It happened because people conceptualize female genitals as an absence and as simply a hole. What has been seen as most important is not our subjective experience, but what we offered to men. The value of our genitals was thus in our vaginas because that’s what dicks go in and babies come out. The vulva has been seen as trivial, unnecessary, unimportant, even unfeminine. As such, “vagina” became the word most associated with female genital anatomy.

To this day, vulvar anatomy and physiology is neglected. Doctors learn far more about the “sexual function of the vagina” than they do about the vulva, at least according to board certification requirements for the female pelvic and reconstructive surgery subspecialty of OB/GYN. The neurovascular anatomy of the clitoris is usually omitted from general anatomy textbooks and OB/GYN textbooks. Meanwhile, vaginas are consistently shown as unrealistically gaping and its somewhat hilarious.