Empowering Your Vagina--Part 2

By Diana May-Waldman


Empowering Your Vagina--Part I

I would personally like to see a ban on commercials and television ads that show women walking through fields of flowers, dressed in white telling the public that if you want to feel cleaner and fresher, you need to spray an aerosol deodorant on your vagina.

I always wonder who comes up with this shit? I imagine a bunch of executives (men)sitting around a table and one jumps up and says, "I've got it! Let's spray it!" Then, I have to wonder if there are any women in the room and hope that one might stand up and say, "Now, wait a minute. That's going to far."

I'm sick of advertisements telling me that my vagina needs to be hosed out daily, sprayed, disinfected, shaved, waxed, exfoliated and moisturized.

Fact: The vagina is a self cleaning oven.

Soap and water. Nuff said.

In putting this article together I asked a male friend to give me his opinion about fully shaving a vagina. This is what he said.

" I think it just looks more feminine. If the woman likes receiving oral sex, it just seems more pleasant to the man..I mean, who wants hair in the mouth? On top of that it just makes for more exposure, because guys like to be able to see all of the woman."

First of all, I would have to ask him what defines a feminine vagina? A vagina is a vagina, is a vagina...it's feminine.

So, I decided to research this further and was amazed at what is out there. There are dozens and dozens of pages dedicated to the question of whether to shave or not.

I actually came across an article that gave step by step instructions on how to shave your vagina and it bragged that the procedure can be done in under 30 minutes. I can mow my front lawn in ten minutes. Are they serious?

Then they listed the items you should have on hand to get the process started and step by step instructions.

Trim first, using a comb...attempt to lay the hair down flat, now trim with scissors or clippers. Then take a warm shower, for at least ten or 15 minutes to soften hair follicles, then exfoliate, use body wash, then dab with shaving oil, shave with a triple blade pivoting razor...use a vaginal shield...Yep, you read that right, seems there is now a shield to place around the more sensitive areas...and finally, rinse, pat dry and apply a moisturizers. If you tendency toward red, raised bumps. swipe the area with deodorant.

Then they even added special tips: Shaving while taking a shower, rather than a bath can make things easier because you can prop up legs on side of stall (instead of throwing your leg over your head and wrapping it around the bathroom faucet--okay, they didn't say that, I added it for shits and giggles.}

But, they did say-- If you're daring, you can create pubic hair designs at home. (Scratching my head..if not at home, where? Please tell me there is not a place that you can go to have a special design shaved into your vagina?) Shaving only takes hair even with the skin, waxing will keep hair away weeks at a time. You may want to consider a Brazilian wax. To the Brazilian wax, I say, "Shut the hell up!"

In the end of my research on vaginal shaving, I came to the conclusion that this is a personal preference and the categories include, fully shaven, little on the top, none on the bottom, landing strip, essential trimming and grooming or natural.

I have also learned that women have pubic hair for a reason. The coarse texture is meant to trap dirt and bacteria, and keep it out of the vagina.

It has also been said that pubic hair forms an air pocket to keep the area cool. Without that air pocket, that area can get sweaty, a perfect breeding ground for yeast and bacteria.

Another purpose of pubic hair is to give off pheromones.

With the latter being said {Pheromones) be kind to your vagina. Stop telling your vagina that she is unsightly and that she smells funny and that you need to wax it, hose it, spray it, dress it up, bedazzle it, shave it into hearts and moons and stars, and pierce it.

And lastly, I would like to say..."Don't give me shit and make excuses...if you are going to hose, spray, shave and blah..blah..dress up your vagina for a man, then have unprotected sex with an unfamiliar partner or fail to use birth control when you aren't trying to have a baby, then that tells me that will take the 30 minutes to buy into the crap about how to properly care for your vagina, but won't take the two minutes it takes to protect your vagina.

Empower your vagina.

Diana May-Waldman- Bureau Editor for Worldwide Hippies in Rochester NY. Diana is the author of A Woman’s Song. Her poetry in this book deals with the struggles facing all women and the many facets of being a woman in the world today. She is a strong women’s and children’s advocate. A true example of the Hippie movement's continuing growth and spirit.