Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Periods
You know it comes every month (usually). You know it has something to do with fluctuating hormones. You know your boobs hurt and you’re craving chocolate. And you know your best friends’ most embarrassing period story (and she knows yours). But what exactly is a period? How does it work, what’s normal, and what’s not normal? Read on for all the details!

Vaginas don’t exactly come with a user’s manual, and; unlike other body parts, the majority of vaginal anatomy is internal. It can be tricky to tell what’s going on “down there” when you can’t see stuff easily. Here are seven ways to get better acquainted with yourself and keep you and your internal bits healthy and happy!

Vagina Anatomy 101

​The names for all of the vagina parts! Because if those are your parts, you should know their names... (and also, even if they're not your parts they might be parts of the person you like to have sex with, and you should know about them).

A Retrospective Note Re: Intended Audience

I admittedly wrote this post originally with cisgendered women in mind as the audience. Accurate education in vaginal anatomy is sorely lacking in our society and there is lots of misinformation that gets circulated out in the world (I'm looking at you, hymen). This post was intended to educate and empower people with a vagina to look at and learn about theirs. In retrospect, vagina-having-people are not the only people who should be familiar with the anatomy of vaginas, so I have made edits to be more inclusive.

For people whose anatomy doesn't match their gender, however, looking at and talking about genitals like this can be a major source of psychological distress. If that applies to you and medical terms for female-associated sex organs trigger dysphoria, you should just skip this post.

My number one goal is to make intimate conversations and exams as comfortable as possible for people. In clinic, I use whatever anatomy terms my clients use and prefer. I believe there is value and power in learning about our own bodies and anatomy, regardless of the names we use. This particular post provides a tour of vaginal anatomy using medical terms. If that's something you'd like to learn more about, take the jump.