Vulva Voices - Anonymous

Five years ago at a house party I kissed a guy but told him I wasn’t interested in anything further. Later on in the night he pushed me into my own bathroom and shoved his fingers inside of me and assaulted me. He said he was confused because he thought I wanted it. He left the bathroom and went to his group of friends and told them to smell his fingers and they all laughed about what happened. Laughing because I didn’t smell like an ocean breeze or laughing because maybe it was funny that even though I said no he still forced himself into MY body. Can you imagine having another individual tell you what is right and wrong with a piece of you, based solely on their preferences? How about listening to politicians discuss the rights to your own body? Our vulvas are put on a pedestal and held to a standard by everyone except for us, the ones with the vulvas. I have lived my entire life with lingering feelings of shame and embarrassment of this part of me. This part of me that is designed for my pleasure. This part of me is strong enough to give birth to new life. Yet this part of me never felt like mine at all because as long as I can remember, there was someone else with their own expectations of MY vulva. We need proper education, not to be sexualized. We need to be empowered, not shamed. Every vulva belongs to a person with a story. Listen to the stories.