Wandering around the web, an article on EMandLo‘s site called Vaginas vs. Vulvas –  There’s A Difference People! caught my attention. The piece tells you that what we call a vagina for all our various bits and pieces down there is actually incorrect; it’s a good refresher course on the female anatomy. So, I started clicking on related links, finding articles about how a lot of women find their vagina ugly and question whether they are “normal.”

Yeah. What is normal? How do you know if your vagina is normal? Or beautiful? I’ve never been so sure about this either.

Unlike men, who can easily compare their genitalia, few women have seen other women’s labia to know if everything is growing the right way.

This thought provoked me to explore other articles. A group of them talked about the increasing number of women who alter their vagina – namely by cutting off their inner labia – their “blooms” – to make their vagina look more like what they see on women in porn movies. Hmm… I never thought of women in porn movies as being the standard bearers of vagina beauty.

And, is it just porn movies driving this? What about scientific text books and women’s magazines? Have you ever looked at one of these and said, “Yes, this is exactly what I look like”?  Do any of them emphasize that each woman looks different? No.  Ladies, it’s time to write the editors!

The film documentary The Perfect Vagina examines why young women in the UK chose to have labioplasty, the removal of the labia, one of the fastest growing cosmetic procedures. Mostly, women are driven by the need to look normal. They want to conform to a beauty standard.

To combat this trend, Jamie McCartney created The Great Vagina Wall, showcasing plaster molds of 400 women’s vaginas. His goal was to show the world what “normal” women’s vaginas look like.

When I looked at this I thought, “Wow. Not one vagina looks like the other. And a lot these labia are sticking out.”  Each one  is completely unique.  And, all are normal.  The various labia are like flower blooms, giving each woman a distinct look. I would have never known this, if I hadn’t seen this picture. Have you ever seen so many vaginas lined up like that so you could actually see the variety that’s out there?

So, why would you want your labia to look like everyone else’s? Do you want your clothes, your hair, your makeup, all the aspects that make you a unique and beautiful woman to look the same? Or your hat.  Ever see the hats in Kentucky Derby? No woman would ever want to wear the same hat.

Now I have a better appreciation of why vaginas are compared to flowers.  And, while roses may all look similar.  No one rose  is exactly like the other.

Ladies, think twice before cutting off your blooms.

 Suzy