To escape the horror of Haiti, I read some fluff. I encountered the term "vajazzling." The definition is something like "Swarovoski crystals on my vajayjay." Let me attempt to translate that: someone put little expensive sparkly crystals on this woman's vagina. Wait... Did they use some kind of surgical adhesive? Is it permanent genital modification? Piercing? What size crystals are we talking about here? Inside?! WTF?
I found this site claiming genesis of vajazzling:
"Accessorizing your privates is the hottest rage. From crystal flowers to customized favorites, you too can now decorate your own jewels. Whether it’s a special occasion or you just want to sparkle everywhere, you can choose from an assortment of real swarovski crystal designs so you can shimmer and shine."
Amazon has an image of a crystal temporary tattoo. I have no idea if this is what is used in vajazzling, but it's probably something similar. Imagine a glittery crystal fountain near your urethra...
Our society needs to loosen up about how we discuss girly bits (and man bits, for that matter). Many people use the term "vagina," when they actually mean something else, like labia or "vulva." Both "vulva" and "vagina" were probably too racy for television. We are left with "vajayjay," which leads to confusion about where she placed the adornments. The Urban Dictionary definition of the term "vajayjay" is "vagina." I don't think the crystals actually go inside the vaginal sheath, and further research points to the probability that this usage of vajayjay actually means "labia" (majora, I would hope...). Based solely on personal anecdotal evidence, I suspect there are no crystals anywhere inside the Cleft of Venus. That leaves the remainder of the exterior vulva available for adornment.
Humans evolved hidden estrus. This means that females don't exhibit obvious biological signs of fertility (or its attendant sexual receptivity), and this keeps the males guessing about the best time to mate (assuming the goal is to produce offspring). Hidden estrus may have fostered pair bonding and other monogamous mating patterns, increasing the odds that the male was the biological father of the offspring. I saw one source that claims that while human males initiate sexual intercourse throughout a woman's cycle, females tend to initiate more frequently during ovulation. This makes perfect sense in the hidden estrus paradigm.
The sparkly crystal genital adornment practice reminds me of visible signs of estrus in non-human primates, where females are obviously receptive and males compete for access. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.)
Regular readers already know that I love vaginas and other awesome girly bits. I don't think they require any sort of decorative embellishments. I am disturbed to note that genital plastic surgery is on the rise. (Procedures include labial tinting to mimic arousal.) I can understand surgery in the case of disorder or injury or to repair the horrific trauma of mutilation. I have trouble understanding how women who fall in the wide spectrum of "normal" human variation would feel compelled to seek genital cosmetic surgery.
What I really find puzzling is the desire to display estrus at all. Especially if the males typically initiate sex throughout the female cycle. Particularly with stick-on glittery stuff. Again (anecdotal, small sample size) human males tend to be receptive to female initiation of sex. Most women don't need to bling up the holiest of holy places to attract a mating partner. Is it about the males competing for access to the crystal yoni? Or female competition? Or status?
What I find incredibly fascinating is that this particular type of estrus display requires women to publicly broadcast its occurrence. We mostly wear clothing in public, and vulval adornment is typically hidden from view--like hidden estrus.
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