I have a theory that women would not be worried about their genitals being “out there” if their genitals weren’t referred to as just a cavity from an early age.

When you call vulvas vaginas, you participate in the sociocultural conception of female genital anatomy as absence.

This is linguistic vulvectomy. It is not much different in cause and effect than actual FGM if you stop and think about it.

Think how messed up it is to refer to external erectile tissue with a word meaning “sheath.” Think how messed up it is to tell little girls their vulvas (what they can actually see and are cognizant of) are vaginas (a tiny hole they probably haven’t noticed yet, as 6 year olds generally aren’t tryna get deep dicked).