Modern medicine performs heart transplants, sequences tumour genomes and operates on foetuses in the intrauterine environment. Yet many people — including medical professionals — are unable to correctly identify female genitalia.
How solid is your knowledge of female anatomy? Test yourself:
A pilot study showed that only 9% of survey participants (n=191, all non-medical professionals) were able to name the external female genitalia correctly from an anatomical point of view1. Women performed slightly better than men.
The vulva is not the vaginaThis fact alone trips many people up. Whilst the vulva refers to the external female genitalia, the vagina refers exclusively to the muscular internal canal between the vulva and the cervix (what was that again? Oh yes, the neck of the uterus). We move on to what is arguably the most important vessel of the uterus: the uterine artery. But where does it actually originate? Most people would answer: ‘From the internal iliac artery’. This is technically correct but practically incomplete. For the anatomy of the uterine artery is surprisingly variable. According to Gomez-Jorge, there are four anatomical variants (Study: Type I: 45%, Type II: 6%, Type III: 43%, Type IV: 6%, Rare variants: common origin with other visceral branches, origin from persistent portions of the umbilical artery ~5%, unilateral absence of the uterine artery ~1%, bilateral absence ~0.3%)2.
This variability is not merely an anatomical curiosity rarely taught. It is clinically relevant (keywords: uterine artery embolisation, hysterectomy, oncological surgery, reconstructive genital surgery following female genital mutilation) and yet, outside expert circles, largely unknown.
The clitoris: centuries of anatomical invisibilityThe clitoris is not just a ‘tiny spot’ somewhere in front of the vaginal opening. The term ‘bulboclitoral organ’ is unfamiliar territory for many of us. Do you know what it is?
A fully labelled anatomical diagram of the entire clitoris did not appear until the 40th edition of Gray’s Anatomy in 2008. Yet the clitoris is highly complex in neuroanatomical terms. Recent studies are increasingly mapping the course of the clitoral nerve fibres — with direct relevance to vulvar surgery, labiaplasty, gender reassignment surgery, birth trauma, chronic pain syndromes and sexual dysfunction.3
Female anatomy is under-represented — even in teaching
An analysis4 of anatomical teaching materials revealed that:
This means that, for decades, medicine has been standardised primarily on the male body. Female anatomy was often treated as a ‘special case’ rather than a reference model.
Drawing on the latest papers and research findings, developers have now created a female mixed-reality model that can be dissected down to the smallest detail. Corpus’s latest female model is more accurate than many atlases and depicts the structures with unprecedented precision. That is modern teaching!
Cosmetic procedures and anatomical standardisationAlongside this knowledge gap, aesthetic genital surgery is booming. Labiaplasty procedures are on the rise worldwide5. Many patients report feeling insecure about ‘normal’ anatomy, experiencing shame, having a distorted self-perception, and lacking anatomical knowledge. The result is that normal anatomy is pathologised.
The ‘problem’: there is enormous anatomical diversity in the vulva. Yet, socially speaking, the only representation that is visible – if any – is usually a highly standardised one. In pornography, advertising, social media6 or even medical illustrations. Initial surveys7 from the US have shown that content with female medical contexts is actively reported and censored on social media (e.g. facts about menstruation, campaigns about vulvar cancer, the use of the words vagina and vulva, the vaginal microbiome).
What can we do?For one thing, education is key. Bookshops already stock educational books for young children that explain the names of the different organs and the diversity that exists. However, it is equally important to educate one’s own parents or grandparents so that misinformation is not passed on, and so that this group of patients can also correctly describe symptoms such as pain or redness (e.g. vulvovaginitis, vulvodynia, lichen sclerosus, vulvar cancer). Incidentally, this is often the generation that still believes the hymen provides evidence of whether penetrative sexual intercourse has taken place. Yet very few people realise how varied this tissue rim can look, or that it may not even be present at all.A high standard of accuracy is therefore particularly important in teaching. For it is we and future generations who will determine how the female body is viewed. Last but not least, it is, as always, our medical and ethical duty to remain at the cutting edge of science so that we can educate, allay our patients’ fears and offer the best possible treatment.
Sources:
1. El-Hamamsy et al. Public understanding of female genital anatomy and pelvic organ prolapse (POP); a questionnaire-based pilot study. Int Urogynecol J. 2021
2. Kot et al. Blood supply of the internal female genital tracts with special attention paid to the uterine cervix – an overview. Folia Medica Craciviensia. 2025
3. HHU – Veröffentlichung in Folia Morphologica. Erstmals Nervenbahn der Klitoris detailliert dargestellt. 2026
4. Longhurst et al., Beyond the tip of the iceberg: A meta-analysis of the anatomy of the clitoris, 2023
5. Hayes et al., What is the anatomical basis of labiaplasty? A review of normative datasets for female genital anatomy, 2020
6. Mohammed et al., The impact of social media on female genital self-image, 2025
7. CensHERship Ltd 2024, Social Media Censorship Survey Updated survey results, 2025
Image source: Unsplash - Deon Black
Medical image source: DocCheck; Created with BioRender.com (2026); licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
