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

Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN · Dec 22, 2016

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.

Exactly what I was going to say. :up:

I remember the drawing in my human bio and A&P textbooks back in high school clearly had all of the parts labeled (even the mons pubis)...even without that though, I dunno a gush of menstrual blood feels totally different than urine. As in, not from the same place different. Maybe it's because my urethra isn't inside my vag?

Speaking of which, as an experienced RN I did about rub a woman raw with betadine swabs because I couldn't find her blasted urethra and kept contaminating foleys. THAT info would have been useful to have learned in nursing school...not only is it sometimes hard to see, but it can be swallowed by the lady partsl orifice. :facepalm:

I have cared for women who had undergone infibulations earlier in life...I can see how they would have a knowledge deficit. I mean when you're surgically altered TO only have one orifice for urine and blood....

Extra Pickles · Dec 22, 2016

I think kids are taught the fundamentals, for the most part. Whether they know the intricacies of where the "pee hole" and "baby hole" are reminds me of how much kids really retain . . . watching those man-on-the-street interviews asking about things like "Who won the Civil War" and see college kids drawing a blank speaks volumes.

Amen! Now I also can totally understand that kids don't retain the intricacies, which opening is above or next to which opening, totally get that. Part that stuns me is the belief that there is only one opening in a female's genitalia that allows for all the "action" that takes place down there. And that this belief or maybe I should say complete ignorance is held by mature women who really should know better and somehow, some way don't. What you said about mandatory health classes is exactly what I'm talking about, how the heck did these people get around all that to somehow conclude that a baby and urine come out of the same place???

now about those idiotic Average Man on the Street kind of things I swear I have no idea how most of those people manage to navigate the pitfalls of daily life. and let's not forget they vote too lol! I saw one of those once where the interviewer stuck a microphone in front of somebody, one after the other, and asked what July 4th, Independence Day was celebrating. One person said it was winning our freedom from Mexico. Another, fed the info in bits by the interviewer, concluded it was the US winning independence from China. oh and what year did this take place? why it was 1889, or 1910, or 1944, or 1778. Morons. and yet they are allowed to vote as though their conclusions as to who the most qualified Presidential candidate is matters. but that's another story lol.

brido · Dec 22, 2016

I was brought up in a home where sex was taboo, no medical/biological terms were used and I didn't know what my period was when I first got it. I panicked when I saw blood and my mother just told me that I'm "a woman now." I went to public school but I honestly don't remember any sort of sex ed.

Many American women are brought up this way. Plus, female sexuality is so shamed in this country, that we're socialized not to ask questions. I have a history of sexual trauma, so I just shut everything out until nursing school. But even without the trauma, I probably would shut it out. American society just does not accept open discussion of the female reproductive system.

This reminds me of an episode of "Orange is the New Black." An inmate explains that there "is more than 1 hole" to the other inmates (female prison). I was watching it with a friend who is in her late 20s and she thought it was a joke. We had a long discussion after that episode.

AliNajaCat · Dec 22, 2016

My kids asked a ton of questions about everything under the sun. I always asked, "Do you want the long answer or the short answer?" and they ALWAYS wanted the long one. My five year old was rooting around in my bag one day and found a tampon. "What's this?" she said. "Long answer or short?" "Long." So she got it. Hmmm, she said. I had a terrific book called "The What's Happening to My Body Book for Girls," aimed at 9-15 year olds, and she was the hit of the fourth grade sleepovers with it.

When she was ten and a half I found used tampons in her wastebasket (and a good thing, too, because our septic system doesn't like non-dissolvables). How long? Oh, three times. Any questions? Nope. OK, then.

They also make a companion book ".... For Boys," and my son got that when he turned nine. When he was sixteen or seventeen he said, out of the clear blue sky, "Mom, do you find that you have migraines more often during your menstrual period?" "Yes, why do you ask?" "Sarah (the girlfriend) does too."

Gotta love it, though. I never worried about unintentional pregnancy with those two.

My sweet husband, married to somebody else for 27 years, was astonished to hear that it wasn't painful for me to have sex during my period. We were apart so much the first five years we were married, I wasn't going to give up a single chance for anything. I learned not to tell him and to keep a tampon tucked under my pillow for quick deployment. But I had to explain to him several times that X and Y chromosome thing.

And I had our hospital chaplain whose wife (of 30+ years) was having a hyst asked me where would the sperm go after sex if there was no uterus? I said, "Pretty much the same place it always has, the wet spot on the sheets. The cervix is closed all the time anyway; you'll never notice the difference." He didn't really believe me.

CaffeinePOQ4HPRN, BSN, MSN, LPN, RN · Dec 22, 2016

There's an episode of Orange is the New Black that covers this topic hilariously. The episode in question is called "A Whole Other Hole".

CaffeinePOQ4HPRN, BSN, MSN, LPN, RN · Dec 22, 2016

As a midwife, I can tell you---a frighteningly high percentage.

I find that reality to be sad and disturbing. Perhaps the lack of knowledge is a reflection of neglect or conservative upbringing (parents never taught them), or culture (their background instills fear and forbids them from being knowledgeable about their own bodies), or lack of a sex-ed curriculum? IDK.

WKShadowNP, DNP, APRN · Dec 22, 2016

My parents were quite conservative but encouraged education in all its forms (drawing the line at experimenting with illicit substances) but I never felt I needed to explore very far. I'm of the opinion that I was a rarity being a virgin on my wedding night, but I knew what goes where and how I wanted it to.

Fire_Girl · Dec 23, 2016

Can we talk about how many people in the health field dont know how to properly take care of their lady partss? If I see one more nurse on instagram talking about lady partsl steaming, or "yoni pearls" im going to scream. Why do NURSES not understand the risk factors for BV??

LynneHarrisRN · Dec 23, 2016

I used to work in a rural ER. Had a lady come in, c/o saw her doctor this week and was told she had an ulcer, and now she was bleeding "down there". I helped her into a gown and did a quick peek "down there". We were both quite surprised at the tiny foot emerging from her lady parts.

suseliz, MSN, RN · Dec 23, 2016

After 20 years practicing as a Family nurse practitioner and doing many physicals, I would vouch for general ignorance of female genitalia by women. Many women feel that area is "gross". I get comments as I sit down to do a pap, "How can you stand to do that?" Women don't want to touch themselves down there to use a lady partsl cream, barrier methods of contraception, a Nuva ring, or Estring. Use a mirror to look at themselves? Are you kidding? Women are shocked and upset to know they have a yeast infection or BV. They have no clue about the risk of STD's even though they claim to have had sex Ed. There are many women who are very sophisticated and many who are not.

allnurses Guide · Dec 23, 2016

Use a mirror to look at themselves? Are you kidding? .

That was in the 1960's and part of the rise of feminism.

Although I'll bet some women still do look. A small amount to be sure.

Again, I didn't and don't. :lol2:

ap0521 · Dec 23, 2016

I teach human anatomy, many women don't know there are two holes. I have so many crazy stories. I have had so many students ask me where the privy parts is on the models. Like they seriously have no idea. I had a male student label the prostate as the liver once. I had a pregnant student ask me if the spinal cord model was the model of the member....no joke.