Do you think the vagina is messy, icky, dirty? What if I told you that your vagina is cleaner than your mouth?
You are more likely to give or get a disease from kissing than from cunnilingus.
It’s a well-known fact among doctors and dentists that while mouths can be sewers of bacteria, a healthy vagina is like a mountain stream. One doctor went so far as to declare that a clean vagina is as pure as a carton of yogurt. Mmm. Sounds good enough to eat, doesn’t it? Others point to the fact that the only bacteria that healthy vaginas typically host are the beneficial types — lactobacilli that fight infections.
Now, if you’re brave enough, let’s consider the mouth. The human mouth typically hosts over 500 types of bacteria. That’s up 10 billion microbes in your mouth. And some of them are nasty little beasts. So nasty, in fact, that an unclean mouth can cause vaginal infections through oral sex. Not to mention the raft of contagious diseases, from colds and flus to Herpes, Mono, and strep that are communicated by kissing. It adds up to the surprising fact that people are more likely to give or get a disease from mouth-to-mouth kissing than from cunnilingus.
If you have discharge or are uncomfortable about the smell, be aware that those are natural, normal, healthy secretions that play a positive role in women’s sexual health. It’s all part of our erotic juiciness as women. The smell too is just part of your natural physical chemistry. It doesn’t mean your vagina is dirty; it means that it’s in good working order. You don’t get angry at your underarms for producing sweat, do you? So why blame your vagina for working as nature intended? Again, neither the smell of a clean (washed) vagina, or the drips and juices from a healthy (no STIs, no yeast infections) vagina mean it’s “dirty down there.”
Finally and obviously: an unclean or infected vagina is a whole different story. You don’t know what’s happening in there. So please always use dental dams and condoms with new partners and anyone whose sexual health status you aren’t sure about. Practice good oral hygiene too so you don’t mess up that beautiful pot of yogurt with yucky oral bacteria.
And, please, learn to love your V. It will love you back.
