7 Responses to “Poll: Vulva or Vagina?”

1. 
   Tom Jones Says:
   June 23rd, 2012 at 5:30 am

   Sorry, but this is a silly question. The vagina is an opening in the vulva, they are not synonymous, and each term has its use.

2. 
   emandlo Says:
   June 23rd, 2012 at 8:58 am

   Tom Jones, that’s kind of the whole point of the poll. We happen to agree with you — because you happen to be right! — but we’re pretty sure we’re in the minority. It’s not like we’re polling people to decide what to call it ourselves… we’re just curious how our readers feel on the matter.

3. 
   Dannie Says:
   June 24th, 2012 at 8:37 pm

   First, I agree with both points raised in the above comments. On a completely unrelated note, “vulva” is just much more fun to say.

4. 
   Lisa Says:
   June 26th, 2012 at 2:50 pm

   As a nurse, it drives me absolutely crazy when people use vagina as a term for pretty much every part of female genitalia.

5. 
   me2 Says:
   June 28th, 2012 at 9:50 pm

   THANK YOU!!
   They are 2 totally different things. Since when is using the correct terminology considered to be pretentious?

6. 
   NR Says:
   July 9th, 2012 at 4:26 pm

   VAGINA! VAGINA! VAGINA!!!

   I fully agree on the technical and poetical points above. But I still usually prefer the term vagina over the correct term vulva.

   Using words is about communication. If vagina is understood, but vulva is not, it’s better to be understood than to be right. So with a small part of my world (the OB/GYN world) I’ll choose my terms with care. When speaking to ‘normal’ people I’ll use whatever they will understand, and usually ‘vulva’ is unappreciated studious and therefore vagina is used.

7. 
   jillian Says:
   July 13th, 2012 at 12:09 pm

   The reason people don’t recognize and understand the word “vulva”, NR, is because people aren’t using it enough. That’s an argument FOR using the correct word.

   This is a very common argument in mommy circles. I always advocate for teaching young children “vulva” as the general-purpose word for the whole area. And I agree that it’s a completely absurd poll. WORDS HAVE ACTUAL MEANINGS — meanings that are not subject to polls or incorrect usage.

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