Pratisandhi

Vagina, Vulva, Labia and Clitoris: Know the difference!

It is strange that most vagina owners cannot differentiate between vulva and vagina. One even jokingly said” the vaginal-anatomy is way more complex to understand than the Euler’s equation!”

“Is vulva not the same as vagina?”, “How many holes are there?” “What is labia?” “Is the clitoris just like the penis?” and so on! Questions like these are always in the minds of vagina owners. And if you too have such questions in your mind, don’t think they’re silly, because we all deserve to know about our vaginas.

So here’s a blog entirely dedicated to explaining to you the (complex) vaginal structure.

First know what are the parts of vaginal anatomy:

Source: Clue app

Here are some of the most asked FAQs that we’d like to clear the air around.

What are the 3 holes of a vagina-owner?

  • The first hole is the Urethral opening, which is for urinating. It is a very tiny hole without any sexual significance.
  • Second in the list is the Vaginal opening. Now, this your ultimate reproductive hole, it is where the menstrual blood comes out, babies are born through this and of course,  where the sexual intercourse takes place.
  • Lastly, there is the Anus which is the opening of the rectum. Some people may experience sexual arousals from Anus.
Source: lioness.oi

Why do we have a clitoris? And is it related to the G-spot?

The clitoris is a part of the genitals found in the vagina-owners. Most of the part is internal, just the (pea-sized) nub is visible, which is called clitoral hood.

The clitoris has thousand of nerve-endings and is the main area of sexual sensations for people with vulvas. The clitoris is an erectile organ and has many similar properties as a penis. It gets erected (inside) and looks swollen at the tip (clitoral hood) when the person is aroused (turned on). Your orgasms depend on the size and location of the clitoris, if the clitoris is relatively small and located further from the vagina then you may have trouble orgasming during penetrative sex.

The G-spot, which is believed to be the most exciting-spot of a vagina-owner’s sexual sensation is a part of the clitoris. Although this region can slightly vary from different vagina-owners, but more-or-less it is about 2-3 centimeters inside of the vagina, right under the bladder.

Why does my labia look different from others?

Labia is mostly referred to as the ‘vaginal lips’, and just like the metaphor they are different in shapes, colour and size just like our normal lips. Hence, there can’t be any “beautiful” or “ugly” shape or size of the labia..

We have only one labia, which further has two folds. The outer fold (outer lip of the vulva) is called the Labia majora and the inner lip (inner lip of the vulva) is called the Labia minora. Some people can also have hair growth on the Labia majora, which is again very normal.

Source: Planned Parenthood

And finally, the most asked question-

What is the difference between Vulva and Vagina?

  • To start off, the difference is that the vulva is an external genital organ and vagina is internal, note that only the opening of the vagina is external.
  • The vulva is composed of the external female genitals, including the inner and outer labia, the clitoris, the opening to the vagina and the opening to the urethra. While the vagina contains the internal female genitals, the ovaries, fallopian tubes, uterus and cervix.
  • The vulva is the word which is inclusive of all the external organs that means it also include the sexual sensations and orgasms through sexual activity (except for the penetrative sex), whereas the vagina is the muscular canal that connects the uterus to the vulva. It’s what babies pass through during childbirth, as well as menstrual flow.

In other words the vagina is only related to reproduction while vulva (which offers a plethora of pleasures) is more pleasure-oriented. Since sex is not just limited to penetration, hence the orgasms vulva offers is way more than your vagina (penetrative).

Conclusion

Even though we tried to cover the most asked questions, there must still be thousands of questions in your mind, which is absolutely worthed. Our bodies are  not very simple, they are complex and unfortunately when it comes to sexual-health related queries, there’s very little to know from the people around or school-textbooks. Comment below if you have more such questions, and we’ll try to answer them.

Cover Illustration: clue app

Author

1 thought on “Vagina, Vulva, Labia and Clitoris: Know the difference!”

  1. Thank you for demystifying the complexities of vaginal anatomy! Your explanations are clear and informative. Could you delve deeper into the topic of sexual pleasure and how understanding our anatomy enhances it? Looking forward to more insightful posts!

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