MUFF BUSTERS
Vagina Myths and How To Fight Them
50% of the world’s population has one. Most of us came into the world through one. Yet vaginas, vulvas and the gynaecological anatomy are still a taboo subject.
Like any topic that is under represented in society and education, more myths and legends exist in popular culture about all things “down there” than fact. This is directly impacting people’s lives in more ways than one.
A lack of information and a lack of relatable, accessible examples of where the vagina is and what a vulva contains and looks like means that unachievable ideas of what is normal have been formed. This has led to unrealistic expectations of our bodies, what they should look like and our relationship with them. It can lead people to take extreme actions with their own bodies – for example, between 2002 and 2012, labiaplasty, a cosmetic surgery to reduce the size of the labia, increased by 500% on the NHS alone.
We all have a different face, a different nose – so why wouldn’t we all have a different vulva?
This exhibition highlights a handful of myths that circulate in popular culture, the internet and other platforms about the gynaecological anatomy and hopes to show that myths and legends are for fairy tales, not our bodies.50% of the world’s population has one. Most of us came into the world through one. Yet vaginas, vulvas and the gynaecological anatomy are still a taboo subject.