MYTH: It's called a vagina

FACT: Not quite...

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It is a word that many use to describe the entire external genitalia, but the vagina is just one of several parts of the gynaecological anatomy.

In the gynaecological anatomy, there is the internal anatomy, and the external anatomy (vulva). The vagina is the area between your vulva and cervix, which leads to the uterus, ovaries and ovarian tubes.

The vulva is all of the bits of the genitalia you can see on the outside - this includes your labia minora, labia majora, clitoris and urethra (where you urinate from).

The vagina has become one of the more widely used terms for the vulva - the word ‘vulva’ is being increasingly lost within public discussion.

Many do not know what the word vulva even means. In a recent YouGov survey (March 2019), over half of the British public surveyed could not describe the function or visibly identify the vagina (52%), the labia (47%) or urethra (58%). Many used euphemisms to label their diagrams such a “lips” for labia and “wee hole” for urethra, not knowing the correct terminology for the anatomy.

When analysed by gender, 45% of women who completed the survey could not label the vagina, 55% couldn’t locate or label the urethra and 43% could not name or locate the labia.

This lack of basic gynaecological education has left many without a basic understanding of their anatomy, leading them to ignore or disengage with certain areas of their body.