Why are we so silly talking about intimate care?

Ina Co-Founder, Susan Goldsberry, was recently asked in a press interview, “If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?” Here’s her answer …
 
“I would love to have an impact on destigmatizing the conversation around intimate care for women. In the early stages of starting Ina, I talked to many men in the beauty industry to get their advice and all of them were very uncomfortable with the conversation. So uncomfortable, that I actually stopped asking their advice.

“Why do we have to use words like “hoo-ha” or “va-jay-jay” or “down there,” when talking about intimate care? I would love to be part of the solution that makes talking about women’s bodies and women’s intimate needs as open, normal and honest as most conversations about sports!” — Susan Goldsberry

So, why do so many of us get uncomfortable when talking about the most intimate areas of our body? Why do we have to make up silly words to make the conversation more comfortable? It goes hand-in-hand with why we tend to hide our feminine care products in inconspicuous places in our bathroom, like under the sink or in the back of the cabinet.
 
At Ina, our mission is to help destigmatize this conversation; to work toward normalizing the use of words like vulva, vagina or labia in every day conversation, without laughing afterwards. We’d prefer a smile instead of laughter. We’d love to know your ideas for helping us achieve this goal. We’re starting with articles like this to ask the questions.
 
We’d love for you to join this conversation! Our bodies deserve better.