A Vagina By Any Other Name....

vagina (n.)

1680s, from L. vagina "sheath, scabbard" (pl. vaginae), from PIE *wag-ina- (cf. Lith. voziu "ro cover with a hollow thing"), from root *wag- "to break, split, bite." Probably the ancient notion is of a sheath made from a split piece of wood (see sheath). A modern medical word; the Latin word was not used in an anatomical sense in classical times.

The word vagina is derived from a term that means "sheath", indicating that it exists only for men, which we know is not true. I'm not offended by the word but it would be nice if the medical community would recognize that women aren't beholden to men in every aspect, especially their yonis!~ Lemissa Vaughan

Despite the outrage some women express over not using the clinical terms, I do not find using the medical nomenclature to be empowering as they were not created to be aesthetically pleasing but to represent a very dry expression of what a woman’s sex involves. That being said, often the terms are not even used properly with the word ‘vagina’ often misused as an umbrella statement for all that encompasses our sex when technically it only refers to a portion of our internal structure, with ‘vulva’ being more accurate to use in typical conversations. Outside of this, I am offended by the slang terms used in our culture for our genitalia because they are used derogatively and not to express the awesome power that we women naturally have because of our physiology. Over the centuries and around the world, other terms have been created that have a poetic flair to them that evoke a sense of beauty and awe in the female body and I thought I would share some of the alluring names that women have shared with me. There’s nothing bland about what our sexual organs are capable of so why not give them the pizzazz they deserve?