I think vulva might be the technical term for the, um, whole enchilada.

When your kid's naked and splayed legged in the bath with her finger on the clitoris, and says "what's this?" it's not that big a stretch to name the thing. She's a lot more interested in her clitoris than her vagina, which seems fairly healthy, really.

Then again, I was the daughter of a medical student and a nursing student who yelled out (and I know I've told this story about 3 times here already) "Look, chicken vaginas!" in the supermarket at less than 2 years old.

Vulva's just the outside, no?

Then again, I was the daughter of a medical student and a nursing student who yelled out (and I know I've told this story about 3 times here already) "Look, chicken vaginas!" in the supermarket at less than 2 years old.

OK, that story will NEVER get old. FTR, I hadn't heard it yet.

From Wikipedia (so not worksafe):

The external genital organs of the female are collectively known as the vulva.

In human beings this consists of the labia majora and labia minora (while these names translate as "large" and "small" lips, often the "minora" can be larger, and protrude outside the "majora"), clitoris, opening of the urethra (meatus), and the opening of the vagina.

I don't think I have ever seen a chicken vagina. And I am fairly certain I can die happy without ever doing so.

I don't remember what my parents told me to call it. Probably crotch. But I always think of trees with that word.

And yo, vulva. Another not so pretty word. VULVA. It sounds like the name of an Evil Space Queen: ALL HAIL THE DARK EMPRESS VULVA.

ALL HAIL THE DARK EMPRESS VULVA.

But she conquers territories and snares people into her lair. You gotta like that.

Today is the loudest and hardest I've laughed in a long while.

Thank you, collectively, Buffistas.

Vulva is close enough to velvet to be okay by me. Makes it sound like something luxurious that you want to pet and rub against your bare skin.

But she conquers territories and snares people into her lair

Or she lures people into her snatch.

And this may sound weird, but I like that Wikipedia has a real photo of a real woman's vulva rather than a drawing. All my sex ed books had drawings, and it just makes so much more SENSE when you can see the real thing, when you're trying to figure it all out.

Well, you know, the chickens lying on their backs with their legs up in the air and a big hole between them - I wasn't too far off, really. (Does a chicken HAVE a vagina, or only mammals? My memory is conjuring up something called a cloaca in chickens? Can Wikipedia tell me?)