Vagina (pronounced vuh-jahy-nuh)
(1) In
anatomy & zoology, in many female mammals, the moist, tube-shaped canal
part of the reproductive tract which runs from the cervix of the uterus through
the vulva (technically between the labia minora) to the outside of the body.
(2) In
botany, the sheath formed by the basal part of certain leaves where they
embrace the stem.
(3) A
sheath-like part or organ (now rare even in technical literature).
(4) In
colloquial (and now general) use, the vulva, or the vulva and vaginal passage
collectively.
(5) In
derogatory colloquial use, an un-masculine man; a weakling (now rare, “pussy”
the preferred modern term).
1675-1685:
A creation of Medical Latin, a learned borrowing of the Latin vāgīna.
As used in anatomy, the seventeenth century coining was a specialized application
of the Latin vāgīna (a sheath,
scabbard; a covering, holder; sheath of an ear of grain, hull, husk) of uncertain
origin, the suggestion by some etymologists it may have been cognate with the Lithuanian
vožiu & vožti (to cover with a hollow thing) dismissed by others as
“speculative” or even “gratuitous proposal”.
The use in medicine is exclusive to modern science, the Latin word not
used thus during Antiquity. Vagina is a
noun, vaginal & vaginalike are adjectives, vaginally is an adverb; the noun
plural is vaginas or vaginae (the old spelling vaginæ is effectively extinct); the part of the anatomy used for copulation
& childbirth in female mammals and a similar organ exists in some
invertebrates.
In
idiomatic use “vaginamoney” is (often embittered) slang for alimony,
child support etc, money paid by men to ex-partners after the sundering of a
relationship. One slang form which may not survive is "hairy check book" (cheque book outside the US) because (1) checks are declining in use and (2) body-hair fashions have changed. In psychiatry, the
condition vaginaphobic describes “a fear of or morbid aversion to vaginas) and
vaginaphile (an admiration for vaginas) is listed by only some dictionaries
which is surprising given authors are so often given to write about them and
painters are drawn to painting them (in the sense of oil on canvas etc although
there’s doubtless a niche for applying paint directly). Dating from 1908, the term “vagina dentata” entered
psychiatry and its popularization is usually attributed Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund
Freud (1856-1939) although this perception may be attributable to Freud’s works
being better known and more widely read, the term used by many in the
profession. The Latin vagina dentata (toothed vagina) referenced
the folk mythology in which a woman's vagina contained teeth, the implication
being a consequence of sex might be emasculation or at least severe
injury. The tale was also used as a
warning about having sex with unknown women and as a way of discouraging
rape. The vivid imagery of a vagina
dentata (in somewhat abstract form) was used by the US military as a warning
about the dangers of STIs (sexually transmitted infection (once known as sexually
transmitted diseases (STD) & VD (venereal disease). Some writers have speculated on what this
revealed about Freud and his much discussed understanding of women.
Vulva (pronounced vuhl-vuh)
(1) The external female genitalia of female mammals
(including the labia, mons veneris, clitoris and vaginal orifice.
(2) In helminthology, a protrusion on the side of a
nematode (multivulva used to describe a phenotype of nematode characterized by
multiple vulvas).
(3) In arachnology, the spermatheca and associated ducts
of the female reproductive system (also known as internal epigyne or internal
genitalia).
(4) An internal genital structure in female millipedes
(known also as the cyphopod).
Late 1300s: A learned borrowing from the Latin vulva, from the earlier volva (womb, female sexual organ)
(perhaps in the literal sense of a “wrapper”), from volvere (to turn, twist, roll, revolve (also “turn over in the mind”)),
probably from volvō (to turn, to
roll, to wrap around), from the primitive Indo-European root wel- (to turn, revolve), the derivatives
referring to curved, enclosing objects.
In the 1970s, when Volvo automobiles weren’t noted for their precise
handling, journalists enjoyed noted the translation of the Latin volvō as: “I
roll”. It was akin to the Sanskrit उल्ब (úlba) (womb). The adjectives vulvalike (also vulva-like)
& vulviform both describe objects or designs having the shape of a vulva. Vulva is a noun, vulval, vulvaless,
vulviform, vulvar, vulvate & vulvic are adjectives; the noun plural is
vulvas, vulvae or vulvæ.
Ms Gillian Anderson’s “vagina dress”
Gillian Anderson, Golden Globes award ceremony 2024.
There’s nothing novel in the critical deconstruction of the dresses worn on red carpets but the one worn at the 2024 Golden Globe ceremony by actor Gillian Anderson (b 1968) also attracted the attention of word nerds. Designed by Gabriela Hearst (b 1976), the strapless, ivory corset gown was embroidered with individually stitched embellishments in the shape of vulvas, each of which absorbed some 3½ hours of the embroider’s time. In an allusion to her sexual wellness brand (G spot), when interviewed, Ms Anderson said she wore the piece: “…for so many reasons. It’s brand appropriate.” The response in the press and on-line appeared to be (mostly) positive but what did attract criticism was the widespread use of “vagina” to describe the designs, a descriptor used even by Ms Anderson herself. The more strident of the critics seemed to detect sexual politics in what they claimed was anatomical imprecision, the implication being this lack of respect for gynaecological terminology was casual misogyny; doubts were expressed that anyone would dare confuse a scrotum with the testicles.
Anatomical diagram (left) 1958 Edsel (centre) and the detail on Gabriela Hearst's gown (right). Although Ms Anderson probably didn't give the 1958 Edsel a thought, it does illustrate why her use of "vagina" to describe the embroidered motifs is defensible.
The pedants are correct in that
technically the “vulva” describes on the external portion of the genitalia that
leads to the vagina; the vulva including the labia majora, labia minora, and
clitoris. The labia is also a complex
structure which includes the labia majora (the thick, outer folds of skin
protecting the vulva’s internal structure) and the labia minora (the thin,
inner folds of skin directly above the vagina).
However, for almost a hundred years, the term “vagina” has widely been
used to refer to the vulva and has come to function as a synecdoche for the
entire female genitalia and so prevalent has the use become that even medical
professionals use “vagina” thus unless great precision is required. Still, given Ms Anderson’s brand is concerned
with such matters, perhaps the historically correct use might have been better
but the actor herself noted “…it has
vaginas on it” so linguistically, her proprietorial rights should be
acknowledged.
The Edsel, the grill and the myths
1958 Edsel Citation convertible.
Although it went down in industrial
history as one of capitalism’s most expensive failures, objectively, Ford Motor
Corporation’s Edsel really wasn’t a dramatically worse car than the company’s
companion brands Ford & Mercury.
Indeed that was one of the reasons for the failure in the market;
sharing platforms, engines, transmissions, suspension and some body parts with
Fords & Mercurys, the thing simply lacked sufficient product
differentiation. That sharing of
components (and assembly plants; Ford sending the Edsels down the existing production
lines in the same factories) also makes it hard to believe the often quoted US$300
million (between US$2.5-3 billion expressed in 2024 values) Ford booked as a
loss against the abortive venture as anything but an opportunity taken by the
accountants to dump all the bad news in one go, certain taxation advantages
also able to be gained with this approach.
1959 Edsel Corsair two-door hardtop.
The very existence Edsel was owed to
a system devised by Alfred P Sloan (1875–1966) while president of General
Motors (GM). Sloan is now mostly forgotten
by all but students of industrial & economic history but he was
instrumental in the development some of the concepts which underpinned the
modern economy including frequent product changes (for no functional purpose),
planned obsolescence and consumer credit.
What the Sloan system did was provide GM’s customers with a “status
ladder” in which the company could produce a range of products (with
substantial cross-amortization) at price points which encouraged them to “step
up” to the next level as their disposable income increased. At one point, GM’s brand-range had nine rungs
but the Great Depression of the 1930s necessitated some pruning and what
eventually emerged was a five rung system: Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile,
Buick & Cadillac. In the 1950s, when
the US economy enjoyed the unusual conjunction of rising incomes, stable prices
and a remarkably (by both historic and contemporary standards) small disparity
between the wealth of the rich and poor, this produced the swelling middle
class which was the target market for most consumer products and certainly those on the Sloan ladder. Ford had in 1938 added a rung when the
Mercury brand was spliced between Ford and Lincoln but in the mid 1950s, the
MBAs convinced the company the Sloan system was the key to GM’s lead in the market
and they too re-structured the company’s products into five rungs: Ford, Mercury,
Edsel, Lincoln & Continental.
Actually, in a harbinger, the loss-making Continental Division lasted
barely a season, folded into Lincoln before the Edsel debuted for the 1958 model
year but the MBAs kept the faith.
It turned out to be misplaced although
in fairness to them, the circumstances in 1958 were unfortunate, a short but sharp recession shocking consumers who had become accustomed to growth and stability, believing that such unpleasantness belonged to the pre-war past. The Edsel never recovered. Although sales in 1958 were disappointing,
given the state of the economy, it could have been worse but Ford’s market
research (focus groups a thing even then) had identified problems and in response
toned down the styling and moved the brand down-market, notionally to sit
between Ford & Mercury, a gap which in retrospect didn’t exist. Sales dropped that year by about a third and
the writing was on the wall, although surprising many, a pared-down Edsel range
was released for 1960 using Ford’s re-styled bodies but it seemed not many were
fooled and fewer than 3000 left the factory before late in 1959 the end of the brand was
announced.
1960 Edsel Ranger Sedan.
Really little more than a blinged-up Ford, the Edsel failed because for such a "hyped" product it was a disappointment and in that it can be compared to something like the administration of Barack Obama (b 1961; US president 2009-2017). Barack Obama was not a bad president and he didn’t lead a bad government, indeed most objective analysts rate his term as “above average” but he disappointed because he promised so much, the soaring rhetoric (“highfalutin nonsense” as the press baron Lord Beaverbrook (1879-1964) would have put it) which offered hope and change never realized. There was also the Elsel’s styling. There was much clumsiness in the detailing (although the whole US industry was similarly afflicted in 1958) but the single most polarizing aspect was the vertical grill assembly, controversial not because it was a regression to something which had become unfashionable in the “longer, lower, wider” era but because of the shape which to some suggested a woman’s vulva. Many said that (some preferring “vagina” or “genitalia”) though in those more polite times some publications were reluctant to use such language in print and preferred to suggest the grill resembled a “toilet seat” although that was (literally) a bit of a stretch (and Chrysler's Virgil Exner (1909–1973) was already applying them to trunk lids); more memorable was Time magazine’s “an Oldsmobile sucking a lemon”.
1958 Edsel (left) and 1958 Oldsmobile (right). One can see why someone at Time magazine thought of "an Oldsmobile sucking a lemon".
1958 Edsel Bermuda “Woody” station wagon. The “woody” nickname was applied to the station wagons from all manufacturers although after the early 1950s the “wood” was a combination of fibreglass and the DI-NOC plastic appliqué. The look was intended to evoke the look of the partially timbered-bodied station wagons in production until the early 1950s (Chrysler in the 1960s even did a few convertibles recalling earlier models) and in the US the look lasted until the 1990s. Ford’s attempt in the 1960s to tempt British & Australian buyers with the charms of DI-NOC proved unsuccessful.
As much as the sedans and convertibles, the Edsel station wagons were just as unwanted. The Bermuda station wagon was offered only for the 1958 model year and it managed sales of only 2,235, 779 the nine-seater version with an additional row of seating in the rear section, a configuration which was always popular with US buyers in the era before mini-vans and SUVs. The three-row Bermuda was the rarest of the 1958 Edsels but collectors still price them below the convertibles. If the vulva-themed front end was confronting, there was a strangeness too at the rear, the turn-indicator lights in the shape of an arrow, a traditional symbol to indicate the intended direction of travel but bizarrely, the Edsel’s arrows pointed the opposite direction, something necessitated by the need to blend the shape with that of the body’s side moldings.
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