What is hidden beneath a ladies’ undergarments? Media portrayals of our lady bits usually range from sweetly-scented flowers, to some sort of magical male-pleasuring Pandora’s box. But one Instagram account is helping in the quest to move away from Victorian ideas of lady hoohas, by showing vulvas in all of their glorious diversity.
The Vulva Gallery is exactly what you think it is; an Instagram full of illustrated vulvas. And we kind of love it. The aim of The Vulva Gallery is to ‘celebrate diversity and show that all vulvas are beautiful’. Whether your foof is neat and hairless, or really rather wonky, you’ll probably see it rendered in beautiful watercolour among the page’s 125 vulvas.
It’s founder, illustrator Hilde Atalata, started illustrating lovely lady parts in response to the increasing number of women undergoing labiaplasty (cosmetic surgery on the labia). She says on her website ‘No vulva-owning individual should have to undergo this just because they want their vulva to look like the ones they see on the internet (for example in porn), or like what they think other people expect them to look. I find it very difficult to see how far many individuals go to reach the ‘perfect’ looks. Of course, plastic surgery is something that we’ve seen growing in the past decades. But to have a surgeon cut away such a delicate part of your body - a part that is so sensitive, that gives you sexual pleasure, a natural part of yourself - just to look ‘pretty’; it’s hard for me to grasp that this is happening so often.’
If you feel like an Instagram feed (and potentially the one between your legs) just isn’t enough vulva in your life, Hilde’s website also sells prints, postcards, calendars, and even Christmas cards - probably don’t buy one for your parents though, unless they’re really cool.
Merry clitmas everyone.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.