Recently, much to my surprise, I stumbled upon a site listing ’50 Great Names for Vagina’. Could you imagine 50 words for the same body part? So, naturally, I decided to search for the opposite – and I found 174 words that you could use as a substitute for ‘penis’. My first thought was – “once again, men have to be superior”.
But in all honesty, it baffles me to see how many words, we as a society, are okay with using before actually using the textbook words for our genitalia. We as a society have this profound fear of a woman’s genitalia but love using degrading words like ‘pussy’, ‘cunt’, ‘chut’, ‘phudi’, ‘pucchi’ etc. in our vocabulary. As if to say that the ‘vagina’ is only acceptable when it is lowered to a humiliating and derogatory level. And when we are not insulting it we shun its existence completely. Often mothers never even mention it to their daughters at all, or secretly regard it as ‘chi-chi’ thereby instilling the idea that a vagina is something disgusting and repulsive.
It amazes me to see that this isn’t just an Indian or a third world issue. ‘The Vagina Poem’ is an ode to every female who has ever struggled to figure out what to call the thing between her legs. It is an anthem for us females to reclaim what is rightfully ours to name.