What You Should Know about the Vagina, Vulva and Clitoris

The first and most important concept in V-land is that the vulva and the vagina are not one and the same. The vagina is an internal organ that connects a woman’s outer sex organs with the cervix and uterus via a stretchable passage that is typically four to five inches long.

The vagina has soft,moist walls and is lined by a smooth surface that contains many mucous glands. The vulva is the term for all the parts of a woman’s body that make up her external sex organs. This includes the clitoris, the clitoral hood, the labia, the opening to the vagina, and the Bartholin’s glands, which produce some lubrication during sex play.

Vulvas can range in color from light pink to bluish black. The outer and inner labia (lips) are often a different color. Labia come in all shapes, sizes, and colors. You may have been taught the terms labia majora and labia minora to describe the inner and outer lips.

These terms are actually inaccurate and can lead to some concern for women because they imply that the outer lips should be bigger than the inner lips.While the outer lips tend to be made up of fattier tissue and covered in hair, the inner lips are often longer and protrude from between their hosts.

It is perfectly normal to have one lip that is bigger or longer than the other.

The crowning glory of the vulva is pubic hair (or, as my godson calls it, “vagina fuzz”),which can be curly or straight, dense or sparse. Some women shave it,wax it, use depilatory cream, or dye it (Why, yes, I am a natural blonde!).

Pubic hair can extend up to the belly button, over the labia, back up around the anus, and down the thighs. Or it can simply provide a small patch over the mons pubis, the mound offlesh directly over the labia.

Pubic hair serves many functions, including capturing a woman’s odor, which increases the scent of pheromones, the sex signals that we unknowingly send out to attract partners. Another function is aesthetics.

There is absolutely no hygienic reason women should feel the need to groom, remove, or even trim their pubic hair. Some people find pubic hair a big turn-on and view it as an indication of sexual maturity. Others, however,find minimal hair to be a turn-on.

The Clitoris: Playing With this Erogenous Zone on a Woman’s Body

When it comes to erogenous zones, any body part (including the nipples, earlobes, and elbows) can be sexually sensitive. But while people have different preferences for how and where they are touched, for most women the clitoris is, without question, a main site of sexual pleasure.

The clitoris is located in the vulva between the inner labia lips. These lips attach over the clitoris to form the prepuce, a protective hood or foreskin. The clitoris looks a little bit like the tip of your nose, and like the vulva itself, the clitoris is subject to a great deal of variety.

Some women’s clitorises protrude from between their lips, others remain hidden until arousal; but rest assured, all women are born with this pleasure center. The clitoris (or c-spot) is extremely sensitive to touch and is equivalent in many ways to the head of a penis, with roughly the same amount of nerve endings.

This is not surprising, since they both start out from the same tissue. Not only do they share a sensitive head, but both organs also have a shaft that fills with blood and becomes erect with sexual excitement. This sensitivity can mean that some women really enjoy direct clitoral stimulation while others need a more indirect touch.

Unlike the penis, however, most of the clitoris is not visible because the shaft of the clitoris extends back into the body, where it wraps around to surround the opening ofthe vagina. So the lower two-thirds ofthe vagina are the most sensitive (something to keep in mind when inserting a finger or other object).

After learning about the vagina and clitoris, check out 500 Lovemaking Tips and Secrets, a must-read guide book on improving your sex life. Click here to read my review of it.