The way you talk about yourself shapes not only how others perceive you, but also how you see and feel about yourself. Now, new research suggests that the same principle applies to how women talk about their genitals: the nastier they dirty talk, the happier they are in bed and with their bodies.
Published in the journal Sex Roles, the findings suggest that the words women use to refer to their private parts are closely associated with positive body image, sexual pleasure, and even receptiveness toward medically unnecessary genital surgery and personal hygiene practices. Specifically, it seems that using childish or playful colloquialisms for the body parts is associated with negative experiences with sex and sexual health, whereas using more vulgar terms — in a sexual context specifically — is associated with better sex, better sexual health, and more.
“Although there were studies from 20 year ago that catalogued the many terms women use to describe their genitals, no one had examined whether using different terms is actually linked to women’s feelings, attitudes, or behaviors,” Tanja Oschatz, who led the team of researchers from Johannes-Gutenberg-University and Rotem Kahalon of Bar-Ilan University, told PysPost. “Our first goal was to close this gap.”
Additionally, they explored the verbiage women of today used. Language is constantly evolving, faster than ever before; what was once largely controlled by mass media like the news and TV, can now run rampant on TikTok and reach millions of people in mere hours.
“What women call their genitals today may carry different meanings and social implications than it did two decades ago, and we wanted to capture this contemporary picture,” she told PsyPost.
To conduct the study, Oschatz’ team collected info from 457 American women of all ages about what words they most commonly use to refer to their genitals, both in a non-sexual context and within a partnered sexual setting. They also answered a series of questions to assess self-image regarding their genitals, orgasm frequency, feelings toward oral sex, overall sexual pleasure, and attitudes towards elective behaviors like the use of vaginal cleaning products and openness to cosmetic genital surgery.
The researchers then sorted the words into nine distinct categories including anatomical, vulgar and childish. (“Pussy” would fall into vulgar, whereas “vajayjay” was categorized as childish. Anatomical included terms like “vagina,” “vulva” and “clitoris.”)
Although the research is limited because its participants were primarily white and highly educated and exclusively cisgender, the results were intriguing. The key throughline: the words women use to self-describe their genitals matter, a lot.
Specifically, the researchers found evidence that the words women use to refer to their genitals are linked to self-image, sexual and health-related well-being. Participants who used vulgar terms in a partnered sexual context reported a stronger desire to receive oral sex, more orgasms and overall greater sexual pleasure. And the reverse was also true: infantalizing language in a non-sexual context were correlated with negative self-image, a lower perception of their partner’s enjoyment while giving oral sex, and a greater openness to labiaplasty and vaginal cleaning products —which many doctors warn against.
“Context really matters,” Oschatz told PsyPost. “The associations between language and attitudes differed depending on when the terms were used. For instance, childish terms were linked to more negative feelings only when used in non-sexual contexts, but not during sexual ones. Interestingly, using the word ‘pussy’ in sexual contexts was associated with greater sexual pleasure and more frequent orgasms. This suggests that a word once considered derogatory may now be reclaimed by many women and carry an element of empowerment.”
Words mean things, in other words. Pleasure is paramount. And self-acceptance and a little dirty talk reigns supreme, according to science.
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