I recently discovered the existence of The Vagina Museum in London. At the top of their mission list is to, “Spread knowledge and raise awareness of the gynaecological anatomy and health.” After a cancer diagnosis that led to chemotherapy and a mastectomy, Lili Sohn realized that there were a lot of things about her body that she had no idea about. The result was a graphic novel with the same goal as the museum: Vagin Tonic. Originally published in French in 2018, Street Noise Books has updated Sohn’s work as Vagina Love: An Owner’s Manual, which uses quirky humor and delightful images to help dispel vulval myths and go beyond the textbooks when it comes to understanding and talking about, you know, down there.
Vagina Love: An Owner’s Manual
Lili Sohn (illustrator, writer), Sara Sugihara (translator)
Originally published by Casterman in Belgium in 2018
Street Noise Books
February 8, 2022
Here we are in 2022 and we still have millions of people who don’t know how their bodies work. Given that 51% of the world’s population has a vagina, the fact that our understanding of this body part is so limited for many, and worse, that so many are too shy or embarrassed to talk about, it is appalling. Sohn’s Vagina Love seeks to obliterate the taboos, myths, and misinformation, covering topics such as menstruation, anatomy, porn, OB/GYN visits, orgasms, body hair, contraception, and more.
But first, the graphic novel opens with a question: “So what is a woman anyway?” Here we get a feel for Sohn’s approach to much of the work, particularly, it seems, when it comes to elements that she is not quite comfortable with or knowledgeable enough to define. Though she herself is a cis gender heterosexual woman, this opening section wants to make it clear that this book is for anyone with a vagina. It includes explanations from various cis gender women, trans women, and nonbinary people as they attempt to answer the question in their own ways. This section comes across as a strong attempt at inclusion — it feels awkward and out of place, even including a sexist joke from one person’s 13-year-old son under the guise of one of the various perceptions of womanhood. It stresses that society’s narrow criteria for “what is a woman” clearly are not good enough, especially when many people, including herself, don’t even have several of the body parts that some think define womanhood thanks to her cancer treatments.
But is womanhood the theme of this book? Or vaginas? If the latter, why include this question at all when it excludes trans men? As far as inclusion goes, this section could well have been skipped as it feels shoehorned in as an attempt at checking off the inclusion checkbox. The language throughout otherwise does reflect inclusion — for the most part — but the imagery doesn’t really do so as it’s mainly focused on Sohn herself guiding the reader. That context makes sense given that the book began as her personal comics blog about her medical journey, but this particular section is indicative of the lack of cohesive focus that permeates the book. Sohn understandably seems to want to make the book about her personal exploration of womanhood in relation to her journey, but is also trying to make it more general. The combination doesn’t quite work under the broad scope of providing an owner’s manual for vagina owners.
When the book focuses on the anatomy and biology, it serves as an excellent teaching and learning tool, going into great detail which is kept light and fun with Sohn’s snark, as well as her use of many colloquialisms often used to refer to the vagina and its surrounding parts. These parts are clearly defined and diagramed, sometimes in anthropomorphized forms, along with what they do. No one should leave this book not understanding that yes, there are two holes and the vulva is the outside part we see (and possibly drawing a picture of their own vagina on the page provided).
There are lots of tidbits worthy of trivia questions, as well as a lot of theories and speculations about certain societal, cultural, and historical myths and misconceptions. When Sohn veers away from the concrete scientific facts of what the vagina, uterus, and connected parts do, things get a little bit murky. She ventures into poking at the patriarchy a bit but never digs too deep. There’s a moment where she brings up a connection between white supremacy and shaving body hair, but it’s just a passing note. Similarly, speculations about the source of the myth about the uncleanliness of menstrual blood are not explored with any kind of critical analysis, with the author simply offering an, “I don’t know,” and moving right along. Most notably, there is a section on gynecology that opens with her personal, very uncomfortable, and even painful experiences, leading to discussions of gynecological violence and the history thereof — without ever touching on how this particularly affected enslaved women.
While she may not consider herself an expert in any of the fields she discusses, or not want to share her own critical analysis of the misconceptions and where they might have come from, these anecdotes she brings up only to skim over could have at least benefited from footnoted resources for further reading. Hell, the four-page section on nymphoplasty could have benefited from even providing the first name of Dr. Opinel, whom she had spoken to for this part of the graphic novel. It’s Pierre, by the way. However, a bibliography is included, as well as some general further reading suggestions.
As far as vagina books go, Vagina Love: An Owner’s Manual shines at detailing the inner (and outer) workings of this controversially misunderstood body part and its connected bits. But perhaps it would have better served remaining as the personal journey it was originally intended, rather than attempt to be something more informative only to gloss over the more intricate discussions.
