Is Porn Skewing Our Expectations Around Vaginas and Vulvas?

Millions of people watch some kind of explicit adult entertainment every day in one of its many forms. Most of us adults have, at this point, seen a whole lot of stranger’s genitals. But are those genitals skewing the way we think of of our own naughty bits? 

To find out how cisgender women feel about their intimate regions, Refinery29 recently surveyed asked over 3,600 women about their relationships with their vulvas (the exterior parts) and vaginas (the interior part). And the results were… kind of gloomy.

“A large chunk (36%) also claimed not to be happy with their vagina,” reported Refinery29 writer Natalie Gil. When asked why, the reasons ranged from negative comments from parents in early childhood to the popularity of cosmetic procedures for vulvas. But one cause stood out more than the others: “Porn was cited time and again, with 72% of women who compare their vagina or vulva to others’ referring to it. One woman described her labia as ‘larger’ than she has seen depicted by the industry, another said hers ‘doesn’t look like what [she sees] in porn.’”

Yikes. But porn as the vulva standard-setter doesn’t stop with women—apparently men are also getting their ideas about what vulvas should look like from smut. “Many respondents [told] us they’d been made to feel their vulva or vagina was ‘abnormal’ by an ex-partner,” according to Gil.

The end result? “More than a third (34%) of women told us they would change something about their vagina or vulva” if given the chance.

It’s a real shame that there’s so much negativity around women’s private parts, because we think they’re wonderful no matter what they look like. The truth is, vulvas and vaginas are wildly varied. In fact, last year, a team of Swiss researchers examined and measured the external genitals of 657 women and discovered that “external female genitalia come in a huge range of shapes and sizes, and there’s no such thing as ‘normal.’” Porn may favor a certain kind of look, but we promise you that there’s a rich variety of vulvas, and they’re each fantastic.

Want proof? Check our Laura Dodsworth’s 100 Vaginas project. Want to learn more? Give this educational booklet a read. And hey, if you’re casting for porn films, maybe try hiring some more diverse vulvas!

Woman with laptop image by len-k-a