A Potentially Stressful Search
The process of locating their vaginal orifice is quite challenging and stressful for some girls and women. They have been told they have a vagina, but are unable to conceptualize and accept this as fact. "They have told me I have a vagina, but I don't believe them." This belief may cause a young woman to experience considerable anxiety when it becomes necessary to insert fingers, tampons, specula, medication, or penises into their vagina. In some cases the inability to grasp the concept of having a vagina leads to a condition called vaginismus. When anxiety and/or vaginismus occurs it is not the fault of the young woman, rather the things she has learned and experienced in her lifetime.
Unseen, Unused, and Perhaps Unwanted
If you have never seen or used your vagina how can it possibly exist? Unlike the urethral and anal orifices, which are used daily from birth onwards, the vagina usually goes unseen and unused for the first ten to fourteen years of a girl's life. Not until a girl experiences her first menstrual period (menarche) does she have much need for a vagina. When menstruation begins, a young woman may want to use tampons for comfort, to feel grown up, or because of peer expectation or pressure; perhaps feeling everyone else is using them. The use of sanitary napkins allows some young women to postpone the necessity of confronting their vagina, though this is not the only motive behind their use. If a teen uses sanitary napkins she may not feel compelled to locate her vagina until it comes time for penetrative sex, which may not occur until she is in her twenties, or later.
The vagina is often shrouded in mystery. Far too often young girls are not taught to examine their vulva with a mirror, and the names and locations of all its different parts. In addition, a girl is not likely to see the vulva and vagina of others in use. A girl's mother and peers aren't likely to demonstrate the use of a tampon, or help a girl find her vagina. "That would be too icky." She is even less likely to learn from others the pleasures her vulva and vagina can provide during sexual activities, alone and with a partner. She is also unlikely to see how easily objects can enter the vagina during sexual and nonsexual activities. As a result, young women seldom have a knowledge base on which to draw when they seek to explore or use their vagina for the first time.
As a result of the negative messages they receive during childhood, some girls may not want to have a vagina. If you only know of the pain associated with first intercourse and childbirth aren't you less likely to want to have a vagina? What if you don't want to be a woman because of their perceived role within your family and community, you are told sex is for a man's pleasure, a woman merely submits to it dutifully, or the idea of partnered sex simply frightens you, or sounds unpleasant? If you are uncomfortable with the idea of having a vagina, or with being a woman, aren't you less likely to find a vagina when you go looking for one?
But There is No Hole!
The common perception is that there is a "hole down there" that tampons and penises magically find their way into. The following two images demonstrate what we may expect the vaginal "opening" to look like. In these two images there appears to be a "dark hole" for things to enter into, and as some fear, become lost.
In the images shown above the vulva and vagina have been drawn open by the woman's hands, and she may also be using her pelvic and abdominal muscles in a way that further opens the vaginal passage. These vaginas are not shown in their normal relaxed and closed state. We may come to expect the vagina to be an open space within the body because of the way it is commonly portrayed in illustrations depicting the anatomy of a woman's reproductive organs, as in the example shown below.
Revealing the Hidden Passage
The following four images demonstrate what a young women is more likely to see when she examines her vulva in hopes of locating her vagina. The same vulva is shown in each image, but its appearance changes significantly depending on how and if the labia are spread apart. In none of these images is the vaginal orifice obvious to the observer; there is no hole or opening. The irregular shape of the tissues does a good job of concealing the vaginal orifice.
A woman may expect the tissues around her vaginal orifice to be perfectly smooth, as they are shown in anatomy illustrations, but this is frequently not the case. The internal walls of the vagina are not smooth, they have numerous bumps and ridges, as shown in the following photograph. These bumps and ridges form during puberty, as a result of increased estrogen levels. They exist because the vagina must be elastic enough to permit the insertion of an erect penis and passage of a full term baby. These bumps and ridges are visible at the vaginal orifice in many women. This irregular surface may make it challenging to locate the vaginal orifice. In addition, the hymen or its remnants may also fully or partially obscure the vaginal orifice.
The following collection of photographs reveal what the vaginal orifice and/or vestibule looks like in several women. A copy of each photo is shown with the some of the anatomical structures identified.
In the photograph shown above the woman has a pronounced urethral orifice. In most of the photographs the urethral orifice is not clearly visible and you cannot easily determine its location.
Orifice: a stretchable opening that is normally closed
