A nasty odour is a no-no

31 May, 2014 - 13:05 0 Views

The Sunday Mail

Phew!
Mainini had a nasty and bigoted experience last Saturday. Being the deeply spiritual woman that I am, I attended what I expected to be an equally spiritually fulfilling bridal shower somewhere in the capital.And?

There I was, together with a handful of other dumbfounded spirituality-seeking women (Women of Power and Women of Excellence, for that is what they called themselves). I was shocked, honestly shocked, by this so-called prophetess of this what-what Pentecostal church.

I did not expect such immaturity from someone who claimed to have God’s anointing. Her conduct as she gave “tips of being a good wife” to the new bride was deplorable.

I just wished she had the humility of her boss, after all, she claimed to be anointed. She turned her whole sermon, if I could call it that, to haggling over where the new couple would fellowship. It turned out the girl was from her stable and the groom from the other side. She turned the bridal shower into a boasting show for her church and how they would make sure the poor groom leaves his church!

Fighting for numbers? I thought her claimed anointing was to save souls, poor me!
But I digress. This is not my discussion point. I just needed to vent, with or without your indulgence.

Smelly vaginas!
I have heard several male colleagues complaining of women whose vaginas have nasty odours. Another one said the smelly toy had driven him away, he can no longer have sex with her!

A smelly vagina, I can testify, (having suffered one such at some stage in my life), can be a nightmare and it certainly can drive a man out of the marital bed, floor or from wherever you have it!

I know of women who hit your nostrils with a strong nasty stench emanating from between their legs when they pass by.
Smelly vaginas may not be the most popular topic of discussion. But for the sake of us all, let’s just talk about them.

Numerous on- and offline sources say vaginas discharge a normal milky whitish fluid that does not dish out offensive odours. They say the vaginal discharge is actually an important housekeeping function of the female reproductive system.

Medical experts say the fluid is made by glands inside the vagina and cervix and it carries away dead cells and bacteria. This keeps the vagina clean and helps prevent infection.

Most of the time vaginal discharge is perfectly normal, online medical sources say. The amount varies from woman to woman, and the normal colour depends on the time in the woman’s menstrual cycle. There may be slight changes in the amount and odour of the discharge. There is more discharge if the woman is ovulating, breastfeeding or sexually aroused.

The smell may also be different if the woman is pregnant or has not been diligent about their personal hygiene!
Yes, women and girls must diligently clean their vaginas. But be careful of how you clean it! I will give you the diligent way of doing it, let me just finish explaining the vaginal operations.

None of those slight changes in amount and colour of the discharge is cause for alarm. However, if the colour, smell, or consistency seems significantly unusual, or different to how it normally is, especially if there is itching or burning in the vagina, you could be noticing a sign of an infection or another condition.

Medical people say any change in the balance of normal bacteria in the vagina could affect the smell, colour, or texture of the discharge.
They listed a few of the things that could upset that balance and these are:

  • Antibiotic or steroid use
  • Bacterial vaginosis, which is a bacterial infection that’s not sexually transmitted, but more common in women who have multiple sexual partners
  • Birth control pills
  • Cervical cancer
  • Chlamydia or gonorrhoea, which are sexually transmitted infections
  • Diabetes
  • Using scented soaps or lotions, bubble bath
  • Pelvic infection after surgery
  • Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID)
  • Trichomoniasis, which they describe as a parasitic infection caused by having unprotected sex
  • Vaginal atrophy, which is thinning and drying out of the vaginal walls during menopause (eheee, chidziro chinoperazve nekushandiswa)
  • Vaginitis, which is irritation in or around the vagina
  • Yeast infections

The doctors advised that whenever a woman notices a change in the colour and smell of their discharge, they must seek medical attention.
They, however, strongly warned against the way some women clean their vaginas. The vagina, experts agreed, is a self-cleaning organ. So there is no need to try and clean it.

It does not need outside help, so stop inserting your fingers, tubes or whatever other instruments you have been putting down there. Cleaning the outer area of the vagina with clean water and a mild soap is all that is required.

When I was growing up one of my aunts who was assigned to school the young girls of our clan as we graduated to womanhood always instructed us to clean our vaginas with our “dirty” fingers.

And I am dead sure our clan is not the only one that wrongly schooled its young women that way as several other women have shared similar teachings.

As we grew older and got married, it was the same aunt who taught us about herbs that we had to insert inside our vaginas to dry them out and create desirable “tight vaginas” for our men.

Herein lay grave mistake number 1, the source of that smelly vagina I alluded to earlier on.
They encouraged us to insert our fingers and wipe it clean until it was dry thereby creating an imbalance of the bacteria and at the same time infecting it with our not-so-clean fingers.

We ended up with infected vaginas that dripped of a smelly discharge and it never occurred to us that we had created the problem and needed to seek treatment. We chased away some of the very husbands we had intended to keep on the marital beds, through our smelly pussies.

Which man, honestly, could stand that rotting fish smell from between our legs? To make matters worse we were taught to keep our legs closed.

“Sit like a woman,” they would bellow to us, perhaps hoping to keep the horrible smell inside!
My final advice, women and girls, is, do not insert anything in your vaginas unless if it is a protected penis.

Should you notice a change in discharge and smell, please go to the clinic and seek help. Smelly vaginas are treatable and you could enjoy opening your legs the way some of us do!

Keep reading and let’s share experiences on these smelly love toys.
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