What % of women don't know basics of female anatomy?

Nurses General Nursing

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I had a wonderful daughter of an elderly patient assist with doing a minicath. I missed the first try, making some comment about getting the correct hole, and the confusion at times. The 60 something daughter said "2 holes?". I said something like, you know the pee and the baby hole?

The lady was shocked she had no idea there were two holes down there. I good naturedly covered up my utter surprise at her ignorance regarding this matter.

How many women don't know about this?

Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

I didn't find out till I was pregnant with my first baby that women do, indeed, have three openings "down there". I was kind of embarrassed, so I asked my mother why she hadn't taught me that. She looked at me with an expression of surprise and said, "What do you mean, there's three holes?" :facepalm:

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Soooo many.

And it's even worse among men.

I've had more than one person (male and female) express the believe that it's *impossible* to pee with a tampon in, because they believe urine is coming from above the insertion site of the tampon.

See also: the many men, including one in my high school health class, who steadfastly believe that it's both possible and desirable for a member to penetrate the cervix.

The labor and delivery department at my old hospital once had a young-but-grown patient pull her cervidil out because she thought she couldn't pee with it in. Of course, she didn't let her nurse know until the next morning when the nurse came to pull it herself. :rolleyes:

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Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
As a young child, I knew that I would never be able to have babies. You see, I knew that there were supposed to be three holes, the urethra, the lady parts, and the orifice. (My mom was a nurse; so we used medical terms like urinate and defecate. I remember my aunt asking me if I had to "go tinkles". I had no idea what she meant!)

Anyway, when I explored myself, I could only find two holes. Since I knew that I could urinate and defecate, I figured that I wouldn't be able to have babies.

Mom explained it all to me the night before THE MOVIE in 5th grade.

LOL @ "THE MOVIE."

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LOL @ "THE MOVIE."

Oh yeah! I do remember that.

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Specializes in Hospital medicine; NP precepting; staff education.
Threads like this make me even more glad I teach sex education in grades 7, 8, and 10 at my school (I am a school nurse, as my icon shows). I was reviewing anatomy with my 10th grade class this week and while they were fuzzy on remembering the full details of a few things from 8th grade, one thing they did remember was that women do not urinate using their lady parts :).

(Though I did have a pair of seventh graders once ask a teacher how she closed her lady parts when she peed. While I scratched my head at that - we had just started health class the day before and hadn't gotten to the anatomy yet - I was proud that students used the word lady parts vs any slang I'd heard prior. I have a rule in my class that we use the proper medical terms.)

.

Reminds me of the episode of King of the Hill when Peggy substitute taught for sex ed. She's embarrassed at the terminology and she practices in her bathroom mirror saying the words, feeling empowered by each repetition. Cut to Hank cringing as she bellows, "member. member! member! lady parts. lady parts! lady parts!"

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Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
Oh yeah! I do remember that.

So do I. The boys seemed to have mysteriously disappeared from class, and then we were shown this extremely out-of-date movie (though not as bad as the Walt Disney story of menstruation), followed by "goodie bags" for we girls.

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Re anatomy, I wonder how many were influenced by having a less visible urethral opening? We know we can have a hard time with a flash light and extra set of hands.

And I wonder why every anatomical drawing shows the urethral opening very external and anterior to the lady partsl opening?

Though that doesn't explain why some women don't know there is a separate opening even if they can't visualize their own.

FWIW, I grew up with a mom who prepare me for anything other than menstral cycles (and literally gave me a long pad with a belt even though self stick ones were available) but I was still curious enough to look for myself. I don't understand how someone wouldn't look in private.

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Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.

And I wonder why every anatomical drawing shows the urethral opening very external and anterior to the lady partsl opening?

?

How else would they show it?

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?

How else would they show it?

Representation of normal variety? To show how not everyone is made like a textbook?

Same goes for labia. Talk about something I didn't know about until labioplasties became more common and criticized in the media. Why don't posters better represent the normal range of anatomy?

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Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.
Representation of normal variety? To show how not everyone is made like a textbook?

Same goes for labia. Talk about something I didn't know about until labioplasties became more common and criticized in the media. Why don't posters better represent the normal range of anatomy?

I guess because most textbooks and diagrams don't have the real estate to depict the entire spectrum of "normal" so they have to select a single representative.

I remember looking at a reproductive anatomy textbook (TEXTBOOK!!) and it showed "normal male genitalia" and the member was circumcised.

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I guess because most textbooks and diagrams don't have the real estate to depict the entire spectrum of "normal" so they have to select a single representative.

I remember looking at a reproductive anatomy textbook (TEXTBOOK!!) and it showed "normal male genitalia" and the member was circumcised.

I think it is reasonable for a non clincical non curious women to not realize there is a separate urethral opening if it drains into the lady parts instead of externally. A mirror isn't going to help and a textbook is going to make them feel abnormal until someone tells them otherwise.

I remember the circumsized pics, that's crazy when you think about it.

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FWIW, I grew up with a mom who prepare me for anything other than menstral cycles (and literally gave me a long pad with a belt even though self stick ones were available) but I was still curious enough to look for myself. I don't understand how someone wouldn't look in private.

My mom did a very perfunctory explanation to me. And she was a free spirit kind of gal. Married a few times, many boyfriends, kids with different dads. Hot pants and go-go boots and a long red wig when I was about 15.

One of the reason THIS conservative mom decided to be truthful, honest, and blunt with my own kids.

BTW - I never looked.

:blink:

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