Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Living In Sin: A Vagina by any Other Name
()
Sex is something that drives us, empowers us and gets us into really stupid situations with people we have no business seeing naked. Jen Sincero is the bestselling author and sexpert with the carnal knowledge you need. Ask her your questions (all are posted anonymously). Cuz there’s no such thing as being too good in bed.
Dear Jen,
My daughter is two years old and occasionally, when I change her diaper, she touches her genital region. When she does this I talk to her about it using real words, like “vagina.” A friend recently overheard me and said that I’m doing long-term damage. She thinks that if my little girl goes to school and falls and says that she hurt her vagina, all the other kids will ridicule her. My friend insists that calling it her “pee-pee” or her “cha-cha” would be a better alternative. What do you think?
- Midwest Momma
Dear Momma,
Just yesterday I hit the road for my beloved New Mexico where I lived for many years before moving to L.A. I was telling a friend about all the excellent people I was going to get to see when I got there – Flowers, Burgy, Gautch, Kimo - while my friend, Goldie, looked after my place. I also told her that she should go see my friend Gecko’s art show while I was gone. All she said was, “Are all of your friends stuffed animals?”
Lots of my friends have weird names. That’s because lots of my friends are weird and made them up themselves. I also know people named Starskee, Storm, Bedouin, Mojo, and Dagmar and used to get followed around by a strange lady in a filthy skirt who called herself Bumble Bee. I think it’s because my friends are creative and unconventional, not because they abhor their parents (the majority of my friends, anyway). It’s like naming the person the grown-up you relates to, rather than the one that was beholden to your parents. You get to define yourself. It’s like giving yourself a Mohawk. Or a pet name.
Support for LAist comes from
What people call themselves, and parts of themselves, ain't nobody's business but theirs. Especially if it comes from a healthy place which, if I can get mighty real here for a moment, all this vagoglossing does not. For the most part, it's about shame, denial and embarrassment. I mean, a knee is a knee, an ear is an ear - why does a butt need to be a po-po? It's these seemingly innocent and playful little suggestions that drill some hugely negative crap into our psyches. So if you want your daughter to be loud and proud about her vagina, good for you. You're sending her a much more positive message than suggesting that any part of her beautiful body is a dirty thing that is called a dirty word. Tell your friend to put that in her long-term damage pipe and smoke it.
Besides, your daughter is going to get ridiculed anyway. They could just as easily crawl all over her for calling it her halla lalla instead of her poonana. Kids are ruthless, and no matter how much you try and watch her back, she's gonna get it from somewhere for something. Instead of fearing what might or might not happen to her, your time would be much better spent teaching her that she's hot shit, to stick up for herself and that she should tell anyone who makes fun of her for not using the term "cha-cha" that it's a vagina, not a Mexican restaurant.
Photo by Calezu
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.
No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.
Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.
Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.
Chip in now to fund your local journalism
(
LAist
)
Trending on LAist
-
Censorship has long been controversial. But lately, the issue of who does and doesn’t have the right to restrict kids’ access to books has been heating up across the country in the so-called culture wars. -
With less to prove than LA, the city is becoming a center of impressive culinary creativity.
-
Nearly 470 sections of guardrailing were stolen in the last fiscal year in L.A. and Ventura counties.
-
Monarch butterflies are on a path to extinction, but there is a way to support them — and maybe see them in your own yard — by planting milkweed.
-
With California voters facing a decision on redistricting this November, Surf City is poised to join the brewing battle over Congressional voting districts.
-
The drug dealer, the last of five defendants to plead guilty to federal charges linked to the 'Friends' actor’s death, will face a maximum sentence of 65 years in prison.
Best of LAist