It all started when I was about fourteen or fifteen. I noticed that my vulva was ‘bigger’ than most. Bigger than those I saw in porn. Bigger than bathing suit models. And as a dancer, I was very self-conscious in my daily uniform of a leotard and tights. I started watching porn early on and quickly learned that big labia were hardly ever featured in videos. All the vulvas I saw were really small, which was so opposite from mine.

I also had a hernia surgery at age eight and have a small scar on top of my vulva. I remember being a teen and overhearing boys joking about vulvas and thinking to myself, ‘Thats me! I have that’, and being absolutely disgusted with my own labia and worried no boy would ever like me. I would look at myself in the mirror and tuck my labia up into my vagina. I remember looking up labiaplasty as young as fifteen years old because I felt something was so wrong with how my vulva looked.

With age, open conversations with my gyno and even close friends, and an amazing boyfriend who makes me feel sexy no matter what, I have come to love the size, shape, feel and look of my big labia. I only wish I knew more women/young girls had very similar vulvas and thoughts about their vulvas when I was fifteen. That's my story.

I also want to personally thank you for bringing something that was never discussed into the mainstream focus and helping people like myself feel more confident. I honestly feel like The Vulva Gallery opened me up to a world of amazing people all going through exactly what I have felt! I remember sending the Instagram page to my roommate and being like: ‘Look, we aren't alone!!’

C – 25 years old