Positive feelings for private parts.

• Position: Female Sexuality - Brief article

Women who feel more positively about female genitals find it easier to orgasm and are more likely to engage in sexual health-promoting behaviors, such as having regular gynecological exams or performing vulvar self-examinations, according to researchers at Indiana University, Bloomington.

'These are important findings about body image," suggests Debby Herbenick, associate director of the Center for Sexual Health Promotion in the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation. "Our culture often portrays women's genitals as dirty and in need of cleaning and grooming. Some women may have had greater exposure to such negative messages or they may be more susceptible to their impact."

Herbenick's study created a scale for measuring men's and women's attitudes toward women's genitals. Such a scale, she states, could be useful in sex therapy, in the medical arena to help better understand decisionmaking that goes into gynecological care and treatment, and in health education settings...