The #MeToo campaign against sexual abuse of women went viral in 2017. Soon after, women had what I鈥檇 call an #AnatomyToo moment, when a toxic anatomical label was erased from women鈥檚 genitals.
鈥淧udendum鈥�, a long-standing term for 鈥渧ulva鈥�, the name for female external genitalia, was no more. Pudendum was emblematic of prejudicial attitudes to women among the traditionally male-dominated medical profession. Because, astonishingly, 鈥減udendum鈥� is from the Latin word pudere, meaning 鈥渢o be ashamed鈥�. Anatomists designated this most intimate part of a woman鈥檚 body as her most shameful.
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But that isn鈥檛 all. For hundreds of years, pudendum applied equally to women鈥檚 and men鈥檚 external genitalia. With time, men unburdened themselves of the label, leaving the naming and shaming especially for women.
In this context, it is hardly surprising many women feel insecure about their genitals. A UK found 65 per cent of young women had a problem saying 鈥渧ulva鈥� or 鈥渧agina鈥�. Body parts that dare not speak their name.
Names matter, as the gendered evolution of pudendum鈥檚 usage illustrates. Hence, its from official anatomical terminology in 2019.
But pudendum is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to male dominance of the female anatomy. Inside a woman, there is a veritable frat club of distinguished gentlemen, in the form of anatomical eponyms: body parts named after people, almost exclusively long-dead men.
A of 700 body parts named after 432 people found 424 were male physicians. The eight eponyms that weren鈥檛 male physicians comprised five gods, a king, a hero and just one woman: Raissa Nitabuch, a 19th-century Russian pathologist whose name is attached to a layer where the placenta separates from the uterus wall after delivery of a baby.
This bodily patriarchy isn鈥檛 surprising, given the average date the parts were named was 1847, when women didn鈥檛 get much of a look-in on our innards. Including women鈥檚 reproductive real estate, where men particularly hold sway.
Gabriele Falloppio is memorialised in the tubes connecting the uterus and ovaries. Skene鈥檚 glands 鈥� Alexander Skene 鈥� secrete female ejaculate into the urethra. The 鈥淕鈥� in G-spot is Ernst Gr盲fenberg鈥檚 while Bartholin鈥檚 glands 鈥� Caspar Bartholin the Younger 鈥� are close to the vagina鈥檚 opening and make fluid for sexual lubrication.
The masculine hegemony within the feminine is one reason why there have been calls for doctors to avoid eponyms in favour of more technically accurate terminology. Bartholin鈥檚 glands are greater vestibular glands. Skene鈥檚 glands are paraurethral glands. Fallopian tubes are uterine tubes.
However, anatomical eponyms are still commonly used, by doctors and the public. 鈥淔allopian tube鈥� won鈥檛 be exiting the vernacular any time soon. And even if eponyms are frog-marched out of the relevant bodily orifices, other unfortunately named anatomical parts would remain.
While pudendum is kaput, the equally problematic 鈥減udendal鈥� is still a feature of the female, and male, anatomy, in the form of pudendal nerves, arteries, veins and canals. Not that many of us are intimately acquainted with them.
Unlike the vagina. Only a man could have named it 鈥渧agina鈥�, from the Latin for 鈥渟cabbard鈥�. Admittedly a vagina rebrand isn鈥檛 on the cards, but there aren鈥檛 many who would miss the league of gentlemen that calls a woman鈥檚 other reproductive parts home, if they were firmly requested to leave.
As for the pudendal nerves, arteries etc. well, there is only one word to describe their persistence in the anatomical lexicon. Shameful.
Adam Taor is the author of
