Read My Lips by Debby Herbenick, Vanessa Schick Read Free Book Online Page B

you can see from the outside such as the clitoris, pubic mound, and vaginal lips). The word “vagina” refers to the inside part, also sometimes called the “birth canal” (this is also the part where a penis may enter or where a tampon is inserted). Please indicate how strongly you agree or disagree with each statement.

How to score yourself:
     
Give yourself a 1 for each item for which you answered, “Strongly Disagree,” a 2 for each item for which you answered “Disagree,” a 3 for each “Agree,” and a 4 for each “Strongly Agree.”
2. Add up your points for a total score (possible points range from 7 to 28).
There is no “right” or “wrong” score on this measure. Women have a wide variety of experiences in their lives that shape how they feel about their genitals. Some women remember being told as little girls not to touch their private parts. They may have been raised to believe that their genitals were dirty or that only “bad girls” touched their privates. As adults, some women are more exposed or susceptible to commercials, such as those for feminine-hygiene products that further suggest that women’s genitals are unclean. Other women may have had the very good fortune of having a mother, sister, or good friend teach them about their vulvas and vaginas and let them know that their parts are special, unique, and have the potential for pleasure. Some women first learned to love their bodies, including their genitals, thanks to the appreciative gaze of a loving or lustful partner.
As such, we’re not going to take the common approach to self-quizzes that one often finds in women’s magazines. As much as we love playing with genital words, we won’t tell you, for example, that higher scores make you a “Vulva Vixen” or that certain scores in the lower ranges make you a “Sad Snatch.” What we will suggest is that no matter where you fall on the FGSIS, there is always room to rejoice and always room to grow. If you would like to improve how you feel about your genitals, then we hope that this book is a fruitful starting place for you to learn about your body and to embrace it as the wonderful thing that it is.
    FEMALE GENITAL SELF-IMAGE
    In 2010, our research team published two studies in the Journal of Sexual Medicine about how women feel about their own genitals, a concept we call “female genital self-image.” 30 To measure this concept, we created a seven-item scale that women themselves (or doctors, nurses, or researchers) can use—it’s called the Female Genital Self-Image Scale, or the FGSIS for short.
    In our research, we found that women who engage in health-promoting behaviors, such as having an annual gynecological exam or performing genital self-examination, tend to have a higher female genital self-image.
    Curious where you fall? You can take the FGSIS right here in this book (see previous box). And remember: there is no “pass” or “fail” when it comes to FGSIS. Rather, if you find that answering these questions helps you see an area that you’d like to improve on, perhaps you can work on ways to feel better about your genitals.
    VULVA AND VAGINA LOVE
    All too often we hear negative things about women’s genitals: middle-school boys making “vaginas smell like fish” jokes, feminine-hygiene ads that suggest women don’t smell “fresh,” or advertisements for surgeries that make us question whether we look all right down there. We decided that more women—including us— could benefit from talking about the things they like about their genitals.
    In a recent study, we asked women, “What do you like about your genitals?” Hundreds of women responded. Although some women said that they didn’t really like their genitals, many were very specific about the things about their lady parts that make them feel happy, aroused, or grateful.
    Here is a sampling of what they had to say:
     
“They’re absolutely beautiful! One labia is slightly longer than the other