I’ve noticed in my voyeurism of the female form, that all vaginas look different. But I’ve really noticed in person and in pics that some women have huge inner labia and some have almost none at all.
What is the deal with this? What purpose does it serve and why do some women have large labia and some have really small?
Male and female sex organs are formed from the same embryonic tissue. For the first few weeks, a fetus has a genetic sex but it’s not physically differentiated. So the same tissue that forms the head of the penis in males forms the clitoris in females. The same tissue that forms the scrotum forms the labia majora. And the same tissue that forms the phallus forms the labia minora. So it’s possible that the labia minora are partially a vestigal organ–women have them because men need that tissue to do something evolutionarily valuble.
On a more practical note, the labia minora serve the purpose of additional protection for the vagina and urethra. Also, many (or most, according to Masters & Johnson) women who orgasm through sexual intercourse alone (as opposed to clitoral stimulation) are orgasming because the folds of the labia minora meet over the head of the clitoris…during penetration, the labia minora are rubbed back and forth and can stimulate the clitoris, resulting in orgasm.
As for why some many have small labia and some women have large…well, on one hand, it just chalks up to individual differences. Much like some people have blue eyes, some people have brown eyes. Some men have large testicles, some have small. There’s probably an element of sexual selection at work, too…perhaps some primitive men were attracted to petite labia, some to large.
I say someone should pony up rhiannon’s entry fee, and we open the gates. Anyone who can stand up against the silly and ick of the first few posts and still post such an informative and worthwhile response deserves a spot amongst the teeming millions. And failing that, she ought to pay her own way and join us anyway. Welcome, toots.
Oh, yeah, well, anybody can Google “labia” and manage to come up with some scientific explanation – that’s the easy part. But can she keep up with the scintillating and whimsical humor of these threads? Hmmmm? Besides, nobody offered to pony up my subscription fee when I was holding forth, after great research and and fact-checking, on whether “kitchen,” when used in the phrase “kitchen floor,” is an adjective. Hah! Pay yer own way, kid!
Oh, yeah, and when somebody offers pie? It ain’t real pie!
Errrr … maybe this wasn’t the best thread to offer that insight …