Ellie Sedgwick first felt concerned about what her vagina looked like when she was thirteen, and a teenage boy asked her what it looked like.
“It was the first time I thought about what my body looked like, and from that moment I thought there was something wrong with me,” she told news.com.au.
Ms. Sedgewick She said her concern stemmed from the use of slurs like ‘innie’ or ‘outie’ in reference to vagina.
Some women have vaginas where their labia are visible and some do not.
The 34-year-old said that in high school she heard horrible comments about women who had “outy” vaginas.
She explained, “My vagina anxiety grew during adolescence, eventually turning into self-loathing as words like ‘kebab’, ‘upside down volcano’ and ‘octa-pussy’ were thrown around in the schoolyard to describe vaginas. “
Ms Sedgewick said the whole experience made her feel “different” from other girls, largely due to society’s silence on vaginal diversity.
“Growing up, I didn’t see any representation of vaginas like mine, and uneducated comments made me believe I wasn’t normal,” she said.
After one of her first sexual experiences, the brother of the man she slept with made a “cruel comment” about her vagina.
“It added to the embarrassment I was already experiencing and made it really hard for me to feel comfortable with a partner for years to come,” she said.
Ms. Sedgewick, who just released a book, Flip Through My Flaps: An Exploration of the Vulva, Working on learning to love my vagina.
“My vagina shyness wasn’t fully cured until a recent trip to New York to finish the final pages of my book,” she said.
“During my trip, I finally stepped out from behind the camera for the first time and photographed my vagina. I was able to use a draft of my book to compare my vagina to others, ultimately realizing that my vagina was just like everyone else’s: unique, normal, beautiful.”
She said women have received a lot of “beautiful” messages from her book.
“I’ve had thousands of messages from people expressing their appreciation for the celebration of vulva diversity,” she said.
“I recently held my first book launch event in Melbourne and it was incredible to see women engaging with the book, seeing all the beautiful bodies within it and reading the personal stories.”
“After seeing my work, I love to hear from people who have decided not to pursue their labiaplasty surgery.”
Ms Sedgewick said the whole experience had taught her that her concerns about how her labia looked were unfounded.
“I’ve discovered that the labia I’ve spent most of my life worrying about are completely normal. And it’s not just a meaningless piece of skin, it has thousands of nerve endings that can be used as a tool for my pleasure.
“I’ve learned to love this part of me by helping others do the same.”
