Vaginal health laid bare

The Big Vagina Report 2023, from leading intimate health brand Balance Activ, is the UK’s biggest ‘vagina study’ of 5,000 women and reveals the shame and embarrassment women feel about their vagina, where this hails from and how it impacts them on a daily basis. 

It seems the problem starts in the classroom with a fifth of those surveyed saying they learnt nothing at all at school about the female anatomy and 74% think females are taught from an early age to hide their experiences, and ‘be discreet’ when referencing anything to do with their bodily functions.

It’s clear this lack of understanding has left its mark because a significant 66% of women rarely or never engage in conversations about their private parts. Furthermore 46% agree or strongly agree that they’re not sure if what is happening in their vagina is normal or abnormal.

Not only are women not talking about vaginal health, they’re ashamed and embarrassed to do so. Over three quarters of women (77%) said they would be embarrassed about talking their private parts with people they don’t know well but perhaps more worryingly 39% of women said they would even be embarrassed talking to a health professional about it. 

So what subjects are off limits, and why? Half of respondents said they would feel uncomfortable talking about discharge, followed closely by STIs (49%), bacterial vaginosis (BV) (47%) and sex (44%). For the younger generations, the most popular reason cited was fear of judgement.

In order to deal with this shame and embarrassment, we’re not even referring to our private parts by their real name with over a quarter of women (26%) giving their vagina a nickname and 7 in 10 saying they would just like to minimise chat about their private parts as much as possible. When it comes to buying intimate health products  more than a fifth (21%) even whispering or using a lowered voice to order intimate products from behind the counter.

Dr Shazia Malik, Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, comments on these statistics, “It’s clear there is a lack of education about intimate health from a young age, leading women to feeling too embarrassed to even consult a healthcare professional. Some things need to change and we can start doing this now by educating ourselves and others. 

“It’s really important for women to be able to spot the signs of any changes in the vagina or vulva, which is why it’s great that there are tools and support out there to help and encourage women to speak more openly.

“Women should feel comfortable about speaking in confidence to their GP or healthcare professional about intimate health. We are here to help and let’s face it, we’ve seen and heard everything before! I’m so pleased to see research like this being produced, which brings these issues into the limelight and will hopefully help women to feel more empowered to talk openly about these things.”

As women we’re struggling to identify vaginal health problems with 45% of women saying that they have experienced their vagina secreting a discharge they had no idea about how to identify on their own. Over a fifth (22%) are not confident they know the symptoms of thrush and over 4 in 10 (44%) are not confident they know the symptoms of BV. 

Balance Activ has a range of products for BV, thrush and vaginal dryness as well as a confidential and anonymous symptom checker to help women identify what the issue is. If you are unsure always speak to your pharmacist or GP before choosing products.

Balance Activ™ products are available nationwide from Boots, ASDA, Morrisons, Tesco, Superdrug and amazon.co.uk