An essential component of your internal and external reproductive anatomy is your vagina. This passage has significant implications for menstruation, sex, pregnancy, and childbirth. Maintaining a healthy and infection-free vagina can be achieved with routine pelvic exams, Pap smears, and safer sexual practices.
What is your vagina?
Stretchy and muscular, the vagina is a vital component of your reproductive system. A lot of people use the term "vaginas" to refer to all the reproductive organs connected to being assigned female at birth (AFAB). However, your vagina is only one vital organ that plays a role in your sexual and reproductive well-being.
An integral component of your vulva, or external genitals, the vagina gives you the ability to enjoy sexual relations. Furthermore, it is a crucial component of your internal reproductive system, which enables conception and childbirth.
Who has a vagina?
A woman's vagina is present in an assigned female at birth (AFAB). Some transgender men and nonbinary people are also considered AFAB, as are cisgender women, or AFAB people who identify as women. Cervixes can also be present in intersex people.
Vaginoplasty, a gender-affirming procedure, is a choice made by some transgender women and nonbinary people who are not AFAB members. By creating a vagina from a person's genitalia, a vaginoplasty is possible.
How does the vagina function?
In addition to facilitating sexual pleasure, your vagina also plays a part in pregnancy and childbirth by directing your menstrual blood outside of your body.
- Pleasure in sexual relations: Sensation from a penis, finger, or sex toy penetrating your vagina is made possible by nerve endings found in the walls of your vagina. When you get excited, your vagina enlarges and lubricates itself to keep the friction from being painful rather than enjoyable.
- Menstruation: Unless you become pregnant, you lose the endometrium, or lining of your uterus, once a month during your menstrual cycle. Menstrual blood leaves your body through your vagina, carrying the lining. Tampons and menstrual cups are useful tools for controlling vaginal blood flow.
- Pregnancy: If your partner ejaculates during penis-in-vagina sex, tiny sperm may be discharged into your vaginal canal. To fertilize an egg, sperm must travel via your fallopian tubes, uterus, and vagina.
- Childbirth: The term "birth canal" is occasionally used to describe the vagina's function during childbirth. Your vagina is where your baby exits your uterus and emerges at birth. On its journey from your body to the outside world, your baby makes its final stop at your vaginal opening.
Fascinating details about your vagina
A vagina can be likened to an oven that cleans itself without the need for external assistance. Numerous bacteria and fungi that support the health of your vagina are found there. Sometimes referred to as your vaginal flora or microbiome, these microscopic organisms live in a delicate ecosystem together. A healthy balance of these microorganisms, particularly a high number of Lactobacilli, the "good" bacteria, keeps your vagina free from infections. An infection may result from an imbalance of bacteria or an overabundance of fungi.
Where is the vagina in your body?
Vaginas and vulvas are not the same thing, despite the confusion that many people have between them. Inside your body, your vagina is an organ that resembles a canal and opens externally. From your uterus, which is located inside your body, to your vulva, which contains your external reproductive organs, or genitals, is a strong passage.
Within your body
The tissue that connects your vagina to your uterus is called the cervix, and it extends from your vagina. Your vagina terminates in what is known as your vaginal opening, a hole outside of your body. Nestled between your rectum (which houses your feces) and bladder (which holds your urine, or pee), is your vagina.
Situated on the front wall of your vagina, your G-spot is only a few inches inside. When this area is stimulated during sex (using a finger or penis), many people find it to be enjoyable.
Outside of your body
Your vulva is where your vagina ends, and it has an opening called the vaginal opening. Skin folds on either side of your vaginal opening make up your vulva. Your labia majora are the folds on the outside. Your inner lips, or labia minora, are the inner folds. The point where your inner lips converge towards the top of your vulva is called your clitoris, or clit. Your inner lips meet at the base of your vulva to form your vaginal opening. Sometimes, your vaginal opening is completely or partially covered by your inner lips. Your vaginal opening may need to be felt by parting your inner lips with your fingers.
One of the three vital openings in your vulva area that connects the functions of your body's internal and external systems is your vagina. At the top is your urethral aperture. In the center is your vaginal opening. Your anus is at the base as well.
- Urethral opening: The tiny opening beneath your clitoris that permits urination is called the urethral opening. This opening allows the urethra, the tube that carries urine from your bladder, to empty outside of your body.
- Vaginal opening: This is the point at which your baby leaves your body during childbirth and the flow of blood during your menstrual cycle. It's also the opening through which a menstruation cup, tampon, penis, finger, or sex toy can be inserted. Your vaginal opening is often covered, or partially covered, by a thin membrane known as a hymen. This membrane can get strained when you exercise, have sex, or even put a tampon in. It might hurt to stretch like this or it might not.
- Anus: This opening is where the organ that transports waste from your colon (rectum) exits your body.
What is a vagina's average depth?
When not aroused, the average vagina is slightly deeper than 3.5 inches. However, a number of factors, such as your age, weight, and menopause status, affect how big your vagina is. The total length of your vagina may also get shorter after pelvic cavity surgeries.
Your vagina is a flexible organ that has a maximum depth that it can reach. The organ known as the cervix, which joins your vagina to your uterus, tilts upward when you become aroused, lengthening your vaginal canal in the process. You can stretch your vagina to accommodate a finger, penis, or sex toy. Even so, if something is inserted and comes into contact with your cervix, the experience may become uncomfortable. Talk to your partners about what makes you feel good.
What composes the vagina?
The various tissue and cell types that make up your vagina secrete fluids that maintain the moisture, elasticity, and health of your vaginal walls. Estrogen has a particular effect on the cells in your vagina. When you are fertile, your body produces more estrogen than when you are menopausal. Your vaginal walls may thin and become dry after menopause due to a decrease in estrogen. After menopause, vaginal dryness can be alleviated with over-the-counter lubricants and estrogen replacement therapy.
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