tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51502628564545206452024-03-18T21:06:58.820-07:00Lippy Girloutsized and outspokenLippy Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02434980278888151477noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5150262856454520645.post-16060271698329526132012-01-01T04:34:00.000-08:002012-01-01T13:47:28.128-08:00Happy New Year, Happy Bodies!Hello all, and a very Happy 2012! Hope you enjoyed your Hogmanay as much as I did.<br />
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Some of you may have noticed that the troll Crevan Ferrigno has reappeared with some more nonsense about the undesirability of labia minora. This time the Arizonan labiaplasty surgeon, who also goes by the name of <a href="http://www.drmichaelgoodman.com/about-labiaplasty-surgeon/">Dr Michael Goodman </a>informs us that labia are a health risk...and suggests also that surgery would keep us 'fresh'. It's hard not to get angry with this prejudiced little man, but one of my new year's resolutions is to control my temper so I'm not going to tackle him (just yet).<br />
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Instead I want to start the new year on a positive note. So I'm sharing this gorgeous photo site which one of you has emailed me as a link. It made me smile, and I hope it will you too. <br />
<a href="http://lovelargelabia.tumblr.com/">LOVE LARGE LABIA</a><br />
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So the guys don't feel left out, here's a little something for you. It's a <a href="http://www.ibiblio.org/ipa/poems/komunyakaa/anodyne.php">poem about the amazing human body</a> by an African-American poet named Yusef Komunyakaa. <br />
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It's nice to remember as we turn the New Year, that while America has given us War on the Body, and the idea of genital skin as a weapon of mass destruction, it redeems itself in a million little acts of creativity like this.<br />
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On the subject of creativity, next time I'm going to take a look at the vulval knitters of Hoxton.<br />
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lots of love<br />
LippyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5150262856454520645.post-541354689819193912011-08-28T12:28:00.000-07:002011-08-28T12:28:18.216-07:00A cut too farToday's Independent on Sunday includes an <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/claudia-pritchard-feminine-perfection-is-a-cut-too-far-2345092.html">article by Claudia Pritchard</a> criticising the labiaplasty trend, and highlighting a new form of female cutting - the so-called 'Toronto Trim' - which excises the clitoral hood as well as the labia.<br />
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It's good to see criticism of the pressure on women to get their vulvas reduced but the article falls short of the analysis I'd like to see in the media. As with so many articles about male circumcision the author's critique is weakened by the fact that she doesn't seem to have considered what the tissue is or does... It would be easy for a surgeon to counter her position by claiming that labiaplasty is no different from a nose job...<br />
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The reality is our genitals are not like our noses. I've got a roman nose but its size and shape does not affect my ability to smell. My labial form gives me huge pleasure, including direct stimulation, indirect clitoral pressure, and of course the vicarious pleasure of watching a man treat them as his toy...or even his lost foreskin.<br />
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5150262856454520645.post-28738819459399242452011-05-08T05:48:00.000-07:002011-05-08T05:48:05.701-07:00Erotic Awards Finals<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_ic9Gv3_bJ4/TcaJLzpNZZI/AAAAAAAAACw/iMKz4UviX_M/s1600/finalist_erotic+awards.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="174" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_ic9Gv3_bJ4/TcaJLzpNZZI/AAAAAAAAACw/iMKz4UviX_M/s320/finalist_erotic+awards.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>I'm proud to be among an amazing collection of artists, writers, campaigners and entertainers who have been nominated for an Erotic Award. Click <a href="http://www.erotic-awards.co.uk/finalists2011.shtml">here </a>to find out more<br />
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I particularly love the idea of the <a href="http://www.greatwallofvagina.co.uk/%20">Great Wall of Vagina</a> - a collection of plastercasts on show in Brighton to illustrate the beauty and diversity of the female genitalia. I also love this strapline, "It's not vulgar, it's vulva!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5150262856454520645.post-16648666766270091782011-04-03T14:06:00.000-07:002011-04-03T14:12:42.212-07:00Thank Goodness for Lippy MothersMy mother is a lippy woman - in both senses - and I would not be writing this today if it hadn't been for her great attitude. So I'd like to say thank you mum, for making me feel pleased with what I've got; especially my hottentot apron.<br />
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Surgeons like to tell us that long labia can result from hormonal changes, or physical damage done through childbirth, cycling, or excessive masturbation*. This plants the idea of a disease requiring treatment. Although clearly hormonal changes or stress to the tissue (including manual stretching) can substantially increase labia minora size, I haven't seen any research showing that this is the reason why most lippy girls are lippy. We just are.<br />
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When my mother first washed me as a tiny newborn baby she saw prominent lips just like hers. When my sister arrived a few years later she was cuter, blonder; less skinny; but down there just the same.<br />
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How lucky to have a mother who isn't worried about being like everyone else! Far from thinking there was something wrong with us and we needed to be reduced, when she changed the nappies of friends' daughters' she considered they were missing something: "....it looked just like a little bottom!".<br />
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Thanks mum, and here's your flower for Mothers' Day, from a National Collection of simply beautiful rhododendrons. Lots of love L xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pnwWCWP-ibQ/TZjaOMtzMOI/AAAAAAAAACM/IDoTpAyz3OU/s1600/Rhodedendron+bud.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pnwWCWP-ibQ/TZjaOMtzMOI/AAAAAAAAACM/IDoTpAyz3OU/s320/Rhodedendron+bud.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br />
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*No I don't know what excessive masturbation is either. I've often wondered.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5150262856454520645.post-30018937552181185982011-02-20T10:49:00.000-08:002011-03-09T13:06:43.144-08:00X-rated FlowersThis close-up of a petunia bud is one of Nex Ninek's striking natural world images on Flickr (used with permission of the photographer). <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nexninek/">Check them out</a><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Osr_c6Hb7KM/TWFcUNP4xeI/AAAAAAAAACI/5xh9gP7Txr0/s1600/Nex+Ninek+vulva+flower.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Osr_c6Hb7KM/TWFcUNP4xeI/AAAAAAAAACI/5xh9gP7Txr0/s320/Nex+Ninek+vulva+flower.jpg" width="199" /></a></div><br />
All flowers are wonderful things (with the possible exception of those drooping dyed lilies you get at the local garage). So I think that whether you're a petunia or a penstemon, a daisy or a dahlia, you should be proud.<br />
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And whatever you do, stay away from <a href="http://www.cosmetic-solutions.co.uk/labiaplasty.html">Morticia Addams</a> and her scissors.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5150262856454520645.post-20976151839545964182010-07-27T13:06:00.000-07:002010-07-27T13:11:06.900-07:00The Rise of the Intimate Nip/Tuck<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vpC9veMLz1I/TEtg_X_-lHI/AAAAAAAAABw/ssNmF8mUBT8/s1600/smaller+bud.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5497594412026205298" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vpC9veMLz1I/TEtg_X_-lHI/AAAAAAAAABw/ssNmF8mUBT8/s320/smaller+bud.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 320px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 188px;" /></a><span style="font-family: times new roman; font-size: large;">Lippy girl is out there! I have a mention in the August edition of <a href="http://www.redmagazine.co.uk/">Red</a>, which reveals that labiaplasties on the National Health Service have more than doubled in two years.<br />
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The article quotes gynaecologist Dr Deborah Boyle who says, "labia is not just additional skin that's redundant". Hurrah for doctors who know about female anatomy!! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: times new roman; font-size: large;">Dr Boyle also comments, "it's sensitive, and some people have orgasms which originate in part from the vulva." Again hurrah, but why is this treated as a medical revelation several million years after we first started enjoying our flappy bits...? </span><br />
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The article also quotes 'Anna', a woman who has undergone labiaplasty because she 'dreaded' sex; and who is presented as an example of why labiaplasty is a valid choice. Even Dr Boyle comes down for it in the end, implying she sees some strong women who are determined to amputate, some so much that 'they'd consider doing it to themselves'.</span></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I've got some sympathy for the informed choice argument. But Dr Boyle needs a challenge here, in the light of legislation which states labiaplasty may <b>not </b>be performed without medical reason, notwithstanding a woman's desires - or even her threats of DIY. And also because there have been no public sightings of that creature she mentions: the informed assertive women who chooses labiaplasty as a positive option. Show me the evidence!</span></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Anna I'm sorry to say is not the one. </span></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">She begins, quite petulantly, by stating that labiaplasty is</span><span style="font-size: large;"> not a female circumcision, 'it's just not'. Wrong. The <a href="http://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/publications/fgm/9789241596442/en/index.html">WHO</a> clearly defines removal of the labia minora as a type IIa female genital mutilation (FGM). This surgery forms <a href="http://www.asylumlaw.org/docs/egypt/usdos01_fgm_Egypt.pdf">8%</a> of FGM in Egypt, where cutting has been dominated by medics since the 1990s or earlier. When finally in 2007 the Egyptian government closed the medical loophole, they banned any</span><span style="font-size: large;"> "<i>cut of, flattening or modification of any natural part of the female reproductive system</i>". Clearly labiaplasty was in their sights...</span></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Anna's follow up rings equally hollow as a demonstration of knowledge and empowerment. She says that labia are, 'just excess skin that's unsightly'. The first point is not correct, and the second is a scattergun insult. Neither ignorance nor aggression are generally considered hallmarks of empowerment. </span></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">As regards Dr Boyle's position, it should be said that the <span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2003/ukpga_20030031_en_1#l1g2">UK FGM Act 2003</a> </span>is clear that many women buy into cutting practices (in all their multifarious forms) - Clause 2 explicitly rules out the threat of DIY cutting as a doctor's defence. The Act protects, "any part of .... labia majora, labia minora or clitoris". <br />
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However a loophole has been built into our FGM law. It denies women the right to present a belief in 'custom or ritual' as a reason for tissue excision, but fails to legislate against the equally crazy/misogynistic/unscientific Caucasian view that women should just be a neat little hole.... </span></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">As such it seems to have been designed to protect the Western (and mainly white run) labiaplasty industry, rather than female empowerment per se.</span></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The distinctions in the act raise an interesting challenge for doctors. Imagine that the next patient who visits Dr Boyle to demand labial excision is an educated professional of Egyptian origin, and a member of a family in which each generation has undergone automatic excision to be (as she sees it) beautifully smooth, clean and feminine.<br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Where then for autonomy? </span></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5150262856454520645.post-81960373232735960332010-06-13T02:38:00.000-07:002011-02-19T04:38:27.379-08:00Labiaplasty and racism<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vpC9veMLz1I/TBSwr8cjRNI/AAAAAAAAABo/1Cekdr45ros/s1600/Khoisan.apron.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5482200915423478994" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vpC9veMLz1I/TBSwr8cjRNI/AAAAAAAAABo/1Cekdr45ros/s320/Khoisan.apron.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 320px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 166px;" /></a>I hope you'll take some time to read my page <a href="http://hottentotapron.blogspot.com/p/hottentot-apron.html">'What is a Hottentot Apron?'</a>. This tells the story of Saartjie Baartman and her compatriots, who were reviled by white Europeans for being way too lippy; and way too happy about it.<br />
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Anyone would be horrified reading Saartjie's story. Like the history of phrenology it reveals the horrible lengths Europeans have gone to to fabricate a scientific rationale for their prejudice. But I have an extra reason to empathise, because we are genital sisters, Saartjie and I.<br />
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The fact that I am a white European and the possessor of a 'hottentot apron', has inspired me to try to right some wrongs and in honour of Saartjie and her sisters to turn hatred into celebration.<br />
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We've become accustomed to hearing the term 'hypertrophic labia' and think it's a genuine medical diagnosis. The reality is it isn't. The term appears to have gained currency in the 16th century as a way to categorise certain women as not just physically abnormal, but also sexually and racially deviant (see <a href="http://gnovisjournal.org/files/Karen-Roberts-McNamara-Pretty-Woman.pdf">this article</a> which explains it all much more eloquently than I can)<br />
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And yet... have you ever seen this misognyist history represented in any programmes/articles about labiaplasty? I'd bet not, I certainly haven't. Putting this in context remember that labiaplasty is a <a href="http://www.unifem.org/materials/item_detail.php?ProductID=110">type IIa female genital mutilation</a> which doctors are forbidden even to promote, because it is <span style="font-weight: bold;">harmful </span>and <span style="font-weight: bold;">rooted in the desire to suppress female sexuality</span>.<br />
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Dontcha love white folks' hypocrisy!? Here are some quotes from doctors practising in Britain, as an illustration that the ghost of past prejudice stalks our surgeries, operating theatres (and television studios):<br />
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"<span style="font-style: italic;">They have these things hanging......it's terribly embarrassing....they </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">need to be made normal</span><span style="font-style: italic;">"</span> - Dalia Nield<br />
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"<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Let's do the standing up test</span>....[on viewing the labia while the patient is standing] ... they're <span style="font-weight: bold;">sticking right down and normally you wouldn't get that appearance</span>"</span> Pixie McKenna.<br />
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[Labiaplasty] <span style="font-style: italic;">"</span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">leaves behind an elegant looking labia</span><span style="font-style: italic;">"</span>. Douglas McGeorge. He added, [just to remind us what we're for]: "<span style="font-style: italic;">Lads' mags are looked at by girlfriends, and make them think more about the way they look.</span>"<br />
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"<span style="font-style: italic;">for women with <span style="font-weight: bold;">serious hypertrophy</span> - when </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">the tissue is dark and hangs down</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> - there is a simple way to deal with it."</span> Angelica Kavouni. [what exactly is it you find so medically problematic about dark skin Angelica? Do tell...?]<br />
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I'm going to keep collecting these quotes, and will be putting them in my next letter to the General Medical Council and the British Medical Association about this subject. Please do send me more examples as you find them.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5150262856454520645.post-72363277554513026402010-05-15T03:49:00.000-07:002010-07-11T13:36:27.952-07:00Love Your bits<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_vpC9veMLz1I/TBOhMOZO0cI/AAAAAAAAABA/IkwGpUtFv0U/s1600/Morticia-Addams.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 206px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_vpC9veMLz1I/TBOhMOZO0cI/AAAAAAAAABA/IkwGpUtFv0U/s320/Morticia-Addams.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481902402834452930" border="0" /></a>Thanks to all those who have either commented or sent me private messages of support.<br /><br />I agree with the correspondent who asks me to make sure I remind women without dangly bits that they are 'perfectly normal too'.<br /><br />I'm happy to do this - in fact my concerns about framing this campaign in a way which is positive for all natural sizes and shapes is the reason I took so long to start the blog.<br /><br />I don't want to put anyone down, quite the opposite. My point is simply this: we're made the way we're meant to be, and the genitals in particular are very highly engineered. You tamper with them at your peril.<br /><br />To allow plastic surgeons to set the agenda on how our bits should look and feel is like putting Morticia Addams in charge of your flower garden.<br /><br />Another correspondent has reminded me that men - especially in circumcising countries - may feel they have to apologise before taking their boxers off, if they are intact. In the parts of the world where circumcision is not common (ie most places) men may feel a little uncomfortable if their foreskin seems too long, or even too short, or may be embarrassed that they don't have one at all. The message to these men is, don't ever be ashamed of what you've got. Love your bits!<br /><br />If any individual finds themselves taking their underwear off for someone ungrateful for the present they're being given, the solution is: throw them out and get someone more sensual and less superficial instead.<br /><br />When I found myself in bed with a man with the longest foreskin I'd ever seen, I was incredibly excited. I considered it the 'king of foreskins' and told him so. Later I had a man with a shortish one he'd injured so it rolled a bit asymetrically as if squinting. I thought this was adorable too. When I had a circumcised man with an incredibly harsh and botched cut, first of all I found this difficult to be positive about. Then I thought how innocent it was and how brave to overcome what had been done to it. So I named it my war hero...<br /><br />Let's stop making war on genitals though. Please?<br /><br />Thanks for supporting, and hope you'll keep reading. In my next two posts I'm going to cover the function of the labia, and the link between labiaplasty and phrenology.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5150262856454520645.post-27911366822721940182010-05-08T07:15:00.000-07:002010-05-10T14:12:53.269-07:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vpC9veMLz1I/S-WVzVn6AJI/AAAAAAAAAAM/ig2lVrNRQL0/s1600/Rhodedendron+bud.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vpC9veMLz1I/S-WVzVn6AJI/AAAAAAAAAAM/ig2lVrNRQL0/s320/Rhodedendron+bud.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468942031721726098" border="0" /></a>This is a blog about lips and about life. It's about how great our bodies are and how important it is to celebrate them, love them, have fun with them.<br /><br />I want to persuade you - and I hope most of you won't need much persuading - that the labia minora are as beautiful as the petals of a flower - and even more functional.<br /><br />As for so called 'normality' - there is no normal flower shape or size: I may be a rhodedendron, you a rose, and your best friend a forget-me-not ... we are all beautiful.<br /><br />I don't want this site to attract porn bunnies, and my guiding principle is that it should be somewhere you might encourage a young daughter to look, if she needs knowledge or reassurance about sex and sexual bits. So while I am going to encourage people to submit images, I'm asking for tasteful/abstract images. Flowers are good, line drawings might be ok, possibly I might accept an arty shot of you with a bow tied on yours ...or a wedding ring.<br /><br />The theme is celebrate!<br /><br />And here are 10 of the reasons why I've chosen to blog about women's bits:<br /><br />1. Because I measure 5 cm (2 inches) at full stretch but I don't feel abnormal - I feel great<br /><br />2. Because I rode horses and bikes lots as a child and never found it painful or uncomfortable<br /><br />3. Because I had glorious sex for 20 years before realising anyone had an issue with labia<br /><br />4. Because I learned that people have an issue with labia from a TV programme<br /><br />5. Because after that programme I found myself apologising before taking my knickers off<br /><br />6. Because no woman should ever apologise before taking her knickers off<br /><br />7. Because men love looking at and playing with labia, perhaps as much as any other part of your body*<br /><br />8. Because my mother is lippy and her mother was and probably her grandmother and her grandmother's grandmother too<br /><br />9. Because having this part as a white family links us to our African ancestors, and current day Khoisan sisters<br /><br />10. Because less isn't always more - in sex more can be more!<br /><br />And so more of this tomorrow. While I want to make this blog generally positive I do also want to strike back at those who promote and profit from type IIa female circumcision - aka labiaplasty. I'll be asking you to help me by writing complaint letters to medical regulators about plastic surgeons who peddle myths about female genital cutting (and sometimes male).<br /><br />Thanks for reading!<br /><br />*The man I apologised to thought I was mad, said I'd answered his prayers by being so large and showed me the pictures he had on his iphone to prove it!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com6