Mastodawn

Philip Brechler Apr 23

This rather cursed screenshot was sent to us, and we regret to inform you that quite a lot of people seem to believe this myth, and related myths surrounding the vulva. These myths been around for literal millennia, even though there is no rooting whatsoever in reality. Let's take a little look at the history of misogyny and racism inherent in this belief...

Vagina Museum Apr 23

A caveat: Throughout history, a lot of written sources have used terminology very inconsistently, to the point that sometimes it's hard to know exactly what the fuck they were talking about. For example, "nympha" was sometimes used to refer to the clitoris, sometimes the labia minora, sometimes both.

Vagina Museum Apr 23

However, what is clear is that a hell of a lot of European men since Ancient Greece had some pretty gnarly attitudes about how the appearance of the vulva said something about the character of the person.

Vagina Museum Apr 23

The general prevailing belief was that clitorises and larger labia minora were not really something that Nice White Women had. A vulva that wasn't "an innie" (a phrase not used in history) indicated some sort of masculinity - perhaps lesbianism, perhaps promiscuity, perhaps being a bad wife.

Larger labia, to a European physician for a hell of a lot of history, basically indicated that it belonged to a woman who transgressed patriarchy in some way.

Vagina Museum Apr 23

There was a hefty degree of racism to this belief too. European physicians and authors believed that larger labia were something that African women had, not Nice White Women.

Vagina Museum Apr 23

Saartjie Baartman, a Black Khoisan woman from present-day South Africa was transported to Britain in 1810. She was exhibited in a freak show act under the name "The Hottentot Venus", with great attention drawn to her labia and her buttocks.

Vagina Museum Apr 23

So, in short, the myth is misogynistic and racist af. And just in case anyone needs to hear it today:
✨Something as insignificant as a penis cannot possibly change the appearance of the vulva✨

Vagina Museum Apr 23

The depressing thing is that this myth isn't just niche, even a quarter of the way through the 21st century. One of our least favourite objects in our collection is a medical textbook outlining the difference between "true" and "false" virgins based on labia shape, size and colour. It was published in 2012. https://www.vaginamuseum.co.uk/muffbusters/2d-textbook

Myths in Textbooks — Vagina Museum

Vagina Museum

Vagina Museum Apr 23

We are a tiny museum, trying to set the record straight and unpack several thousand years of white supremacist patriarchy. It's a gargantuan task and we need your help to undertake it. Please donate what you can to help the Vagina Museum to bust myths and break taboos! https://www.vaginamuseum.co.uk/support

Get Involved — Vagina Museum

Vagina Museum

Class Wario Apr 23

@vagina_museum Big dicks are unused dicks, like pencils. A small dick has written many dick chapters.

@vagina_museum
2012!!!!!!!!!

@vagina_museum out of morbid curiosity, I checked the most recent edition from 2024 and this table is still there

John Faithfull 🌍🇪🇺🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🧡✊🏻✊🏿Apr 23

@vagina_museum 😭😡

Tuchowski Apr 23

@vagina_museum 👍🏾

✨Something as insignificant as a penis cannot possibly change the appearance of the vulva✨

problematic men in shambles

Kiloku - Secretário do Caos Apr 23

@vagina_museum looking at this myth from the "other side", one could ask whoever claims it "So why aren't penises warped and thinned by overuse?"

secretsloth Apr 23

@Kiloku @vagina_museum someone should anonymously start this rumor and spread it like wildfire.

María Arias de Reyna Apr 23

@secretsloth @Kiloku @vagina_museum There is this metaphor with pencils and pencil sharpeners...

@vagina_museum people ... actually believe this stuff?

María Arias de Reyna Apr 23

@lumi @vagina_museum Probably not cis women, we can just check ourselves before and after losing the virginity and see that's not true.

@delawen @vagina_museum yeah, definitely

i imagine this could also really mess up the self image of a cis girl that has not had sex before :(

there's also the built-in assumption that it's somehow bad for a girl or woman not to be a virgin. come on, ugh

it's all-around just an awful thing to say and believe

María Arias de Reyna Apr 23

@lumi @vagina_museum On the "bright" side, I know some women with a very high body count that could fool these idiots to believe they are absolute virgins... As if someone wanted to do that.

Maybe I'm old enough to value experience now. Or I have enough confidence in myself that I don't care being compared with previous partners. That person is fucking me now, and it is a bonus if they come with enough experience to know what they do! Go get them girl!

@delawen @vagina_museum honestly, if someone cares about your body count, run away

life is too short to deal with them

i want to be with people that value me as a person, not that care about dumb metrics

eestileib (she/hers)Apr 23

@lumi @delawen @vagina_museum

Honestly life is too short to fuck people who have really strong preferences about what your genitals should be.

@lumi @delawen @vagina_museum what confuses me is if a girl sleeps with 100 guys "the vigina is destroyed" but if she sleeps with 1 guy 100 times it's still good. To be clear I don't believe that just pointing out the disconnect of those two ideas.

That said there is an increased risk of std/sti with 100 guys but that's the only real difference.

María Arias de Reyna Apr 23

@vrek @lumi @vagina_museum depends on how slutty your one guy is.

BoloMKXXVIII Apr 23

@lumi @delawen @vagina_museum
It is bad for a girl (or a boy) to not be a virgin. Please leave that for the adults.

@BoloMKXXVIII @delawen @vagina_museum i guess i could interpret this post in several ways:

"adults should not be having sex with minors": duh, of course they shouldn't

"minors should not be having sex with minors": abstinence-only sex education has been a huge failure and i don't think we should be going in that direction. proper sex education is the way forward

@lumi @delawen @vagina_museum @BoloMKXXVIII certified mastodon.social moment

kawunngg Apr 23

@delawen @lumi @vagina_museum
My midwife claimed that there are many women who don't know well enough how their genitals look like. 😬
So we're speaking of a group of mainly cis-women, in their 20s and 30s, who had intercourse at least once in their lifes, more or less well informed and being long enough in Germany that they have the language skills to attend a birth preperation class (so the cultural barrier can't be that high). Still can't wrap my head around this.

@kawunngg @delawen @vagina_museum i can't remember who it was, but there was this presentation by a US republican cis woman that got so many things wrong that i was extremely confused

like, this is your body you're talking about

Averil ✒️ DoomBloomArt Apr 23

@lumi @vagina_museum I like how it equates non-virgin with "too much mileage" and talks as if there was some magical girl style innie-to-outie transformation mid-first time

@doombloomart @vagina_museum thank you for that mental image, that will stay with me for the rest of my life

is a Green Apr 23

@lumi @vagina_museum @doombloomart

I think it's meant to be a magical process where it reacts to changes in partners, not to The One True Dick which arrives first.

@celesteh @vagina_museum @doombloomart my gock is the gock that will pierce the heavens

yes, i did feel the need to make a tengen toppa gurren lagann reference

Nudeln Al Dente 🐘Apr 23

@doombloomart @lumi @vagina_museum Oh, was no-one else's first time accompanied by an audible *plop*? 😂

@NudelnAlDente @doombloomart @vagina_museum plopperdeplopperdeplop!

Averil ✒️ DoomBloomArt Apr 23

@NudelnAlDente Mine wasn't, so that means I'm still a virgin!

María Arias de Reyna Apr 23

@doombloomart @NudelnAlDente Or that the vacuum seal of your canned vulva was broken previously

@delawen @doombloomart @NudelnAlDente this just makes me think that everyone's first time involves a huge queef because of the vacuum seal breaking

thanks for that mental image xd

Steve Felten Apr 23

@doombloomart @lumi @vagina_museum If the average vagina can accommodate eight inches of penis, and the average man is six inches long, then in New York City alone there is over 250 miles of virgin vagina.

Averil ✒️ DoomBloomArt Apr 23

@stevefelten This toot is 3 and a half lines long yet it felt like a wild ride

Petra van Cronenburg Apr 23

@lumi replace “people” with 'men'.
@vagina_museum

blobcatchristmastree

:ruby_happy:Apr 23

@lumi @vagina_museum yeah, so many people nowadays have basically zero clue about the anatomy of the opposite gender and end up believing something a trendy clown tells them on the internet

@arh @vagina_museum this is a little bit beside the point, but i don't like the term "the opposite gender", it makes it sound like male and female are somehow opposites

we're just two variations of the same species

and even that is misleading, because there is a whole spectrum

blobcatchristmastree

:ruby_happy:Apr 23

@lumi @vagina_museum i agree with you and realistically i don't think we're opposites in the normal sense of the word but i don't think i know any other terms that would mean "men if you're a woman and women if you're a man". the other gender maybe? maybe there's a better term for it and just my english is bad?

@arh @vagina_museum "the other gender" sounds a lil better. i actually don't have a better term either, at least off the top of my head

lizzy ☭Apr 23

@arh @vagina_museum @lumi "people are often unfamiliar with anatomy that they don't have and tend to believe misinformation about it"

blobcatchristmastree

:ruby_happy:Apr 23

@lottie @vagina_museum @lumi that sounds better, thanks!

Yet another Josh

@lumi @vagina_museum

Yeah.

Ive heard this before too, from guys who didn't even know WHAT a clitoris is.

kirby_prideheart

@vagina_museum WTAF

Tyrell Gen-8 Pleasurebot Apr 23

@farah I don’t want to get all “why men?” but… 😡