Dear Betty,
Thank you so much for displaying your genital gallery, here is my own submission. I so thoroughly enjoyed browsing this great variety of photographs, it made me feel so accepting of myself and at peace with my own body.
I grew up post sexual revolution (born in the late ‘70’s), raised by parents who had very liberal attitudes toward sex and pornography. The girly magazines in my house were barely hidden and of course by the time I was 8 or 9 years old I had located every one of them and made a mental gallery of the images therein. It occurred to me then, and for a long time afterward that all women’s vaginas were perfectly airbrushed, eerily uniform things, and that I was the only exception to this rule.
Later on, when I was a little older and explored pornography further, I recognized that much to my dismay, the great preference seemed to be for smallish, hairless vaginas. It’s funny seeing how pornography has been evolving that way, from the fluffy bushes of the ‘70’s and ‘80’s to the shorn pink slits of today. I have always been ambivalent toward this trend, being a woman with a relatively hairy vagina. I always felt ashamed of that, like I was something less than other women; walking around with a dirty secret in my pants. Shaving completely, was uncomfortable, but leaving it natural just seemed unladylike somehow.
Seeing your gallery and exploring your website made me feel proud of what my vagina looked like. I felt like I could judge it relative to myself and to other regular women, instead of holding it in comparison to an industry full of cookie-cutter, airbrushed vaginas all styled for the “male-gaze.”
I feel that now I can do away with my insecurity regarding this part of my body and fully celebrate it for its creative capacity, beauty, and all the pleasures it has provided me throughout the years. Thank you for showing us that all cunts are fully rocking!
I hope that more women will take part in this vagina-positive practice of photographing their vulvas and submitting the pictures to your site. For me, personally, it was a very empowering experience. In fact, I was originally planning on sending in only one picture, figuring it would be hard to find a shot I liked. In the end I couldn’t send less than 7! Having never seen my vagina from these angles, I was shocked by its star quality!
Luckily, my fiance was on hand to take these photos. He is also very positive about vaginas...to say the least. I am so lucky to have found a man who is enthusiastic about the "old fashioned" look of a nice-sized bush and who has helped me to see that my body is sexy and beautiful just as it is.
Not to say that I wouldn't have grown to feel that way otherwise...we women have to spend time deprogramming ourselves from the harmful images that society shows us and convince ourselves that we are wonderful, irrespective of what any man thinks. When we honor ourselves (and other women) we are unstoppable
Thanks again, Betty!
