Pussy. Fanny. Coochie. In 2023, why is it we still feel so uncomfortable with our "downstairs"?

You wouldn't give an elbow another name, or any other body parts for that matter. So why are we embarrassed to say vulva? 

Wunderman Thompson looked at nearly 30 related words and found that in 652K mentions, only 30% of the online conversation used the word vagina and a mere 1% used the word vulva.

This suggests what we suspect anecdotally to be true: we still feel discomfort around our bodies. We all remember giving nicknames to our “private parts” as kids or hiding pads up our sleeve on the way to the loo at school (maybe you still do this at work?). Perhaps these acts of discretion have in fact led to a society where even the most liberal of us still feel shame around our bodies.

The emergence of ads in the 90’s using blue liquid to show the absorbency of a pad or tampon, fuelled the stigma that periods were unsightly and unsanitary. Using a typically bleach-blue hue gives the impression that we need to cleanse ourselves of our periods. We have had the stigma of how dirty and shameful periods are reinforced over and over again, rather than feeling empowered and proud of what they mean for us and our bodies.

Thankfully this is starting to change, and brands like Essity’s Bodyform are leading the way. Their 2017 campaign, ‘Bloodnormal’, was the first ad in the UK to show period blood. More recently ‘Womb Stories,’ challenges the outdated tropes to give a more realistic portrayal of the beauty and pain of having a womb. It depicts experiences of painful periods, menopause, sex, the relief after a pregnancy scare juxtaposed to the heartbreak of miscarriage, puberty, fertility treatments, hormones, and labour – while never shying away from a bit of blood.

But societal values are a little slower to keep up. Bodyform’s most recent campaign ‘Periodsomnia,’ was the most complained about ad in 2022, according to the ASA. The ad was deemed “too graphic”, “unnecessary”, “degrading and demeaning to women” by some viewers, while some even complained the ad was unsuitable for children.

Surely by shying away from the realities of what it means to have a vagina, we’re having a more negative impact on our children – teaching young people with a vagina to be embarrassed, and to those without one to be disgusted.

While visual depictions in advertising play a vital role, words also carry a huge amount of weight. Back in 2010, J. Walter Thompson’s Kotex ad out of the US, was banned by three major networks for using the word “vagina”. In retaliation, they created 'Just Get Real... Period.' When a daughter asks her mum to explain periods, she says she can only talk about it in euphemisms. ‘If I want to explain where a tampon goes, I can’t say the word that rhymes with the serious medical condition, angina’.  Even then, it was only picked up by one network.

It doesn’t help that the nicknames we’ve adopted have been weaponised to be used as slurs. Why do we say, “don’t be a pussy…” as an insult for lack of courage or strength, when in fact vaginas can birth a whole human? 

Retailers are now moving towards more direct terminology (in 2022 Asda has changed the ‘feminine hygiene’ aisle to ‘period products’ aisle) and brands should be doing the same. As communicators and change-makers, we have the power to influence, change mindsets and behaviours. We need to keep up the momentum not only in our work but in everyday discourse.

We all wish were kinder to our younger selves. If you could go back in time, how would you speak to yourself differently? How would you speak to your friends differently? And how would you speak differently to the younger people in our lives? We should extend this kindness to how we talk about our anatomy and health and encourage others to do the same.

We’ve challenged ourselves to get comfortable with the “uncomfortable”. Since researching the topic, we’ve start saying vagina and vulva with confidence, and we are yet to encounter one grimace or raised eyebrow. When we use it as part of our regular vocabulary, it’s normalising it for those around us, and help to create a culture where we are proud of our bodies.

So, let’s stop beating around the bush and call a spade, sorry – vagina, a vagina.

Credit: Patricio Kobelinksy, Senior Insight Executive, Wunderman Thompson for the social listening numbers