THE COOKIE TALK 1

Bacteria vaginosis explained.

In the vagina monologues by Eve Ensler, she said

“I bet you're worried about vaginas, I am too. I was worried about what we think about vaginas and even more worried that we don't think about them”

I intently want to call this piece a Ladies’ corner but this is as important to girls as it is to guys. I will try as much as possible not to use medical terms and keep this as relatable as possible. I’m going to pick a topic that we barely discuss and shed a bit of light on it.

For ladies, one of the most embarrassing things will most certainly be hearing a rumor about yourself that your vagina has a bad odor. It can also be finding out the weird odor yourself or coming from a guy that you had a crush on and you agreed to do “something”.

On the other hand, I know how disheartening it can be for guys when you are about to ravage that dessert and the smell coming from down there is not pleasant at all. Or the “dip-in-to-perceive” style where you put a finger in first, smell it before proceeding, and finding out there’s a bad smell, everything else automatically halts.

As a girl, you start to question yourself when this reality of an odorous vagina hits you after your crush/boyfriend/whatever it is opted out of a “gives” session because of it. Questions like “Am I a dirty girl?” “But I peed and cleaned up after my last sex?” “why would my cookie smell like fish?” “Am I not washing well?”. And then the guy might spontaneously draw a conclusion of “She’s a dirty girl” “She’s infected” or if y’all in a relationship, he might assume “she’s been sleeping around”.

This is valid based on anyone’s obliviousness.

A typical girl will try washing the inside of the vagina with soap, or maybe douche or even avoid sexual activity completely after hearing this which is totally wrong.

A quick breakdown of the normal;

The vagina has its normal discharge like the mouth has the saliva. The vagina discharge is a mild odorous off-white discharge secreted by the cervix and the vagina walls to keep the vagina clean. It changes in color and amount throughout the monthly cycle. To add this, it may turn yellow when it dries on your pant (so that thing you see on your pant after a long day is normal).

Honestly, vaginas don’t smell or taste like strawberries or grapes. It tastes like a body part that it is, a vagina.

You don't need to wash the inside of the vagina because the cleaning function of the vagina is done by a bacteria(a good bacteria), Lactobacilli that produces lactic acid which protects the vagina from other bacteria and gives the slightly acidic pH level of the vagina. 

Once anything out of the normal affects this good bacteria it becomes a bad bacteria and this affects the smell and amount of discharge produced by the vagina.

This leads to BACTERIA VAGINOSIS(BV for short)

1 in 3 sexually active women had or has BV and 60% of women who once had it are prone to recurrence.

What is bacteria vaginosis?

Firstly, to debunk the “that babe has an infection” ideology. Bacteria vaginosis is not a sexually transmitted infection, neither does it have anything to do with a woman’s body count. Funny enough, having unprotected sex with just that one person you trust even makes it easier to get BV.

BV occurs mostly due to unprotected sex but can also be due to other things like:

Douching, antibiotics, and even menstrual blood. Anything that changes the vijay’s PH

“If I get BV from unprotected sex that means it’s a sexually transmitted infection right?”

Well, The semen from guys, unlike the acidic vagina, is alkaline. And you might want to say, (but he did not cum inside of me) That little little pre-cum that helps to grease the action also contains the alkaline semen. For sperm to travel during sex, the acidic vagina is made alkaline. Once there is this change in the PH of the vagina, Fishy foul-smelling Bacteria Vaginosis occurs.

How do you know BV and rule it out from STI's?

The really bad dead fish odor is the first thing

The second is the color, it has a grey, plain white color

Other being the amount, it is excessive. Your pant will be full with whitish or grayish smelly discharge.

It also has an unusually creamy feel if you rub it against the tip of your finger.

The one important way to know it’s not an STI is that BV is oftentimes not itchy and you don’t experience painful urination or redness of the labia, unlike STIs.

You might experience a little off bleeding here and there when it’s not your period too.

Why should you pay prompt attention to BV?

BV is a leading cause of low birth weight baby or even a miscarriage because of the presence of the “bad bacteria”

An untreated BV leads to Pelvic inflammatory disease which leads to INFERTILITY.

Among other things.

I would have loved to add a corner listing drugs to use or something but all I will say is if you ever notice your discharge deviating from the normal, 

“See a doctor”. 

Don’t be shy, trust me, doctors have seen a lot. 

My fifty-cent advice though is going to be, use a condom during sex, avoid washing the inside of your vagina, wipe from front to back after peeing too and have a good diet.

In conclusion, I put this piece together because I have heard a lot of heartbreaking and annoying things when guys discuss a girl whose vagina smells bad and I just wonder at people’s ignorance. Especially knowing that often times, the guy is the cause. And how some girls gather round to discuss another girl when a gist comes to their table about a girl's vagina smelling like fish. I just had to scramble this up and sensitize y’all in the best way I can. I'm not entirely saying BV is the only cause of a smelly vijay though, Vaginitis and trichomoniasis can also cause this but they do come with other symptoms especially itchiness. 

I hope y’all learned one or two from this. 

Remember as a sexually active girl, you should see a doctor for a thorough pelvic exam and Pap smear at least once in a year.

So do enjoy the rest of your evening, or morning or afternoon. Whenever this gets to you.

Make sure to Like and Share this with someone so they can learn one or two too. And also leave me a comment on anything you're confused about.

Love,

Tutu ❤️