Gynaecological charity urges parents to stop using euphemisms like ‘front bottom’, ‘bits’, ‘flower’, ‘tuppence’, and ‘fairy’ with their daughters
I read an article in the Daily Mail which you can read online here about gynaecological charity, Eve Appeal, who are urging parents to avoid using phrases such as ‘bit’, ‘flower’ and ‘front bottom’ with their daughter.
As a mum of twin girls, this is a subject that’s very close to my heart for many reasons. I believe it’s so important for young girls to firstly know the correct anatomical names for their body parts and secondly to know exactly where these body parts are.
Sex education when I was young wasn’t great. I came out of education not knowing my vulva from my uterus and that’s a shocking confession to make. Put simply, we need to educate our girls on such subjects for so many different reasons.
As parents we should be opening up the conversation with our children and ensuring that our children know that it’s not something to be embarrassed about. For as long as I can remember I have always told my girls that the correct term is vagina and vulva. Yes, they know other people call it different things, but these are the terms I’m raising my children to use.
The Eve Appeal, UK-based gynaecological charity, believes that girls need to use the right words about their bodies ‘from the start’.
It said opening up conversations across generations about women’s health ‘gives women the best chance of living healthy lives’.
Data found that 44% of parents regularly use such euphemisms instead of the correct terms. 19% of parents claimed that they frequently say ‘vagina’ in front of their daughters, while only one per cent often use the word ‘vulva’.
The vulva is the external part of female genitalia, which includes the labia, clitoris and both outer and inner ‘lips’.
However, the vagina – often wrongly labelled as the vulva – is the part that connects the vulva to the cervix.
Little more than a fifth (22 per cent) of parents said they never refer to female body parts in front of their daughter which I find shocking!
We need to educate our children! The survey also found that almost a third of parents felt it was only appropriate to use anatomical language when their daughters were 11 years old or older.
Athena Lamnisos, chief executive of Eve Appeal, said: ‘The results of this research show just how wide the knowledge gap is around gynae health.
‘We must address both the lack of knowledge and any stigma by opening conversations across the generations about women’s health now to give women the best chance of living healthy lives.
‘We all need to use the right words about our bodies from the start.’
