In this blog, a Comfortable In My Skin friend shares her anonymous story about how impactful words can be on a young woman.

At the young age of 14, before even seeing or exploring my own vulva, my mum joked around about my vagina looking like beef curtain flaps. She went on to compare me to my sister, saying, “Your sister is neater.” Being compared and hearing that my own vulva looked like beef curtains and was messy affected me SO heavily and brought a lot of mental and physical trauma with it. ⁣⁣

The idea of ever being photographed naked or speaking to another female about my insecurities is something I never thought I would ever do. Reaching out to Ellie and coming across her page to see her cause has helped my body confidence and my relationship with my vulva so significantly. Seeing the diversity of different women getting photographed on Ellie’s page helped me open up to my boyfriend about the fears I was hiding. Having spent years contemplating labiaplasty, once talking to Ellie and doing a shoot with her, I felt liberated, vulnerable and happy at the same time, knowing I got all my fears off my chest in such a comfortable environment.⁣⁣

I can say with confidence now that I am NOT going to get labiaplasty. The female body is truly amazing and everyone is so uniquely different. The awareness about diversity with female vulva needs to be shared so women never have to experience the emotional pain associated with body and vulva shame like I did. Whether it be your mum, a lover or a friend. ⁣⁣

It’s scary to think how our lives would’ve turned out if we had been told earlier that every vulva looks different so we didn’t have to feel ashamed. And, if boys were educated to not say hurtful things about a woman’s lady parts so being with someone didn’t have to be as difficult as it was sexually and physically.⁣⁣

Ellie, don’t ever stop photographing women’s vulvas even after you get to 500. You’re changing lives.

Want to share your story? Email Ellie.