Shame and Camel Toe

The Love Your Petals Project - The beauty of the Vulva

Yes. That's a vagina poster. Probably not something you would be willing to frame and showcase under gallery lighting in your home, but it has an irreverent beauty to it. Don't you think?
 
Speaking of vaginal beauty, I know this little bit of advice might come across as slightly unothodox and a little unfavorable to most women, but I'm just going to put this out there:  



Ladies... embrace the camel toe. 

It happens. Especially while running or at the gym. Everybody knows it happens. It happens to all of us at some point and for me it happens almost all the time – even in the most comfiest of gymwear. 

Even hot athletes suffer camel toe.

If you're in the middle of a circuit that includes running or anything like mountain climbers, groiners, jumping jacks, box step-ups, lunges, squats or basically any movement that requires you to separate your legs I guarantee that at some point you will feel an uncontrollable desire to yank your pants out of your crotch crack. And as if that deep floss feeling isn't uncomfortable enough, the problem is exacerbated with sweating and can create a whole "front-to-back" wedgie if you don't take matters into your own hands. 

Yeah. I get it. Literally.

It's not exactly a feeling that is easily "embraced" but I've learned to come to terms with this over the past few years. Some might suggest the choice of underwear is to blame for the propensity for camel toe, but I refuse to believe that wearing full coverage underwear would be more comfortable than a thong while running or working out. So in my personal defense of the thong, I'm ok with the floss-like feeling and would rather suffer exposing the outline of my womanly parts than to have to succumb to wearing an extra layer of suffocating fabric beneath my workout clothes while I'm doing an intense, sweaty circuit.

"Moose Knuckle" - Male Camel Toe

Ladies, I think its time we get over it. We're women. Everyone knows we're women and women have labia. Just like every man has a different size and shaped penis – hey... we aren't the only ones who have to worry about showing our goods to the world while we are engaged in sport – the labia are unique in size and shape to every woman and unless you've ever googled a "blue waffle" (WARNING: Google that shit at your own risk and don't even THINK about saying I didn't warn you) the vulva is actually a surreptitiously beautiful part of a woman's genitalia.

Honestly, what's the big deal about camel toe, anyway? Heaven forbid others see hints of our bodies that make us uniquely women. Really? Why are we so ashamed of this? Are we ashamed when people look at the shape of our breasts when we wear a t-shirt or what our butt looks like in jeans? HELLS NO! In fact, as women, we often wear clothing that accentuates those "assets" if we have them. Am I not right?

OK. I know... embracing the camel toe is a little like trying to be enthusiastic about finding a pube in your pasta. (Yeah. I went there. Sorry.) Its a little unsettling, but, I think its time we become less self-conscious about our bodies. Shame exposes itself in what we are afraid to reveal to others. It takes away a part of who we are. It deadens it and denies our value. So how do we take back the the things we are ashamed of and make them healthy and beautiful again? Well, without going as far as public nudity (which I highly recommend as a way of getting over body issues) I say we just embrace that which we can't control. In this case – the camel toe. I don't want to be ashamed of my body. I'm a beautiful, wondrous and remarkable human being... sometimes, with camel toe.
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