And 40% won't even use the word "vagina!"
By Amanda Chatel — Written on Sep 08, 2014
If you were given a photo of a women's anatomy, do you think you could locate all its parts? Sure, it might be difficult to name each section of the brain, but what about the bigger stuff, like your lungs and heart — could you point to them and correctly identify them? OK, let's cut to the chase: Do you know where your vagina is?
A recent study by The Eve Appeal, a women's cancer charity, has found some terrifying statistics about just how much women do not know about their bodies; their reproductive organs, to be exact. Of those surveyed, only half of the women between the ages of 26 and 35 could find the vagina on a medical diagram. I wish this was a joke, but it's not.
In other news, that is like whoa, about 40 percent of women between the ages of 16 and 25 couldn't even use the word vagina when talking about their vagina. Instead they chose such euphemisms as "lady parts" and "women's bits." My sister and I call it our "kitchen," because who doesn't want to be in on the action of a kitchen? But since we can both say "vagina" without a single wince, she and I have permission to continue using that word. But I digress.
The study was conducted as a means to promote "straight talking" about women's gynecological health due to the rise in cancer in women's reproductive organs, the cervix especially. In the UK, roughly 55 women are diagnosed with some sort of gynecological related cancer and the mortality rate is 40 percent. What makes this fact even scarier is that a third of women between the ages of 16 and 25 don’t even go to their gynecologist because they’re too embarrassed. But is embarrassment really worth your life or your inability to have babies later on when you’re ready?
As someone who writes about sex and sex education, I find these numbers heartbreaking. While I'm all for women having control over their reproductive system, because OF COURSE, I strongly feel that you should probably know where those organs are in your body, especially your vagina. If you can’t call it what it is or locate it on a diagram, do you really think you should be engaging in a sex? I'm serious. Aren’t your "lady bits" worth a lot to you? I have two friends who, under the age of 30, ended up with cervical cancer due to the HPV virus. Although they’re both in remission now, neither one of them will be able to have children and one of them almost lost her life to the disease. Does anyone want to deal with that in their 20’s?
What the results of this survey are teaching us is that we need to be more vigilant in not just the health education (which should be mandatory, in my humble opinion), but we need to be more open in how we discuss our bodies. Women need to know how their bodies work, not be afraid of it, and sure as hell not avoid going to the doctor because they're embarrassed. Do you really think your vagina is the first one your gynecologist has ever seen?
So, the takeaway here is we need to put embarrassment on the back burner in order to keep our reproductive organs happy and healthy. We need to get yearly check-ups and if stuff doesn't feel right, we need to go to make an appointment to see our doctor ASAP; no delaying. Your vagina is a pretty special thing, you guys, treat it like the very special thing it is.