’s bodies. Men’s genitals are almost completely covered in skin. This skin acts as a protective barrier to the outside world against common irritants and other things that could otherwise harm the genitals. The only opening that men have on their penis is the urethral opening (through which they urinate and ejaculate), and it’s a pretty small opening, so not much is going to get through it.
Women, however, have the urethral opening and the vaginal opening, with the latter being significantly larger than the tiny little urethral opening. As such, we’re more exposed to the outside world and its many irritants. Also, the vulvar skin is more sensitive and vulnerable to irritation than men’s genital skin, so it can be helpful to learn the best way to care for our genital parts. Because genitals and sexual health are such taboo topics in many cultures, many girls and young women don’t receive accurate information about how to care for their vulvas and vaginas. It’s not necessarily the fault of their mothers, aunts, or grandmothers—after all, many women in older generations never learned much about how to care for their genitals, either. We hope to change that. We hope to give you enough information about how to care for your vulva and vagina so that you feel confident about caring for yourself and sharing this information with your girlfriends as well as with your mom, sister, daughter, niece, grandmother, or neighbor. Even if you don’t want to have explicit conversations with friends or family members about v-parts, you can always recommend this or other vulva/vagina-friendly books to them.
VULVA SELF-EXAMINATION: HOW TO CHECK YOURSELF OUT DOWN THERE
One of the simplest and most important ways that you can care for your vulva is to get to know it well. Just as you can care for your skin by checking for suspicious moles or other indications of skin cancer, you can care for your vulva by looking at it about once each month as part of a vulvar self-examination (VSE).
What you will need:
A well-lit room (if the room’s not brightly lit, a flashlight will help)
A
Similar Books
