The-Clitoris.com - Female Sexual Anatomy: Clitoral and Labia Size, Celebrating Diversity, Part 1

Women Have Them Too!

It is perhaps difficult for many to imagine why teenage girls and adult women should be concerned about the size and shape of their genitals. This is because we often times do not envision them as having external genitals; everything is suppose to be inside their body and out of sight. Women have a vagina, this is what we are told in school and life. The fact that girls and women have a vulva is seldom mentioned. Women's clothing, specifically their swimwear, exemplifies the expectation of a perfectly featureless genital region. What many do not realize is, women and girls do in fact have external genitals that come in many unique shapes, colors, textures, and sizes.

Childhood

As young girls, women and teens may have come to see their genitals as nothing more than a smooth dimple between their thighs. What is there is small, smooth, pink, and non-distinct. While the genitals of young girls do vary, they all look very much the same to the casual observer; there are normal and healthy preadolescent girls who have very prominent labia and clitorises. Young girls are not likely to know the vulva of their mother and other women usually look very different from their own. Since pubic hair commonly conceals the genitals of adult women, even if girls see women in a state of undress they are likely to believe their genitals look the same under the concealing hair. By not allowing girls to examine the genitals of their mother and other women, and by not permitting them to see photographs of vulvas, we may, and often times do, cause them to have a very negative self-image of their vulva later in life.

Puberty: The Time of Change

During puberty a girl's genitals can, and often times do, undergo a major transformation. Even before noticeable breast development becomes apparent, the tissues of the vulva start responding to increased hormonal levels. During puberty a girl's inner and outer labia, hood, clitoris, and hymen increase in size, often times significantly. Not only may the size of a girl's genitals change, but also their shape, color, and texture. Following puberty a girl's genitals may look nothing like they did during childhood. During adolescence the rose bud of youth often blossoms into the colorful flower of adulthood.

Since pubic hair also starts developing at this time, girls are less likely to be aware of these changes unless they go looking with a mirror, or take notice while exploring with their fingers. Even if an adolescent girl bathes with others of her own age she is unlikely to be aware that they too have experienced the same changes. Girls and women after all are not commonly permitted to play genital show and tell, though mutual exploration is not uncommon among young girls. (A survey on this website indicates 51%, 1 out of every 2, girls under the age of 10 has examined the vulva of another girl.) I am also pretty sure girls and women glance at the genitals of others when they have the opportunity, because of natural curiosity. These childhood examinations and adolescent glances don't truly provide an opportunity to fully appreciate the amount of change that has or will occur.

If teenage girls and women examine their genitals they may become concerned about these changes, feeling strange and perverse. They may believe they have deformed their genitals while masturbating, and as a result everyone who sees their vulva will know they masturbate. They may even believe they are being punished for having sexual thoughts and desires. It is for these reasons that girls and young teenagers should be made aware of these changes before they occur. They should know these changes are normal, to help maintain or improve their self-image. You do not want them to feel a need to hide their genitals from others, particularly their sexual partner.

Exploring Forbidden Territory

In the not too distant past, and to varying degrees today, women would never imagine themselves examining or touching their vulva. This was strictly the responsibility of a doctor. It was all "down there" and appropriately out of sight. Their genitals were off limits to them, and were placed off limits by their family and community. Today, women are more comfortable with their body and more likely to explore their genitals, or as a result of a desire or need to trim and/or shave their pubic hair they may find themselves unavoidably confronted with it. When they explore their genitals they may not be comfortable with what they find, because women frequently have an unrealistic expectation of how their genitals will look, remembering back to childhood.

To make matters worse, most anatomy books portray the female genitals as small and uniform, and often times leave out significant detail. If the illustrations are in color, the inner structures of the vulva are usually shown as being uniformly pink. These references seldom address women of color, compounding the problem for women who are not Caucasian. As a result, it is reasonable to believe that many women feel uncomfortable with the appearance of their genitals, even if they are comfortable with the idea of looking at them. This may and does have major repercussions on their sexuality. We tend to hide the things we are ashamed of and embarrassed by. This presents a barrier to sexual activities and pleasure that require a woman to grant her partner full access to her vulva, specifically activities like genital massage and cunnilingus.

Since so many women do view their genitals with some degree of shame they are frequently uncomfortable with the idea of looking at photographs of other women's genitals. They may also believe these images, and the act of looking at them, is inappropriate and/or harmful. In reality these photographs hold the key to helping women appreciate and understand the normal and enormous amount of diversity that exists. The only means most heterosexual women have of seeing other women's genitals is through photographs and video, as adult women are not likely to compare their genitals with their friends, unfortunately. The collection of photographs on this website, and others like it, affords every women the opportunity to see hundreds of unique vulvas at a single sitting, something that is otherwise impossible.

Wings of a Butterfly

The area that appears to concern many women is the shape, size, and color of their inner lips, their labia minora. For many women, their inner lips are larger than their outer lips, their labia majora, which is in stark contract to what their names imply. Many if not most women do not have the simple heart shaped labia shown in popular texts. The color of their labia could be brown or black rather than the expected pink. They are thick and wrinkled versus thin and smooth. This vast array of characteristics is greatly unexpected by the average person.

As the photographs and illustrations on this website clearly demonstrate, the inner labia come in a multitude of normal shapes and sizes. The photographs and illustrations presented on this website provide women with a rare opportunity to view the natural diversity that is exists in the world around them. Popular men's magazines often times do not show such diversity, as they only present what men expect to see, and as a result want to see. The images shown in these magazines may have been modified to fit the expectations of the publishers and censorship laws.

Racial Diversity

The concern regarding labial size and shape is perhaps greater for women of non-Caucasian races, as most anatomy books are based on Caucasian ideals. Women and doctors are not likely to be aware of the fact that girls and women of a racial group originating in South Africa frequently have distinctive labia minora that project up to four inches beyond the labia majora. These girls and women may be seen as deformed by themselves, and their doctor, rather than as having a distinctive racial characteristic; there appears to be an example of this on Dr. Alter's website. Inner labia that project beyond the outer labia are common and normal in all races of women, but it is not as common, being almost universal, in these Khoisan and San girls and women. The amount of projection for all races of women can be up to a couple of inches (5 cm) when the labia are at rest, and greater when the labia are spread open or placed under slight tension.

Rubber Girl!

The inner labia can be modified, as they have nothing in their structure that will maintain their size and shape if they are distorted for an extended length of time. They are usually elastic and easy to stretch, because their internal structure is much like a sponge. If a girl or woman happens to masturbate by pulling on her inner labia she can cause them to become longer and thicker. A rare few actually desire larger inner labia, and pull on them regularly causing this result. Some have achieved this by piercing their inner labia and inserting jewelry of increasing size and weight over time, and possibly by hanging tiny weights from this jewelry.

Contrary to popular believe, most girls' and women's masturbation techniques and practices will not change the shape of their genitals, at least drastically. If she masturbates regularly she may develop slightly larger blood vessels and erectile tissues, which would result in slightly larger genital structures. This is an indication of health not disease. Having large genital structures is not an indication of masturbation as some claim. If it were, 90% of men would have a 12 inch (30 cm) penis.

Mine are Bigger than Yours!

In some cultures women with large inner labia were/are considered very attractive and desirable, and/or provide their partner with greater pleasure during sexual intercourse. This motivates girls and women to engage in the practice of intentionally making them larger. They may begin the habit as very young girls and continued it into adulthood. They sometimes employ ritualized stretching, sometimes mutual, in pairs and small groups. In the past, and possibly today, depending on the culture, use a handful of grass to allow for a better grip on their labia, wrap their labia around a piece of animal horn or a small stick, apply naturally occurring irritants to cause the labia to swell, and/or utilized symbolism by applying the ashes of burned bat wings to their labia. In these societies, labia minora four to six inches (10-15cm) in length were considered most desirable. These practices shocked the early European explorers, who were often representatives of European religions, and were quickly eradicated or driven underground. Today, these practices are still shrouded in mystery, which is perhaps the only thing that allows them to continue.

Estrogen Sensitivity

The labia minora are very sensitive to estrogen, and exposure to increased levels can result in their enlargement and increased sensitivity. This may occur during pregnancy, as the production of estrogen increases during this time, and the flow of blood through the pelvic organs is altered. This can become a very uncomfortable condition requiring a doctor's attention. Prescription drugs and creams may also cause these symptoms. The presence of large labia is most often the result of genetics, not environmental causes, as is sometimes claimed.

How Big?

Dickinson reports having examined a woman's labia minora that measured 7.5 cm (3 inches) each, 15 cm (6 inches) tip to tip, when spread open, and achieved a length of almost 11.5 cm (4.5 inches), 23 cm (9 inches) tip to tip, when placed under moderate tension. He further reports 5 cases that measured between 5 and 7.5 cm (2-3 inches) when spread open. Please see his illustrations at the bottom of this article for examples of labia of different shapes and sizes.

Size of the Labia Minora Based on examinations of 2,981 women
Length		Number of Women	Percentage
0 to 2cm	0 to 3/4in	2,613	87.7
2cm	3/4in	146	4.9
3cm	1 1/4in	170	5.7
4 to 5cm	1 1/2 to 2in	32	1.1
5 to 6cm	2 to 2 1/3in	20	0.7
As gathered by Bergh, and presented by Dickinson.