VaginaPagina

I love VP because...
... it's full of cool people (and the mods are pretty good at keeping agressive people away)
... I can ask for vulva-related advice and I'll usually find someone who has experience with my particular problem
... I can read all kinds of intereting information about vulvas and their rights!

I love the safe place to ask questions, and I am continually impressed with the wisdom, sensitivity, and supportive atmosphere here.

I wish I'd had a place like this when I was a teen in the 80's. It took me several years to learn through life experience things young women now can learn by spending an afternoon reading the archives here.

I love V*P because I am learning so much I never knew about my lady parts! *looks down* You are a very rambunctious organ-y muscle aren't you?

*goofy face&

VP has shaped my attitude about a lot of sexual things. It made me want to explore and discover my sexuality. I've yet to have my first orgasm but I really value the suggestions and thoughts I get here from time to time. It's helped me through the phase when I was trying to get over my abuse to when I fell in love and got sexual for the first time.

Thanks VP!
Thanks for being my safe space :)

VP has educated me about a lot of aspects of women's health. I've received helpful, thoughtful and speedy replies when I've posted questions. I'm grateful for both of these gifts.

But, most of all, VP has helped me to help other women.

I suffer from a vulval pain condition called vulvar vestibulitis or vestibulodynia. It's one of several vulval pain conditions that are often misdiagnosed or dismissed by doctors (vulvodynia is the other key one). Women can feel incredibly alone and freakish when they have these conditions. It seems everyone else can use tampons and have pain-free sex - and when multiple doctors tell you that you're a frigid hypochondriac, or that you just need to drink more before attempting sex, then it can be deeply depressing.

I also have a condition called vaginismus which is psychological in origin - fear of penetration, for whatever reason, causes the vaginal muscles to clench up. It usually makes intercourse impossible. Similarly, this is often a shameful secret that women keep quiet about for years.

So I reply to posts about painful sex or the impossibility of penetration, when it seems like the symptoms match the conditions I know about. I give links, I describe my own situation, I make practical suggestions, I point them at support groups, I invite further questions, and I wish them luck. My comments tend to get rather long...er, just like this one!

I've had some really grateful feedback from women, which makes it worth the effort I put in. I feel that spreading reliable information & providing sympathetic feedback has made my own suffering (physical and emotional) a bit more bearable.

So, *thank you* rockstarbob and the VP team, for providing this brilliant safe space where women can help and support each other. You do, indeed, rock :)

Before I found VP, I couldn't say the word "vagina," I was afraid of sex, and I couldn't stomach the thought of a gynecologist visit. Now, not only do I toss these topics (and more) around in the community like they're nothing; I also treat them as such in public. I'm so comfortable and proud of my vulva, I love having sex and learning about sex, I'm passionate about women's health, I'm a menstrual cup crusader, I'm even more open-minded than I was before, and I was motivated to become a volunteer at the Feminist Women's Health Center, which is so, so fulfilling. I can talk about women's health and issues with authority. I received help in diagnosing myself with a UTI before it was too late, I learned about the BC-antibiotic danger, and I infamously learned all about shaving my vulva. I love having a community of people who not only thoroughly and compassionately answer questions, but they also offer friendship and love. Some great friends, online and "in real life" have come from this community and from the perspective that this community gave to me.

Thank you, all 8500+ of you.

I think most of what I love has already been mentioned, but thank to this community, I now have a place where I know I can openly talk about issues I wouldn't be able to elsewhere. I have become more aware about new options and issues concerning women than I ever have before. The safe space is such an awesome thing, something I am extremely grateful for.

This is just an all in all awesome place.

Any place where the main activity is women helping women care for themselves and learn to love themselves is a great place to be. I love learning from other members and sharing my knowledge. I feel like we do something great for women just by talking with one another.

this community made me much more comfortable with my nether region and how it functions.

kind of a grateful sigh, and an 'oh thank goodness i'm not the only one' situation.

plus, everyone here is SO HELPFUL and nice! i have yet to see a degrading comment.

I did the intro post so why do I love this community?

Well, its a place where I can get advice or help out with what other women need to know about their vaginas. I like a community where no question seems stupid or small. A place where I don't have to feel funny or weirded about asking a question. I have also learned a thing or two from other members that I never knew before

Please excuse me for being totally lame, but I just really wanted to say thank you =). Even before I became a member of this community, I've been reading the archives and posts and it's really helped me a lot. Not only has it given me tons of useful information, but it's helped me to be more comfortable with my body as well as more comfortable discussing certain sexual topics with my boyfriend. You guys have really prepared me and made me so much more ready for a whole new experience..and I just felt I should let you all know it's deeply appreciated!

It's a place that reclaims and spreads the words "cunt", "twat", "cooch" and "box", words to be loved and cherished.

It's a place that helps us a embrace a part of ourselves that is in many, many respects disregarded, sanitized and "not to be spoken about".

It's a place that encourages us to know ourselves through our physical selves.

It's a place of progressive thought where women (and others) can learn about each other through our own personal issues.

It's a place that makes me proud to be a liberal-feminist, body-positive, queer woman.

I love VaginaPagina!!!

i think its a really great reclamation of women's knowledge. this is what women would do with eachother hundreds of years ago, share remidies, knowledge and past experiences. vagina pangina is a way for us to take control over our sexuality, bodies, and health!

Everybody's so helpful and nobody's judgemental, so I feel perfectly comfortable asking whatever I need to ask!

I agree with everything everyone else has said so far. On a personal level, VP taught me what a UTI was -- I thought I was just having a bad day and mentioned it in passing in an entry; the VPers saved me from what could have been a horrible experience! I have always had an "alias" here but soon I will be giving myself up and ditching this, though I will miss the way I orignially got to know VP. It's too bad this place can't be incorporated into health classes in schools.

I love VP because:
*I know I can always come here and ask any question I have, no matter how big or small, and get lots of good, honest advice.
*VP members aren't afraid to tell you they can't answer your question if they don't know, but they always offer support and other places they think you might be able to get an answer if they don't know or don't think this is the right community to ask in.
*VP's rules about safe space make me feel like I am safe to ask any question I have about anything without being ridiculed. It's made me realize that I don't deserve to be teased and picked on because of any question or concern I have. I never really felt like I could discuss sexual concerns with people without being ridiculed, but because of VP and the safe space, I am now much more comfortable discussing sexuality and my concerns about it.

The Everyday Bodies Project posts are INCREDIBLE! Seeing women accepting their bodies is empowering. It reminds me that I should accept and love my body... which isn't always easy to remember in today's perfection-obsessed, media-soaked society.

Anyway, thank you to VP and to all the women who participated. You're beautiful ♥

I love that people say "vulva."

This is probably gonna sound really random, but this community's so awesome that it makes me want to be an ob-gyn sometimes. :]

Just wanted to say, I really like helping you guys; it makes me happy.

I just want to thank you guys for creating a place where I can ask questions about my body without feeling ashamed or embarrassed. I have never really had anyone I could talk to about this sort of stuff before. When I was younger I was taught to be almost ashamed of my body, and I was so sexually repressed; I wasn't allowed to speak to boys my age, I wasn't allowed to see kissing scene in movies and I didn't figure out what sex was until the 7th grade! Now thanks to VP, I am more knowledgeable about my body and how it functions and I couldn't thank you more for that!

VP helped me be educated enough so that when I realized that I was ready to have sex, I had all of my expectations adjusted to reality and I was safe about it!

It helped me find resources that make me feel comfortable with the way my body looks, especially my vulva, but also other parts. I worry less about body hair, I don't fret about my taste or smell as much, and I learned to love myself enough to not feel as self conscious as I used to when masturbating or doing something with my partner.

I used to think I didn't deserve the pleasure my bf was giving me, until I came here and found what I needed to accept that I did.

After lots of unsuccessful searching, VP was the only place I'd found that explained my body to me in terms I could understand.

Now I actually know what all those weird bits and pieces down there are called, what they do, and how they work, I finally understand my body and know that I'm normal! Thanks VP!