Vulva Mapping

For health, wellness, and pleasure

If you’re a woman who has never taken part in vulva mapping — either solo or with a partner — then I highly recommend it.

What does vulva mapping entail, exactly? It involves setting aside time for some self-care and taking a lovely little excursion with your hands to explore the external and internal areas of your female anatomy — all while being mindful of how each part feels and the sensations you experience.

The vulva is a wonder, and for those of you who are vulva owners, there are numerous benefits to familiarizing yourself with your most intimate parts by name and by feel.

Awareness, wellness, and pleasure too

How many of us have actually searched out and felt each of our inner and outer reproductive parts in a mindful way? How many of us know all the technical terms for all of our lady bits?

Vulva mapping helps us understand how things work together in our sexual ecosystem, giving us a wealth of knowledge and understanding that can help maintain reproductive health, heal past trauma, and promote sexual pleasure. It can also help women acknowledge any body shame or embarrassment we may have with our uniquely shaped vulvas and appreciate our differences.

For those of you who without a vulva, see if your partner would be comfortable with you helping her explore. If you’re without a partner or your partner isn’t ready for mapping with you just yet, read on to find some useful info for future use.

While most of us are familiar enough with the basics to get by (the vagina, the clitoris, the labia), we don’t often take the time for mindful exploring or take note of all the sensations and locations of our less talked about sexual parts.

Don’t be afraid to know yourself and claim your vulva!

Grab the gear you need for your travels

• You don’t necessarily need a mirror. This is all about a felt experience and doesn’t have to be visual, but feel free to position yourself with a mirror in front of you. You’ll want to have both hands free, so make sure the mirror can stand on its own.
• Have a generous supply of lube within reach. This will provide comfort and the ability to maneuver your hands and fingers however you prefer.
• If you’re already setting aside this time for self-care, why not take the opportunity to create an atmosphere of calm and relaxation? Light candles, play soothing or sensual music, set a diffuser with your favorite essential oils, use luxurious pillows or bedding — maybe even run a hot bubble bath (as long as you are using bubbles that won’t irritate your delicate skin down there). Map your vulva wherever you feel comfortable doing so. Relaxation is key.
• Feel free to let your vulva mapping journey end in a pleasurable orgasm if that’s where you feel like letting it take you. But before that happens, find your different parts, feel them, and take the time to focus on the sensations that come with each stop. If, after you’ve completed your journey, you feel nice and sexy and ready for an orgasmic release, then by all means, go for it! Just don’t feel like you have to — this exercise really is about the journey.

The outer regions

It makes sense to begin at the beginning, at the mons pubis — that beautifully rounded pad of squishy tissue lying over the joint of the pelvic bone. Some of us like it shaved, some of us don’t. Either way, give it some gentle massage and focus on how it feels when it moves with the motion of your hand.

Lube your fingers generously and apply gentle touch to the outer labia. For some of us, these lips are bigger than our inner labia. For others, the inner labia are bigger or equal in size. To avoid perpetuating genital shaming or just plain anatomical inaccuracies, I’ll avoid using “labia majora/minora,” which implies the outer and inner lips should be of a certain size.

Visit the inner labia. Notice how it feels when you rub these more sensitive lips. Let your fingertips dance along the full length of each one and familiarize yourself with any sensations you notice.

Move your fingers to the top of the inner labia, where sits Her Royal Highness The Clitoris — that wonderous and ultra-sensitive bundle of nerves we know and love so well. It’s often compared in size to a bean or a pea (giving the Princess and the Pea fairytale a whole new meaning).

Food metaphors aside, there’s so much more to this magical pleasure center of the vulva than meets the eye.

There’s the clitoral hood, which protects the 8,000 nerve endings housed beneath it. The hood comes in all different sizes. Some women can often orgasm by rubbing the clitoral hood over the clitoris. Some prefer lifting the hood and applying direct contact. Allow your fingers to feel your clitoral hood. Notice the sensations when you move it around. Next, gently lift the hood with one hand and feel the glans of the clitoris with the other. Move your fingertips over your clitoris and use your finger and thumb to feel its exact shape, length, and location.

This brings us to a super fun fact you’ll explore once you begin internal mapping, which is that the miraculous clitoris is both external and internal. But more on that when we get there.

First, lower your fingers below the clitoral glans and just above the vagina to feel the urethral opening, technically known as the urethral meatus.

Now that you’re here, you’re in the vestibule of the vagina. In human anatomy, the vestibule is the space surrounding the entrance to the vaginal canal. It’s the grand hotel lobby of the vagina, if you will. And while it’s a lovely waiting area, there’s a lot more to see.

The introitus is the formal name for the vaginal opening. Since we don’t partake in mapping our vulvar anatomy every day, we might as well break out the fancy terms and dress our gals up for the special occasion.

Glide your fingers along the opening of the vagina before continuing down to the charmingly named fourchette. While it may sound like a zesty Italian appetizer, the fourchette is actually the little ridge of skin where the folds of the inner labia meet at the bottom of the vulva, just above the perineum. Some women find that the fourchette can be a sensitive little area when aroused and appreciate stimulation there.

After the fourchette, feel the surface area of the perineum, just above the anus, and any sensations it brings. This area — the fourchette and the perineum — are the most common areas of injury during vaginal birth. If you’ve given birth vaginally or maybe even had an episiotomy (like I did), feel these areas and take note of any ridges or scarring.

Diving below the surface

At this point, insert a generously lubed finger or two (whichever is comfortable — you can use the thumb as well) into the vaginal opening, and start to explore the lay of the land internally.

First, take a moment to clench your muscles around your fingers and feel the tension there — really feel the absolute power and strength your vulva is capable of and how you can control it by tightening and relaxing.

Stay relaxed as you move your fingers in a full circle, keeping contact with the vaginal walls all the way around. Start at the top, swoop down and around slowly, then back to where you started. This allows you to get a sense of the shape of your vaginal canal and anything you feel there. Take note of the softness of the walls, the moisture, the warmth. Whatever your mind focuses on.

Back at the top and center, push up against the inner surface of your pubic bone, toward the urethra, and feel the difference in texture. From there, feel the muscular tissues on either side of the urethra. This is where the internal erectile tissues of the clitoris come back into play.

The glans of the clitoris connects to the body or shaft of the internal clitoris, which branches into two spongy legs (also called crura) that hug the vagina on either side when erect, extending deep into your pelvis, up to 4 inches. There is also the clitoral bulbs, which continue from the shaft and reach down and around your urethral and vaginal openings. Like the external point of the clitoris, the bulbs are sensitive to the touch, which explains part of the immense pleasure that can come from penetrative sex when we’re aroused.

Go a little deeper and feel the point behind the pubic bone, up toward your belly button, commonly called the G-spot. The term “G-spot” carries its controversy, but there is evidence to show that it is more accurately described as an area or region that composes a combination of parts of the clitoris, urethra, and vagina, all of which share the same blood supply and nerves.

Recently renamed the clitoral urethral vagina complex (CUV complex) by Dr. Helen O’Connell, a professor of urology at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, this spot is one part of the urethral sponge, a network of erectile tissue that surrounds the urethra all the way up to the neck of the bladder.

Interestingly, this area contains the glands known as the female prostate, where female ejaculation occurs.

But that’s not the end of the erogenous zone guided tour. Our vulvas are capable of even more pleasure, about two inches higher than the G-spot. Technically known as the anterior fornix erogenous zone, this hard-to-reach area is located deep inside the vagina between the cervix and the bladder. Depending on the length of your fingers, you may or may not need to enlist the help of a toy to feel this area.

Try feeling past the G-spot and move your fingers/toy in a windshield wiper motion rather than the typical in-and-out motion. See if you feel any increase in pressure or pleasure.

Be free and explore

Now that you’ve taken some time at each stop, feel free to let your hands roam wherever they will. Massage yourself internally and externally and focus on the sensations each area brings.

If you’re anything like me, you’re probably ready to take mindful vulva mapping and massage to the next level of sexual release.

And if you don’t feel like having a sexual release, that’s equally okay. This is a time when an orgasm truly isn’t the goal. In my experience, the goals of vulva mapping include awareness of your intimate parts, embodying your sexual self, and being in tune with what does or doesn’t feel good.

Getting to know your vulva on a deeper level — and the technical terms of your complex female system — will help you when communicating with your lover, your gynecologist, or maybe a close friend with whom you’re comparing notes.

The benefits are many for your health, wellness, and pleasure. Learning the language and — especially — the feel of your beautiful vulva is totally empowering.

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