Let's talk Vag Badge

Yes, that’s its real name. Yes, we considered softening it. No, we’re not going to.

Because here’s what I’ve learned after years of sitting with women.

We’ve been trained to whisper about this. We’ll say “down there” and “lady problems” while pointing vaguely at our midsections, as if our anatomy is a rumor we’re not allowed to confirm.

So this month, we’re naming it — hello, Vag Badge.

The challenge was simple: Do one thing to care for your reproductive, pelvic or sexual health. You choose the step. The badge celebrates you taking it.

And here’s why it’s more than a cheeky name.

Women were not required to be included in US clinical research trials until 1993. Nineteen ninety-three. That’s the year the Spice Girls formed. But medicine was still studying men and assuming the results applied to anyone with a pulse.

(So perhaps the anthem should have gone: “If you wannabe be my doctor…” Unfortunately, Evidence-Based Spice hadn’t joined the group yet.)

The consequences of that are not historical trivia. They’re in exam rooms right now.

We wait years for the endo diagnosis while we’re told stabbing periods are just part of the deal. Study after study shows our pain is more likely to be labelled emotional, more likely to be undertreated, more likely to be met with “have you tried losing weight?”

The result? We silence ourselves. We stop asking questions, or demanding answers.

We stop using our voices.

It’s time to change that — to channel a bit more Scary and a little less Posh. To say the actual words — vulva, vagina, cervix, clitoris — out loud to a medical professional.

Which brings me to the time I had to google “what is the butthole actually called...?” while preparing to speak with an advice nurse. I didn’t get a badge for that, but I should have.

And so should you.

So when your Vag Badge lands in your mailbox, I hope you’ll wear it with exactly the energy the name deserves.

Because your health was never a “down there” issue.

It’s an everywhere issue.

And you are worth the appointment.

With so much joy,

P.S. It’s called an anus 👀

The July Vag Badge Challenge is now closed, but we will be running it again soon! To earn this badge next time, join the Vag Badge waitlist.