Debunking 15 Myths about the Vagina

It’s the 21st century and thankfully many of our children are receiving sex education in schools. The taboo around talking about one’s body parts and sex-related concerns in previous times brought long-term effects till now. Unfortunately, however, there are still false concepts in many minds regarding reproductive parts and sex.

Here are 15 of the most absurd vaginal myths that have been circulating the web and social circles:

Our grannies and mothers were told to avoid menstrual products that they had to insert inside the vagina because they can cause you to lose your virginity, but that’s not at all how it works.

What they are referring to is breaking the hymen, which is a thin membrane which stretches and bleeds the first time a woman has sex. However, virginity is a social construct-based and being a virgin has nothing to do with your hymen.

Being a virgin means that you have never had sex before. And, while an intact hymen was previously thought of as a sure-sign of virginity, a hymen can break during heavy workouts, bike riding and using menstrual products such as tampons and vaginal cups. Hymens can even remain intact after having sex.

It is practically impossible for a tampon to get lost in your body. If a woman forgets to remove her tampon, for a long time, her vagina will begin to smell and she may find it hard to remove it. But there’s no way you can lose it. The tampon stays on top of the vagina, as the cervix is too small to allow it to pass through.

The so-called feminine hygiene products exploited this sexist myth for decades. Yes, it’s important to maintain good hygiene of your body parts, however, using perfumed oils, special soaps, and douching to clean your vagina is a terrible idea.

The first thing you should note is that the vagina cleans itself. By using cleaning products, you can do way more harm than good. The vagina contains its own normal flora, which is necessary for a healthy vagina. By using cleaning products or douching, you’ll remove most of the bacteria which cause other types of bacteria to flourish.

The skin surrounding the vagina, or the vulva, is also very delicate. Scrubbing can cause tears and cuts which can become infected. Ditch the soap and cleaning tools altogether. Using mild soap and warm water to clean between the vaginal lips is all you need to do.

Putting food into the vagina is never a great idea and garlic and yogurt is no exception.

The logic behind this is that garlic and yogurt can kill cure a yeast infection. A Yeast Infection, otherwise known as Vaginal Candidiasis, is caused by the overgrowth of the Candida fungus in the vagina. When this happens, the vagina becomes itchy and urinating and sex become uncomfortable or painful. It also results in smelly, thick discharge.

Inserting a tampon covered in yogurt, or a clove of garlic into the vagina has been housewives for ages to treat the symptoms of yeast infections, but it can backfire on you. The garlic can burn your very delicate vaginal skin and make your experience worse and yogurt will straight up not work many times.

You can find yeast infection treatment at your local pharmacy. No prescription needed.

This cannot be true. If so prostitutes and porn stars will not be able to keep working.  When you are fully aroused,  your vagina expands to accommodate toys or a penis. However, it returns back to normal shortly after.

The depth of the vagina ranges from 4″ to 7″. It is super elastic and stretchy, which means that while it can stretch to accommodate a penis (and a baby), it will revert to its original size in a short time.  Therefore have as much sex as you want.

Believe it or not, some people believe that vaginal discharge is bad.

Vaginal discharge is just the vagina’s way of flushing out dead cells and fluids out of the body, to keep it clean and infection-free. The color and smell of the discharge have different meanings and this is a way to know the health status of your vagina. For instance, anything white or clear is good and indicates that your vagina is healthy, but colored and smelly discharge will let you know that something is wrong.

Like all body parts, your vagina’s appearance and function will change over time. As you age, less estrogen is produced, especially in menopausal years, which can cause it to become weaker, thinner, smaller and

Labia come in different shapes and sizes, as do clitorises and the color of the vaginal skin. They don’t all look the same and there are many different ways your vagina can look. You can have a lot of pubic hair, or very little, you may have little bumps and lumps here and there, and they all have a distinct smell.

The only point at which you should be worried about your vagina is if sex hurts, or you experience tingling sensations, discomfort or frequent infections.

Remember that your vulva is made up of skin, just like the rest of the external parts of your body, so it isn’t uncommon for genital pimples to pop up here and there ever so often. You may even experience skin conditions such as eczema and psoriasis down there which can have a similar appearance to certain STDs and similar symptoms such as itching and irritation.

It is the trend to keep your vagina hairless, especially during swimsuit season, but there is no medical evidence to support the fact that pubic hair is detrimental to vagina health. In fact, many gynecologists recommend sporting a bush because it can help to fend off bacteria and unwanted pathogens from entering the vaginal area and acts as a protective barrier against friction from tight clothing and sex.

If you don’t know how to please yourself, how will your partner know?

Many persons still to this day shun masturbation, especially when it comes to female because it is viewed as a sin in many religions, or is just downright shameful in some social circles.

However, frequent masturbation can help to support vaginal health, make your happier, relieve stress, help ease menstrual pain and can even make you more comfortable with your sexuality.

While some vaginal infections can be caused by poor hygiene, others can be caused by factors such as taking antibiotics which can throw off vaginal pH, vaginal atrophy, tight clothing and even leaving a tampon in too long.

Other times, infections such as Bacterial Vaginosis can be caused by overcleaning with douches and fruity soaps and scrubs which causes a pH imbalance, causing an overgrowth of other bacteria.

Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? Well, for some people this is law. Otherwise known as “dead vagina syndrome”, persons claim that using vibrators too much will build up a kind of tolerance or resistance to vaginal stimulation making it unable for you to orgasm any other way, especially during sex.

While losing sensitivity in the vagina is not impossible, this tends to be for a very short period of time and there is no medical evidence to suggest that dead vagina syndrome is a real thing.

Period cramps can be uncomfortable for some persons and others claim to feel nothing at all. But once you take a pain killer, you should be fine for a few hours.

Cramps should not leave you passed out on the floor or hunched over like an old person from pain and dismissed as “normal”. There are some conditions such as endometriosis and polycystic ovary syndrome (or PCOS) which can cause excruciating pain, and prolonged periods.

Your period is the least fertile part of your cycle, and it is marked by the shedding of blood and the uterine lining because no fertilization of an egg took place that month

For this reason, many people believe that this is a time where you can go condom free without the possibility of pregnancy or STIs. Wrong!

While the chances of getting pregnant during your actual period are low, sperm can live inside of the vagina for up to 5 days, after which you can conceive during early ovulation.

Some of us have serious misconceptions, particularly regarding female sexual organs.  This blog post is all about highlighting some common myths about the vagina, which none of us should consider true.

Now that we have put these myths about the vagina to bed, take a look at some interesting facts about the vagina that might blow your mind