Meet Our Models: Haven

It seems to me that I knew my vagina was friendly early on.  Because of this, I never went through a time of self-hate or rejection of my vulva.  She is beautiful, because she is part of me.  And with that early realization, I knew she was something to be protected.  But sometimes, no matter how much we try to protect ourselves, others take advantage of us.  While still a child, my vagina was violated.  It became my biggest secret – my greatest humiliation.  No matter how beautiful I thought my vulva was, I had the unshakeable shame of molestation.  The most important thing to me was to present my soul mate with my vagina – completely untouched and saved for him.  I understood it as the centermost part of me; to give it to him was to fully give myself to my lover.  It took a long time, but eventually I understood that my spirit could never be taken away.  Everything about my vagina is spiritual to me.  Now, I move to help girls be released from shame and fear of their vulvas.  To teach them how to nurture themselves and understand their pure beauty.  I seek to inform, comfort, and listen to them; to be a safe place.  To be a haven.

- Haven

Meet Our Models: Jo

My vulva and I have been through a lot, but it was only within the past few years that I have learned to love her as she should be loved. To love me as myself, and as a woman who deserves such love.

I was sexually abused when I was 4…I was sexually assaulted by my ex at 16…my second ex tolerated me only because I had sex with him (see a pattern?)

I didn’t realize that I…and my vulva…deserved to be loved as a whole. That I was much more than just a flesh and bone body used for sex. My vulva was something more…and what she was experiencing was nothing what she deserved.

I was 18 and with my boyfriend (future husband) and I remember having sex with him one evening and feeling a sensation that I had never, ever felt before. It was so intense and so annoying, I moved in such a way to make it stop. It wasn’t until I was experimenting one evening-which I realized I had been on the brink of having an orgasm. So uneducated I was!

I never practiced masturbation on a regular basis-I had no idea what I liked or didn’t like. Granted I have cheated most of the time and used a vibrator-but I didn’t have the patience to love myself. I have gradually worked on this “inability”…and I can say I have learned more about myself and what I like. It’s a good feeling to know that I know myself in an intimate way. 

Then one day I woke up and felt so uncomfortable, and I ended up making a doctor appointment-and I got the call from the nurse who said I had herpes. My mind was blown;  my mum had been over for the day visiting. She accompanied me to the pharmacy-she told me it would be ok. That evening I told my husband-he said he still loved me…but for awhile I felt completely worthless and dirty.

After awhile I calmed down …I wasn’t alone. I was ok-I wasn’t to be loved any less…I was still human. My vulva was still a vulva-she was still the essence of woman. She didn’t balk…she healed from her wounds. She stood strong. She was still worthy of love, and so was I.

I have been on such a journey for so much of my life…and most of what I know about myself, my body, and my vulva is from what I learned all by myself. It has been a hard journey at times-but my vulva…my womanhood…the strength within me to keep going even when it got tough…it’s all been worth it. Worth it so I could experience my inner strength…to realize my beauty from the inside as well as the outside. To love me is to love my vulva…you can’t have either without the other.

-Jo

A Call for Models

What makes our model program so important?

Dee

There is a collective belief in society today, especially among women, that only one kind of Vulva that is attractive. We also have this idea that other women look more or less the same and our Vulva is just way off from what's normal. 

Both of these ideas complete bunk. 

In a study done in London looking at just 50 women they found the length of their labia minora ranged from 20mm to 100mm.  So there goes the “yours is off and everyone else’s is normal” idea. Right out the window. And I can tell you, 3 years later, 25 models later and at least 100 portrait pendants later: I have never seen two women who’s Vulva look the same. And we don't stop there. We ask them to share their stories. So they act as advocates for others who have experienced something similar.It let's others in that same spot know that they are not alone, and at the same time it challenges the way others think about people in that situation: It is easy to judge or hate people when you don't know anything about them, it is a lot harder to do that when you hear their truth.

The beautiful thing about our model program is it completely obliterates both of those ideas. All of our models are different, each one unique- their own snowflake. And yet every single one is beautiful.

It’s an understanding that we are trying to spread like wildfire. The more models we have the more we represent the wide range that is women’s beauty and the experiences of those of us that have Vulvas. We serve as a visual and emotional reference point of what it is like to live in the world as individual and what real, un-altered women’s bodies look like. We are tired of the self-shame, you know it because you feel it to. So stand out as an icon of what real beauty is and spread the Vulva Love.

As a note: when we say Vulva we mean ALL Vulvas, regardless of whether you were born with yours or you had to fight for yours.

Of course, being a model comes with its benefits:

•         You get a lifetime 10% off discount code
• This works on your entire order, for all time and on all items
•     Your Metamorphosis piece will make her grand debut and she will serve as the facebook icon for that entire week

What do I need?

*3-4 photos at slightly different angles and a word document with

* Your Vulva’s story, whatever ‘Your Vulva’s Story’ means to you is what we want.

*What first name you would like to be identified as. You can use yours or come up with a super fun alter ego.  

E-mail everything to me at: VulvaLoveLovely@Gmail.com. I will reply with your lifetime discount code.

Here are some photo taking tips

Thanks for everything you do for women, you all deserve the world. 

With so much Vulva Love,

~Jessica Marie, aka Lula