Girlology: A Girl's Guide to Stuff that Matters

Let’s say you get hit in the face with a softball and cut your upper lip on the inside of your mouth. Are you embarrassed to tell your doctor where you are hurt? What about if you slip while walking on a narrow brick wall, straddle the wall and cut yourself near the opening of your vagina? How are you going to explain where you are hurt?

There are lots of reasons why it’s important to understand the proper terms for your anatomy. It’s your body. Get to know it! The next chapter will take you on a trip “down there” to learn the words you need to know and to tell you what all those amazing parts can do!

5

Everybody’s Got a Body

Tall, short, skinny, fat, muscular, sinewy, chubby, beanpole. There are a million and one names that people use to describe bodies. Even though our bodies look different, they all have the same parts. Remember that what your body can do is more important than what it looks like. All these amazing parts work together to let us do lots of awesome stuff.

When you were about two, you started learning the names for parts of your body. Your parents were so proud when you pointed your chubby little finger to your face and said “nose” and “eyes.” They would brag to all their friends about how smart you were. Now, why on earth would they forget to tell you the names of your “private parts”? After all, when you were born, you can bet it was one of the first parts of you they wanted to see. Boy or girl? Girl! Well yay, you are a girl. So why not know the names for those girl parts? Even better, why not know what all those parts are for?!

When it comes to seeing what your private parts look like, we think boys have a major advantage. If you have ever seen a naked boy or man (we’re thinking brothers, dads, little boys you baby-sit, but hopefully not someone running naked around your neighborhood), you probably noticed that their “private parts” aren’t as private as girls’ parts are. In fact, they are hanging and wiggling right there on the outside. When a little boy starts to potty train, he learns to hold his penis to aim it in the toilet . . . hopefully. So boys have been looking at and holding their private parts all of their lives.

For girls, on the other hand, we don’t need to hold any of our parts to go to the bathroom (Look Ma! No hands!). And in case you’ve ever tried to look, you know we can’t see much from above except some skin folds. Our private parts are a little more private, and they are pretty hard to see unless you use a mirror. You are probably crinkling up your nose and saying, “Ewwww, gross,” right now. But there’s nothing gross about your body parts. Without them, you’d have some major problems!

We encourage you to use a mirror to have a look. You might want to use a flashlight, too. Sometimes it helps to put one foot up on a chair or the toilet. Better yet, put your mirror on the floor and squat down over it. Have you ever tried it? Are you grossed out? Don’t be. Go ahead! It’ll probably feel a little awkward at first, but it’s painless, and actually pretty interesting. You look at your face every day, right? You should definitely look at your girl parts every once in a while, too.

For now, the main reason to look at yourself is to satisfy your curiosity and to get smarter about your body. Once you learn all the parts that girls have, you’ll want to see for yourself that all your parts are present and accounted for! At other times, like when you use a tampon and later in life when you are involved in sexual activity, there will be other good reasons to understand your anatomy and how things work.

The easiest way to learn all the parts is to start with the “outside” parts and then learn about the “inside” parts. The outside parts are what most girls mean when they are talking about “down there.” So let’s go over some of them.

The Outside Parts

In general, the outside girl parts are called the vulva (not Volvo—that’s a car). It’s a name that includes a lot of other parts, kind of like how your face includes your cheeks, eyes, nose, mouth and so on. Your vulva includes two holes, a lot of skin folds and some “padding.” The definitions are listed below. You’ll be expected to spell and use each word correctly in a sentence at the end of this chapter . . . just kidding!