Vagina & clitoris

AKA:

Beaver, box, c**t, fadge, vadge, fanny, front bottom, honey pot, love tunnel, minge, muff, pussy, quim, snatch, twat.

By the way - why are so many of these names terms of abuse? Answers on a postcard...

What is it?

The vagina is the passage connecting a girl's internal reproductive organs (the bits inside her body needed for having a baby) to the outside. The genitals on the outside are called the vulva.

What does it look like?

The vulva is a pair of fleshy lips between the legs. These are the labia majora and grow pubic hair after puberty.

Inside are a pair of smaller lips called the labia minora. Between theses lips is the clitoris, which looks like a tiny, rubbery lump of flesh.

Below the clitoris is the hole where wee comes out from the bladder. Below that is the opening of the vagina.

What does it do?

The vagina lets things in and out of the body:

Out: Period blood every month. And a baby at the end of pregnancy.

In: A penis (during sexual intercourse,) tampons or medical kits for smear tests etc.

How does it work?

• Most of the time the vagina is like a flat tube: one wall lies on top of the other. But it is very stretchy. It will hold a tampon in place, but it can also expand enough to allow a baby through.
• When a girl becomes sexually aroused (turned on) your vagina produces fluids to make it easier for a boy's penis to enter.
• There is a thin stretch of skin just inside the vagina called the hymen. This is likely to tear when a girl first has sex.
• Some girls are born without a hymen, or it can tear naturally during physical activity or by using tampons. This doesn't mean she's not a virgin - you need to have full sexual intercourse to lose your virginity.
• The vagina leads up inside to the cervix, which is the entrance to the womb, where a baby will develop in pregnancy

The vagina aims backwards slightly, towards the small of a girl's back. Not straight up.

Written by Dr Melissa Sayer

Last updated 17th June 2007

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