Editing Vagina (section)

==Etymology and definition==
The term ''vagina'' is from [[Latin]] ''vāgīna'', meaning "sheath" or "[[scabbard]]".<ref name="Stevenson">{{cite book|vauthors=Stevenson A|title=Oxford Dictionary of English|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|isbn=978-0-19-957112-3|year=2010|page=1962|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=anecAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA1962|access-date=October 27, 2015|archive-date=June 3, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210603161739/https://books.google.com/books?id=anecAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA1962|url-status=live}}</ref> The vagina may also be referred to as the '''birth canal''' in the context of [[pregnancy]] and [[childbirth]].<ref name="Nevid">{{cite book|vauthors=Nevid J, Rathus S, Rubenstein H|title=Health in the New Millennium: The Smart Electronic Edition (S.E.E.)|publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan]]|isbn=978-1-57259-171-4|year=1998|page=297|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H65N8vmbgTYC&pg=PA297|access-date=October 27, 2015|archive-date=June 3, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210603161746/https://books.google.com/books?id=H65N8vmbgTYC&pg=PA297|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Lipsky">{{cite book|vauthors=Lipsky MS|title=American Medical Association Concise Medical Encyclopedia|publisher=[[Random House Reference]]|isbn=978-0-375-72180-9|year=2006|page=96|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DtZ_XdSymSIC&pg=PA96|access-date=October 27, 2015|archive-date=June 3, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210603161740/https://books.google.com/books?id=DtZ_XdSymSIC&pg=PA96|url-status=live}}</ref> Although by its dictionary and anatomical definitions, the term ''vagina'' refers exclusively to the specific internal structure, it is [[Colloquialism|colloquially]] used to refer to the [[vulva]] or to both the vagina and vulva.<ref name="Dalton">{{cite book|vauthors=Dalton M|title=Forensic Gynaecology|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=978-1-107-06429-4|year=2014|page=65|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kr6ZBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA65|access-date=October 27, 2015|archive-date=September 17, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200917163313/https://books.google.com/books?id=Kr6ZBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA65|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Jones">{{cite book|vauthors=Jones T, Wear D, Friedman LD|title=Health Humanities Reader|publisher=[[Rutgers University Press]]|isbn=978-0-8135-7367-0|year=2014|pages=231–232|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wqRvBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT231|access-date=October 27, 2015|archive-date=June 3, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210603161741/https://books.google.com/books?id=wqRvBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT231|url-status=live}}</ref>

Using the term ''vagina'' to mean "vulva" can pose medical or legal confusion; for example, a person's interpretation of its location might not match another's interpretation of the location.<ref name="Dalton"/><ref name="Kirkpatrick">{{cite book|vauthors=Kirkpatrick M|title=Human Sexuality: Personality and Social Psychological Perspectives|publisher=[[Springer Science & Business Media]]|isbn=978-1-4684-3656-3|year=2012|page=175|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qfsxBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA175|access-date=February 3, 2016|archive-date=April 22, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210422221613/https://books.google.com/books?id=qfsxBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA175|url-status=live}}</ref> Medically, one description of the vagina is that it is the canal between the [[hymen]] (or remnants of the hymen) and the [[cervix]], while a legal description is that it begins at the vulva (between the [[labia]]).<ref name="Dalton"/> It may be that the incorrect use of the term ''vagina'' is due to not as much thought going into the anatomy of the female genitals as has gone into the study of male genitals, and that this has contributed to an absence of correct vocabulary for the external female genitalia among both the general public and health professionals. Because a better understanding of female genitalia can help combat sexual and psychological harm with regard to female development, researchers endorse correct terminology for the vulva.<ref name="Kirkpatrick"/><ref name="Hill">{{cite book|vauthors=Hill CA|title=Human Sexuality: Personality and Social Psychological Perspectives|publisher=[[SAGE Publications]]|isbn=978-1-5063-2012-0|year=2007|pages=265–266|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WUJsCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA266|quote=Little thought apparently has been devoted to the nature of female genitals in general, likely accounting for the reason that most people use incorrect terms when referring to female external genitals. The term typically used to talk about female genitals is ''vagina'', which is actually an internal sexual structure, the muscular passageway leading outside from the uterus. The correct term for the female external genitals is ''vulva'', as discussed in chapter 6, which includes the clitoris, labia majora, and labia minora.|access-date=February 3, 2016|archive-date=June 3, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210603161753/https://books.google.com/books?id=WUJsCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA266|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Sáenz-Herrero">{{cite book|vauthors=Sáenz-Herrero M|title=Psychopathology in Women: Incorporating Gender Perspective into Descriptive Psychopathology|publisher=[[Springer Publishing|Springer]]|isbn=978-3-319-05870-2|year=2014|page=250|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-unSBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA250|quote=In addition, there is a current lack of appropriate vocabulary to refer to the external female genitals, using, for example, 'vagina' and 'vulva' as if they were synonyms, as if using these terms incorrectly were harmless to the sexual and psychological development of women.'|access-date=February 3, 2016|archive-date=April 22, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210422221614/https://books.google.com/books?id=-unSBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA250|url-status=live}}</ref>