The 34-year-old tells the sad reason she had ‘vulva anxiety’

Ellie Sedgwick first felt anxiety about what her vulva looked like when she was thirteen and a teenage boy asked her what it looked like.

“It was one of the first times I even thought about what mine looked like and from that moment on, I felt something was wrong with me,” she told news.com.au.

mrs. Sedgewick said her anxiety stemmed from the slang reference to having an ‘innie’ or ‘outie’ vagina.

Some women have vaginas where their labia are visible and some do not.

The 34-year-old said that in high school she heard really horrible comments directed at women who had “outie” vaginas.

“My vulva anxiety grew throughout my teenage years, eventually evolving into self-loathing as words like ‘kebab’, ‘upside-down volcano’ and ‘octa-pussy’ were thrown around the schoolyard to describe vulvas, she explained.

mrs. Sedgewick said the whole experience made her feel “different” from other girls largely because of society’s silence on vulvar diversity.

“Growing up, I didn’t see any representation of the vulva like mine, and uneducated comments made me believe I wasn’t normal,” she said.

After one of her first sexual experiences, a “cruel comment” about her vagina was made by the brother of someone she had slept with.

“It escalated the shame I was already experiencing and made being comfortable with a partner really difficult for me for years to come,” she said.

mrs. Sedgewick, who recently published a book, Flip Through My Flaps: An Exploration of the Vulva, worked on learning to love her vulva.

“My vulvar shame didn’t fully heal until my last trip to New York to finish the last pages of my book,” she said.

“During my trip, I finally got out from behind the camera for the first time and photographed my vulva. I was able to use a draft of my book to compare my vulva to others, finally realizing that mine was just like everyone else’s: unique, normal, beautiful.”

She explained that her book has led to so many “lovely” messages from women.

“I’ve had thousands of messages from people sharing their appreciation for celebrating the diversity of the vulva,” she said.

“I recently hosted my first book launch event in Melbourne and it was incredible to see women engaging with the book, seeing all the beautiful bodies inside and reading personal stories.”

“After seeing my work, I love hearing from people who have decided not to go ahead with their labiaplasty surgery.”

mrs. Sedgewick said the whole experience has taught her that her concern about the appearance of her lips was unfounded.

“I’ve learned that the lips I’ve spent so much of my life worrying about are completely normal. And it’s not just a meaningless piece of skin, it has thousands of nerve endings that can be used as a tool for my pleasure.”

“I learned to love this part of myself by helping others do the same.”