Low Hanging Labia

Something people often ask me is how I ended up working with Lydia…

It involves a book full of vulvas and a very intimate bonding experience with one of my best friends!

I have low hanging labia.

My inner labia are very visible and this, I’ve realised, is not what is seen to be ‘normal’ - at least by the standards of anyone who has ONLY watched porn.

I’ll be honest though I grew up genuinely not really knowing any different.

Of course I’ve heard horrendous things like ‘ham sandwich’ and ‘badly packed kebab’ but I’d never really associated them with MY vulva, I just thought that’s what people said about EVERYONE’s vulva…

[P.S just because I didn’t take offence doesn’t mean that everyone won’t - these kinds of phrases/insults have led to some people wanting, and even having, labiaplasty]

I thought vulvas all looked the same because I’d never seen any others to compare mine to.

I can’t even really remember how I came across Lydia’s work but I just absolutely fell in love with it! I bought a signed copy of her book - My Vulva & I - and I absolutely devoured it.

I couldn’t believe how many different vulvas there were. It makes sense really when you think about how different every penis looks but it just wasn’t something that I’d ever really considered.

What I also couldn’t believe is how many people with vulvas had wanted surgery, or had already had surgery, because of hating the way they looked or being told they weren’t normal by other people who seemed to know no better either…

I absolutely LOVE my vulva. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t. I think I probably consider what she looks like now more than I ever have because of how frequently I’m exposed to the diversity of vulvas out there.

I love that we are all different.

Like our fingerprints, or the iris of our eyes.

So I bought a DIY vulva casting kit and my best friend came over and we lay on my kitchen floor haphazardly applying alginate and plaster to each other. Hers was the first vulva I’d seen (other than my own) in real life - up close and personal.

It was nothing more than interesting to me. I didn’t feel confronted by it or insecure about my own - even though we look completely different to each other.

All I knew was that casting was something that I just HAD to do and that was the start of me planting some gentle seeds (some might call it harrassment… KIDDING!) to encourage Lydia to train me up to cast in Scotland for her.

I messaged her A LOT and she eventually decided that expansion was part of her own path too and it just worked out for both of us at exactly the right time. If she had said yes when I messaged her the first time, way back when, there’s no way I would have actually been able to commit to it and so… here we are!

I’ve just got back from my second round of training in Lydia’s Brighton studio - this time to be able to offer BUM casting from our Tits On Tour pop ups! I even got my own bum cast because, well, I just couldn’t not…

But that’s what restarted this conversation.

I deliberately asked for my labia not to be included because I don’t necessarily like the way they look from behind. Now I’ve already told you I love my vulva but there was just something about this position that I just didn’t enjoy.

I’d happily have my vulva cast on its own and I did actually have my DIY plaster cast on my desk in our Scotland studio and the coffee table in my house…

It’s so interesting how I would NEVER even dream of saying that I didn’t like the way that looked on somebody else’s body but, because it is my own, I get a lot more critical and self judgemental.

What was even more interesting is that someone who came to get cast during my training disclosed that she had actually had labiaplasty at the age of 19 because she had felt abnormal. She said that she doesn’t regret the surgery but she did reflect on whether she would have had it done with the headspace she is in now compared to back then…

I have seen more vulvas in the last 10 months than I have ever seen in my life and there are literally no two the same.

They are ALL perfect and they are ALL beautiful.

I just wish we could better embrace the diversity instead of trying to pigeon hole ourselves into these tiny little boxes of expectation and societal norms.

I love my vulva.
But I still also recognise that there are times, like in that bent over position, where I have conditioned myself not to like her.

I really hope that, one day - if you don’t already - that you can come to love your vulva too! Even if you don’t ALWAYS like her…

And if you don’t have a vulva, this is your opportunity to appreciate each and every single one as the beautiful, unique piece of natural art that they are.

Regardless of whether you have one or you don’t - enjoy the fuck out of them!