It is apparent that pronunciation of the name of the vulva is generally avoided. During our seminar discussions, students have categorically told me that it is not conventional for people in their communities to identify “that part” of the female body by its “name”. Why? The shame linked with various vernacular terms used to describe the vagina is evident. Some students say that one has to be out of one’s mind to be able to use “that term”. Some of the responses I get range from: “that thing is dirty, it is not referred to in its original name… you cannot name it in public ”. One male student told me ”the term is an insult… even when men are
making love to their wives… they use symbolic terms in reference to the vulva”. Another student observed that “if someone calls you ‘it’ … you can easily murder them because calling someone ‘a vagina’ is such a terrible thing”. A female student conclusively stated that it is not pronounceable.
In my vernacular the vulva is called nvini. This term can only be used publicly as an insult. This happens especially when two adult men are fighting or if one really wants to hurt the opponent deeply. Ardener’s study of the Bakweri, Balong, and the Kom tribes of Cameroon shows that names used to describe the female genitalia also refer to an insult (1975, 1987). Similar observations have been made among the Azande (Evans-Pritchard 1929), among the Meru and Kikuyu of Kenya (Lambert 1956) and among the Pokot (Edgerton and Conant 1964).
The feelings attached to names for the male genitalia are very different. The information that I have collected from students originating from different ethnic backgrounds shows that names used to describe the male genitals are characteristic of the shape or sexual functions of the penis. For example, among the Kikuyu, the male penis is called mucuthe which means ‘tail’, among the Embu it is called muthino and mucino among the Ambeere, both of which mean something used for pricking or digging or something that is meant ‘to go into something else’. Interestingly, the majority of my audience do not find it as shameful talking about the penis as it is to talk about the vagina. Evidence from our discussions shows that children are taught names of different body parts except the vagina. Different pseudonyms exist for the male genitalia. In my community the male genital is called karamu which is the vernacular name for a ‘pen’, the female genital has no pseudonym. Similar patterns exist in other parts of the world. Significantly, the Holy Bible establishes the wickedness of the vagina. The text of the Old Testament compiled in the third century BC explicitly refers to the sexual cravings of the vagina. The book of Proverbs 30:15 explicitly states: “There are three things that are never sated, hell, the vagina and the earth.” A pattern emerges where female sexuality is inhibited by society’s definition of it, whereas male sexuality is punctuated with performance and achievement.
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I have wondered for quite some time now why the feminist movement has not attempted to change these negative stereotypes associated with the vagina. While I was writing this paper, I had personal discussions with a number of European
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Opening a Can of Worms: A Debate on Female Sexuality in the Lecture Theatre
women (from Sweden, Finland and Norway) and they felt that the vagina is still a “shameful” thing to talk about in the western world.
Shirley Ardener, in Perceiving Women (1975), uses ethnographic examples to illustrate how women from West Cameroon, Bakweri and Kom, react and deal with sexual insults from men. The women’s associations in western Cameroon use direct collective action to resolve disputes, which has proved to be both a strong and powerful form of social sanction: the women from Bakweri will respond to scornful lewd comments from men, particularly those about the smell of female genitalia, in a specific way. Ardener states that “if such an insult had been uttered to a Bakweri woman before a witness, she is supposed immediately to call out all other women of the village” (Ardener 1975). The women of Bakweri perceive this form of insult as an affront not only to the individual but also to their gender as a whole. The women will collectively confront the male offender expecting an apology to, and compensation for, the affronted women. Even when the accused man has admitted to the offence, the women will continue their protest and will encircle him singing “abusive songs accompanied by obscene gestures” in order to emphasize the gravity of the offence. The behaviour of the women is seen as highly embarrassing for men to witness and while the protest is taking place the other male villagers will move away from the scene, meanwhile the offender tries to avert his eyes as the protest continues. In Kom similar forms of female militant corporate actions occur, and “when the women of a village wished to resort to disciplinary action against a man… they assembled as anlub The women of Kom have a similar way of calling together the females of the village as in Bakweri. As a high pitched call to assemble is sounded, females around the village will stop their daily tasks and join the growing throng of women. The nature of the offence will be relayed and frenzied dancing adds to the atmosphere. To add to the solemnity of the offence the ancestors are called upon to join the protest (Ardener 1975).
While such militancy demonstrates that women are not just passive recipients of verbal violence, their dramatic strategies do not seek long-term solutions to the negative images associated with the female genitalia. To support this statement, I will give an example of the Kikuyu, the largest tribe in Kenya. I am familiar with this ethnic group who are my close neighbours and some of my students are Kikuyu. Lambert’s 1956 ethnographic analysis details pre-colonial female militancy among the Kikuyu. Here women show their displeasure by ‘cursing’ the offender. A form of curse employed by women involves deliberate exhibition of their private parts towards the person being cursed. Usually the aggrieved women remove their undergarments, stand in line with their backs towards the offender, bend forward and lift their backsides in unison (1956:99).
In the post-colonial Kikuyu such vulgar resistance has been overtaken by ‘modernity’ and by the impact of Christian religious teachings on modesty. In contrast, use of ‘insults’ related to the female genitalia continues in contemporary so — [103]
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Mumbi Machera
ciety. The most widely used is a Swahili word kumamamako which means ‘your mother’s vagina’.