Read My Lips (35 page)

“Late 2009 our first public exhibition was held in Brooklyn, NYC, at a grass-roots event called Vulvagraphics, which pulled together the work of a number of artists celebrating female genital diversity. This event launched the International Vulva Knitting Circle as a traveling exhibition to support localized activism in different parts of the world. We only ask that with any event, it remains grass-roots, fits broadly within our political feminist agenda, and involves people from the community contributing their own crafted vulvas to the traveling collection.

“Our vision is for The Vulva Train to just keep on growing and moving, with women uniquely and collectively crafting resistance to the regulation of their bodies and sexualities.

“And it all begins with the not-so-lady-like knitting needle.

“So, join us!”

Learn more about the International Vulva Knitting Circle in our Resources section.

Pootie Attack

Sadly, not everyone shares our love for vulva arts and crafts. For instance, two vulva crafters recently ran into some major issues on a popular web site designed to sell homemade crafts. Prior to these issues, the web site was a major source of revenue for these crafters and was one of the best ways for them to sell crafts on the web. However, both ran into resistance from the web site and beyond. The web site prohibited the crafters from tagging their products with certain names such as “feminist” that helped to drive their business. It also asked them to label their materials as “mature” or “explicit” despite the fact that many of these crafts were simply symbolic representations of vulvas and were not sexualized in any way.

Beyond the web site, a counter web site designed to mock the crafts of the original site targeted the vulva crafters specifically. The vulva crafters felt mocked and discouraged. Melissa Nannen, a friend of Vanessa’s who creates Plushpooties (simple vulvas of various colors and sizes with pubic hair shells that are often joyfully comical in appearance and name), removed her pooties from the web site after an attack on one of her art pieces. She wrote on her blog that she was hurt by it because the comments “were much more concerned with the type of person who made them rather than the object itself.”
²⁴
That’s the strange thing about vulva craft, art, or even research. All too often, assumptions are made about the behaviors and attitudes of those who create or conduct it. We know that these critiques come with the job, but sometimes when we tell people what we do, it is hard to ignore the fact that they are going into TSA scanner mode, wondering what is up with us down there. We try our best to use these responses as fuel for our fire. After all, talking about the vulva is only strange if no one else does it!

As vulva researchers, artists, authors, and crafters, we are opening ourselves up to people who are critical of the vulva, but what really gets our muffs mad is when the vulva itself is attacked. Take for instance a recent celebrity blogger with a huge following who posted an image of several lovely vulva necklaces for sale. These particular necklaces came in several shapes and sizes, and the designs were based on images of real women’s vulvas. The blog about the necklaces was sarcastic and critical of the idea of vulva necklaces, but the blogger did not attack the actual appearance of the necklaces. The viewers’ comments on the blog were another story, with most comments containing a variation of “ewwww” or “gross.” Several comments attacked the appearance of specific vulva pieces, including one web site commentator who said, “The black one looks like that fake dog chit [
sic
]!!” Another person insulted the appearance of all the vulva necklace models by saying, “if you have major nasty beefcurtains [
sic
], why the hell would you want to show it off in the first place?? So gross.”

Comments like these make us feel sad. While someone probably wrote these comments without thinking twice about the impression that it would make on those who read them (other than hoping it was funny, perhaps), these comments have the potential to impact women of all ages and all vulva types. Let’s say, for example, that you are checking out your favorite celebrity blog when you happen upon a necklace that just happens to look surprisingly similar to your very own lady bits.
Wow
, you think,
how great that someone thought my genitals were beautiful enough to accessorize an outfit!
You feel empowered until you scroll down a bit farther and read the reaction to your genital doppelgangers. Then, you read the series of negative reactions to your “beefcurtains.” Sure it’s just one little message. However, given that you probably do not come across a mini-version of your muff every day, this feedback may become quite meaningful and even harmful to how you feel about your genitals. So, how do these messages change the way women feel about their genitals, you ask? We cover that (and a whole lot more) in chapter 4.

CUNTCLUSIONS

Vulva art has been around almost as long as vulvas themselves. Vulvas have been portrayed as everything from humorous to dangerous to disgusting. The relatively recent invention of the Internet has exposed us to vulva culture in ways that are continually changing. So what can we do to make sure that change is a positive one?

1. Support small vulva crafters when you can.
   Low on cash? No worries, support does not have to mean financial support these days. Consider “liking” them on Facebook, sharing their craft web sites on your Facebook page (so that friends with cash to spare might support them), or tweeting their web site with a positive message to your friends/followers.
   
2. Craft is not just for the crafty!
   This book contains tons of tips for fun vulva crafts that you can do yourself or with a group of friends. Instead of a book club (unless, of course, this is the book), consider assembling a vulva-crafting club at your school or in your community.
   
3. See a vulva-negative comment on a web site?
   Take a minute and post a positive one! It may be your message that makes someone think or feel differently about her vulva.
   
4. Keep talking.
   Remember when your mother used to say, “If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all”? Well, we disagree. Sometimes even the “not nice” things will get a conversation going. The worst thing that we can do to our vulvas is ignore them. So above all else, let’s keep the conversation going!
   

TEST YOUR VQ

1. What is the first vulva image created by (wo)man?

a. sheela-na-gig carvings found around Europe

b. Baubo figurines in Greece

c. paparazzi shots of young socialites as they exit their limos

d.
Venus of Willendorf

2. What is a speculum party?

a. A pact by women to visit their gynecologists on the same day

b. When your gynecologist makes a house call

c. A group of women who examine their own vulvas and vaginas together

d. the decoration of speculums

3. What is a vulva puppet?

a. a female puppet with an enlarged vulva

b. a plushy vulva with a slit in the back for your hand

c. a BDSM activity

d. a character created by Jim Henson in the 1950s

Answers

1. d

2. c

3. b

Notes

CHAPTER 1

1. V. Braun and S. Wilkinson, “Socio-Cultural Representations of the Vagina,”
Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology
19, no. 1 (2001).

2. C. Blackledge,
The Story of V: A Natural History of Female Sexuality
(New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2004).

3. A. Kingsley, “A Conference at UNLV Urges Women to Love Their Lady Parts,”
Las Vegas: City Life
, September 30, 2010.

4. L. Alptraum, “‘Cunts for Fags’ Teaches Gay Men How the Other Half Fucks,” 2008.
http://boinkology.com/2008/02/01/cunts-for-fags-teaches-gay-men-how-the-other-half-fucks
. Accessed May 2, 2011.

5. J. Blank,
Femalia
(San Francisco, CA: Down There Press, 1993).

6. B. Dodson,
Sex for One: The Joy of Selfloving
(New York: Crown Trade Paperbacks, 1996).

7. N. Karras,
Petals
(San Diego, CA: Crystal River Publishing, 2003).

8. J. Lloyd, N. S. Crouch, C. L. Minto, L-M Liao, and S. M. Creighton, “Female Genital Appearance: Normality Unfolds,”
BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology
112, no. 5 (2005): 643–46.

9. Betty Dodson,
Viva la Vulva!
(New York: Betty Dodson, 1998).

10. O. Lunde, “A Study of Body Hair Density and Distribution in Normal Women,”
American Journal of Physical Anthropology
64, no. 2 (1984): 179–84.

11. V. Schick, B. N. Rima, and S. K. Calabrese, “Evulvalution: The Portrayal of Women’s External Genitalia and Physique Across Time and the Current Barbie Doll Ideals,”
The Journal of Sex Research
48 (2011): 74–81.

12. R. Robinson,
Georgia O’Keeffe: A Life
(Hanover: University Press of New England, 1999).

13. M. Paley,
The Book of the Penis
(New York: Grove Press, 1999).

14. L. M. Liao, L. Michala, and S. M. Creighton, “Labial Surgery for Well Women: A Review of the Literature,”
BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
117, no. 1 (2010): 20–25.

15. ACOG, “ACOG Committee Opinion No. 378: Vaginal ‘Rejuvenation’ and Cosmetic Vaginal Procedures,”
Obstetrics and Gynecology
110 (2007): 737–38.

16. J. M. Miklos, “RD Labiaplasty of the Labia Minora: Patients’ Indications for Pursuing Surgery,”
Journal of Sexual Medicine
5, no. 6 (2008): 1492–95.

17. V. Braun, “Female Genital Cosmetic Surgery: A Critical Review of Current Knowledge and Contemporary Debates,”
Journal of Womens Health
19, no. 7 (2010): 1393–1407.

18. M. P. Goodman, “Female Cosmetic Genital Surgery,”
Obstetrics and Gynecology
113, no. 2 (2009): 154–59.

19. V. Braun and C. Kitzinger, “‘Snatch,’ ‘Hole,’ or ‘Honey-pot’? Semantic Categories and the Problem of Nonspecificity in Female Genital Slang,”
Journal of Sex Research
38, no. 2 (2001): 146–58.

20. H. E. O’Connell, J. M. Hutson, C. R. Anderson, & R. J. Plenter, “Anatomical Relationship Between Urethra and Clitoris,”
The Journal of Urology
159, no. 6 (1998): 1892.

21. H. O’Connell and J. O. L. Delancey, “Clitoral Anatomy in Nulliparous, Healthy, Premenopausal Volunteers Using Unenhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging,”
The Journal of Urology
173, no. 6 (2005): 2060.

22. B. R. Komisaruk, C. Beyer, and B. Whipple,
The Science of Orgasm
(Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006).

23. M. Reece, D. Herbenick, and B. Dodge, “Penile Dimensions and Men’s Perceptions of Condom Fit and Feel,”
Sexually Transmitted Infections
85 (2009):127–31.

24. H. Wessells, T. F. Lue, and J. W. McAninch, “Penile Length in Flaccid and Erect States: Guidelines for Penile Augmentation,”
Journal of Urology
156, no. 3 (1996): 995–97.

25. A. K. Ladas, B. Whipple, and J. D. Perry,
The G Spot and Other Recent Discoveries about Human Sexuality
(New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1982).

26. A. C. Kinsey,
Sexual Behavior in the Human Female
(Philadelphia, PA: Saunders, 1953).

27. W. H. J. Masters, V. E. Johnson,
Human Sexual Response
(Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company, 1966).

28. G. L. Gravina, F. Brandetti, P. Martini, E. Carosa, S. M. Di Stasi, S. Morano, A. Lenzi, and E. A. Jannini, “Measurement of the Thickness of the Urethrovaginal Space in Women with or without Vaginal Orgasm,”
Journal of Sexual Medicine
5 (2008): 610–18.

29. A. V. Burri, L. Cherkas, and T. D. Spector, “Genetic and Environmental Influences on Self-Reported G-Spots in Women: A Twin Study,”
Journal of Sexual Medicine
7, no. 5 (2010): 1842–52.

30. D. Herbenick, V. Schick, M. Reece, S. Sanders, B. Dodge, and J. D. Fortenberry, “The Female Genital Self-Image Scale (FGSIS): Results from a Nationally Representative Probability Sample of Women in the United States,”
Journal of Sexual Medicine
8, no. 1 (2011): 158–66.