Vagina is the genital equivalent of (S)He Who Must Not Be Named. Unlike Voldemort, however, vaginas are very real, but we still don't feel comfortable using the word everyday speech. That's probably because of things like that time a teacher was fired after saying it in class or when a congresswoman was banned from the house after saying "vagina" in a speech. That's according to a video released on Monday by Legalize V, a campaign fighting to remind the world that "vagina" is not a dirty word.
The short video is both hilarious and depressing, calling out society for the weird way it treats the word. The biggest red flag? "Vagina" gets bleeped but ridiculous words like "pagina" and "cooch" are totally fine. Even just a minute and half of bleeping is more than enough to prove how totally unnecessary this censorship is.
"When did the anatomical term for a woman's reproductive organ become taboo?" asks Sheryl Kinsberg from University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center.
"That's like telling firefighters they couldn't use the word 'fire,'" Jordana Kier, founder of Lola, points out.
The video is filled with a ton of other great points, but mostly pushes us to all start saying "vagina" without fear. After all, that's how adults treat each other. By recognizing the vagina as a legitimate human body part, and not some kind of joke that needs to be hidden, we'll be that much closer to taking women's issues more seriously.