Editing Vagina (section)

===Perceptions, symbolism and vulgarity===
{{See also|Eurotophobia}}
Various perceptions of the vagina have existed throughout history, including the belief it is the center of [[sexual desire]], a metaphor for life via birth, inferior to the penis, unappealing to sight or smell, or [[vulgarity|vulgar]].<ref name="Stone">{{cite book|vauthors=Stone L|title=New Directions in Anthropological Kinship|publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]]|page=164|isbn=978-0-585-38424-5|year=2002|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uaKaAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA164|access-date=October 27, 2015|archive-date=April 26, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160426221624/https://books.google.com/books?id=uaKaAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA164|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Hutcherson">{{cite book|vauthors=Hutcherson H|title=What Your Mother Never Told You about Sex|publisher=[[Penguin Books|Penguin]]|page=8|isbn=978-0-399-52853-8|year=2003|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xu8tb2o66iIC&pg=PA8|access-date=October 27, 2015|archive-date=May 6, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160506160405/https://books.google.com/books?id=xu8tb2o66iIC&pg=PA8|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="LaFont">{{cite book|vauthors=LaFont S|title=Constructing Sexualities: Readings in Sexuality, Gender, and Culture|publisher=[[Prentice Hall]]|page=145|isbn=978-0-13-009661-6|year=2003|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dtftAAAAMAAJ|access-date=August 20, 2020|archive-date=March 10, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310000304/https://books.google.com/books?id=dtftAAAAMAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> These views can largely be attributed to [[Sex differences in humans|sex differences]], and how they are interpreted. [[David Buss]], an [[evolutionary psychologist]], stated that because a penis is significantly larger than a clitoris and is readily visible while the vagina is not, and males urinate through the penis, boys are taught from childhood to touch their penises while girls are often taught that they should not touch their own genitalia, which implies that there is harm in doing so. Buss attributed this as the reason many women are not as familiar with their genitalia, and that researchers assume these sex differences explain why boys learn to masturbate before girls and do so more often.<ref name="Buss">{{cite book |vauthors=Buss DM, Meston CM |title=Why Women Have Sex: Understanding Sexual Motivations from Adventure to Revenge (and Everything in Between) |publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan]] |page=33 |isbn=978-1-4299-5522-5 |year=2009 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=slyflT85lXIC&pg=PA33 |access-date=October 27, 2015 |archive-date=April 26, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160426165657/https://books.google.com/books?id=slyflT85lXIC&pg=PA33 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The word ''vagina'' is commonly avoided in conversation,<ref name="Blackledge">{{cite book|vauthors=Blackledge C |title=The Story of V: A Natural History of Female Sexuality |publisher=[[Rutgers University Press]]|pages=[https://archive.org/details/storyofv00cath/page/4 4]–5|isbn=978-0-8135-3455-8|year=2003 |url=https://archive.org/details/storyofv00cath|url-access=registration }}</ref> and many people are confused about the vagina's anatomy and may be unaware that it is not used for urination.<ref name="Rosenthal2">{{cite book|vauthors=Rosenthal MS |title=Gynecological Health : a Comprehensive Sourcebook for Canadian Women |publisher=[[Viking Canada]]|page=10|isbn=978-0-670-04358-3|year=2003 |quote=The urine flows from the bladder through the urethra to the outside. Little girls often make the common mistake of thinking that they're urinating out of their vaginas. A woman's urethra is two inches long, while a man's is ten inches long.}}</ref><ref name="Hickling">{{cite book |vauthors=Hickling M |title=The New Speaking of Sex: What Your Children Need to Know and When They Need to Know It |publisher=Wood Lake Publishing |page=149 |isbn=978-1-896836-70-6 |year=2005 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3sHjkajLrsQC&pg=PT149 |access-date=October 27, 2015 |archive-date=April 29, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160429141851/https://books.google.com/books?id=3sHjkajLrsQC&pg=PT149 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Rankin">{{cite book |vauthors=Rankin L |title=Sex, Orgasm, and Coochies: A Gynecologist Answers Your Most Embarrassing Questions |publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan]] |page=22 |isbn=978-1-4299-5522-5 |year=2011 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qs_dBty7pfcC&pg=PT22 |access-date=October 27, 2015 |archive-date=May 6, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160506170754/https://books.google.com/books?id=Qs_dBty7pfcC&pg=PT22 |url-status=live }}</ref> This is exacerbated by phrases such as "boys have a penis, girls have a vagina", which causes children to think that girls have one orifice in the pelvic area.<ref name="Hickling"/> Author Hilda Hutcherson stated, "Because many [women] have been conditioned since childhood through verbal and nonverbal cues to think of [their] genitals as ugly, smelly and unclean, [they] aren't able to fully enjoy intimate encounters" because of fear that their partner will dislike the sight, smell, or taste of their genitals. She argued that women, unlike men, did not have locker room experiences in school where they compared each other's genitals, which is one reason so many women wonder if their genitals are normal.<ref name="Hutcherson"/> Scholar {{ill|Catherine Blackledge|pl}} stated that having a vagina meant she would typically be treated less well than her vagina-less counterparts and subject to inequalities (such as [[job inequality]]), which she categorized as being treated like a second-class citizen.<ref name="Blackledge"/>

[[File:Cattien stone yoni.png|thumb|right|upright=0.91|alt=Photograph of a large stone yoni in a museum display case|The womb represents a powerful symbol as the ''[[yoni]]'' in [[Hinduism]]. Pictured is a stone yoni found in Cát Tiên sanctuary, Lâm Đồng, Vietnam.]]
Negative views of the vagina are simultaneously contrasted by views that it is a powerful symbol of female sexuality, spirituality, or life. Author Denise Linn stated that the vagina "is a powerful symbol of womanliness, openness, acceptance, and receptivity. It is the inner valley spirit".<ref name="Linn">{{cite book|vauthors=Linn D|title=Secret Language of Signs|publisher=[[Random House|Random House Publishing Group]]|page=276|isbn=978-0-307-55955-5|year=2009|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YB5_AT_By6IC&pg=PA276|access-date=October 27, 2015|archive-date=May 6, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160506171852/https://books.google.com/books?id=YB5_AT_By6IC&pg=PA276|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Sigmund Freud]] placed significant value on the vagina,<ref name="Laqueur">{{cite book|vauthors=Laqueur TW|title=Making Sex: Body and Gender from the Greeks to Freud|publisher=[[Harvard University Press]]|page=236|isbn=978-0-674-54355-3|year=1992|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XR2BcRwiG-sC&pg=PA236|access-date=October 27, 2015|archive-date=May 7, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160507064737/https://books.google.com/books?id=XR2BcRwiG-sC&pg=PA236|url-status=live}}</ref> postulating the concept that vaginal orgasm is separate from clitoral orgasm, and that, upon reaching puberty, the proper response of mature women is a changeover to vaginal orgasms (meaning orgasms without any clitoral stimulation). This theory made many women feel inadequate, as the majority of women cannot achieve orgasm via vaginal intercourse alone.<ref name="Zastrow">{{cite book |vauthors=[[Charles Zastrow|Zastrow C]] |title=Introduction to Social Work and Social Welfare: Empowering People |publisher=[[Cengage Learning]] |year=2007 |page=228 |isbn=978-0-495-09510-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tco4YjyZab4C&pg=PT248 |access-date=October 27, 2015 |archive-date=October 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201023063416/https://books.google.com/books?id=tco4YjyZab4C&pg=PT248 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Irvine">{{cite book|vauthors=Irvine JM|title=Disorders of Desire: Sexuality and Gender in Modern American Sexology|isbn=978-1-59213-151-8|publisher=Temple University Press|year=2005|pages=37–38|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uIJXT7ZCTCsC&pg=PA37|access-date=August 20, 2020|archive-date=April 29, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160429140257/https://books.google.com/books?id=uIJXT7ZCTCsC&pg=PA37|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Gould">{{cite book |vauthors=[[Stephen Jay Gould|Gould SJ]] |title=The Structure of Evolutionary Theory |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |year=2002 |pages=1262–1263 |isbn=978-0-674-00613-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nhIl7e61WOUC&pg=PA767 |access-date=August 20, 2020 |archive-date=May 27, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160527015618/https://books.google.com/books?id=nhIl7e61WOUC&pg=PA767 |url-status=live }}</ref> Regarding religion, the womb represents a powerful symbol as the ''[[yoni]]'' in [[Hinduism]], which represents "the feminine potency", and this may indicate the value that Hindu society has given female sexuality and the vagina's ability to deliver life;<ref name="Wignaraja">{{cite book|vauthors=Wignaraja P, Hussain A|title=The Challenge in South Asia: Development, Democracy and Regional Cooperation|publisher=[[United Nations University Press]]|page=309|isbn=978-0-8039-9603-8|year=1989|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y9DmV9-0on0C&pg=PA309|access-date=October 27, 2015|archive-date=May 7, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160507064652/https://books.google.com/books?id=Y9DmV9-0on0C&pg=PA309|url-status=live}}</ref> however, ''yoni'' as a representation of "womb" is not the primary denotation.<ref name="lochtefeld784">{{Cite book |last=Lochtefeld |first=James G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g6FsB3psOTIC&pg=PA784 |title=The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Volume 2 |publisher=The Rosen Publishing Group |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-8239-3180-4 |page=784 |access-date=September 13, 2021 |archive-date=June 2, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190602132447/https://books.google.com/books?id=g6FsB3psOTIC |url-status=live }}</ref>

While, in ancient times, the vagina was often considered equivalent ([[Homology (biology)|homologous]]) to the penis, with anatomists [[Galen]] (129 AD&nbsp;– 200 AD) and [[Andreas Vesalius|Vesalius]] (1514–1564) regarding the organs as structurally the same except for the vagina being inverted, anatomical studies over latter centuries showed the clitoris to be the penile equivalent.<ref name="O'Connell"/><ref name="Angier">{{cite book |vauthors=[[Natalie Angier|Angier N]] |title=Woman: An Intimate Geography |publisher=[[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt]]|page=[https://archive.org/details/womanintimategeo00angi_0/page/92 92]|isbn=978-0-395-69130-4 |year=1999 |url=https://archive.org/details/womanintimategeo00angi_0|url-access=registration}}</ref> Another perception of the vagina was that the release of vaginal fluids would cure or remedy a number of ailments; various methods were used over the centuries to release "female seed" (via vaginal lubrication or female ejaculation) as a treatment for {{lang|la|suffocatio ex semine retento}} (suffocation of the womb, {{literal translation|lk=on}}&nbsp;'suffocation from retained seed'), [[green sickness]], and possibly for [[female hysteria]]. Reported methods for treatment included a [[midwife]] rubbing the walls of the vagina or insertion of the penis or penis-shaped objects into the vagina. Symptoms of the female hysteria diagnosis&nbsp;– a concept that is no longer recognized by medical authorities as a medical disorder&nbsp;– included faintness, nervousness, insomnia, fluid retention, heaviness in abdomen, muscle spasm, shortness of breath, irritability, loss of appetite for food or sex, and a propensity for causing trouble.<ref name=Maines>{{cite book |vauthors=Maines RP |title=The Technology of Orgasm: "Hysteria", the Vibrator, and Women's Sexual Satisfaction |publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press |location=Baltimore |year=1998 |pages=1–188 |isbn=978-0-8018-6646-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iNKw0XuaSxoC |access-date=December 12, 2017 |archive-date=July 3, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190703221610/https://books.google.com/books?id=iNKw0XuaSxoC |url-status=live }}</ref> It may be that women who were considered suffering from female hysteria condition would sometimes undergo "pelvic massage"&nbsp;– stimulation of the genitals by the doctor until the woman experienced "hysterical paroxysm" (i.e., orgasm). In this case, paroxysm was regarded as a medical treatment, and not a sexual release.<ref name=Maines/>

The vagina has been given many vulgar names, three of which are ''[[pussy]]'', ''[[twat]]'', and ''[[cunt]].'' ''Cunt'' is also used as a [[derogatory]] [[epithet]] referring to people of either sex. This usage is relatively recent, dating from the late nineteenth century.<ref name="Hughes">{{cite book |vauthors=Hughes G |title=An Encyclopedia of Swearing: The Social History of Oaths, Profanity, Foul Language, and Ethnic Slurs in the English-speaking World |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1-317-47678-8 |year=2015 |page=112 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sIGsBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA112 |access-date=December 12, 2017 |archive-date=July 3, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190703213021/https://books.google.com/books?id=sIGsBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA112 |url-status=live }}</ref> Reflecting [[List of dialects of the English language|different national usages]], ''cunt'' is described as "an unpleasant or stupid person" in the ''[[Compact Oxford English Dictionary of Current English|Compact Oxford English Dictionary]]'',<ref name="Compact">{{cite encyclopedia |year=2008 |title=cunt |dictionary=Compact Oxford English Dictionary of Current English|edition=3rd (revised) |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford}}</ref> whereas the [[Merriam-Webster]] has a usage of the term as "usually disparaging and obscene: woman",<ref>{{cite web|title=Definition of CUNT|publisher=[[Merriam-Webster]]|access-date=June 9, 2014|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cunt|website=Dictionary – Merriam-Webster online|archive-date=October 22, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022230104/http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cunt|url-status=live}}</ref> noting that it is used in the United States as "an offensive way to refer to a woman".<ref>{{cite web|title=cunt|url=http://www.learnersdictionary.com/search/cunt|website=Merriam-Webster's Learner's Dictionary|publisher=Merriam-Webster|access-date=September 13, 2013|archive-date=March 23, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130323233128/http://www.learnersdictionary.com/search/cunt|url-status=dead}}</ref> ''[[Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary|Random House]]'' defines it as "a despicable, contemptible or foolish man".<ref name="Hughes"/> Some [[feminist]]s of the 1970s sought to eliminate disparaging terms such as ''cunt''.<ref>{{cite book |vauthors=Johnston H, Klandermans B |title=Social Movements and Culture |publisher=Routledge |year=1995 |page=174 |isbn=978-1-85728-500-0}}</ref> ''Twat'' is widely used as a derogatory epithet, especially in [[British English]], referring to a person considered obnoxious or stupid.<ref name="dict">{{cite web |title=Twat |website=Dictionary.com |date=2015 |url=http://www.dictionary.com/browse/twat?s=t |access-date=June 16, 2015 |archive-date=January 23, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170123154204/http://www.dictionary.com/browse/twat?s=t |url-status=live }} This source aggregates material from paper dictionaries, including ''Random House Dictionary'', ''Collins English Dictionary'', and Harper's ''Online Etymology Dictionary''.</ref><ref name="oxford dic">{{cite web|title=Definition of twat in English|url=http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/english/twat|website=Oxford Dictionaries|at=British and World English lexicon|publisher=Oxford University Press|access-date=June 16, 2015|archive-date=June 4, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150604082811/http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/english/twat|url-status=dead}}</ref> ''Pussy'' can indicate "[[cowardice]] or [[weakness]]", and "the human vulva or vagina" or by extension "sexual intercourse with a woman".<ref name="OED 1">{{cite encyclopedia |year=2007 |title =pussy, ''n''. and ''adj''.<sup>2</sup> |dictionary=Oxford English Dictionary |edition=3rd |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford}}</ref> In English, the use of the word ''pussy'' to refer to women is considered derogatory or demeaning, treating people as sexual objects.<ref>{{Cite journal|vauthors=James D |title=Gender-linked derogatory terms and their use by women and men |journal=American Speech |volume=73 |issue=4 |pages=399–420 |date=Winter 1998 |doi=10.2307/455584 |jstor=455584 }}</ref>