By David Futrelle
On Saturday. The Guardian posted a story called “Me and My Vulva,” looking at photographer Laura Dodsworth’s attempt to, as writer Liv Little put it, tell “the stories of 100 women and gender non-conforming people through portraits of their vulvas.” The Guardian featured some of these portraits alongside interviews in which the vulva-havers in question discussed their complicated feelings about their own vulvas and vaginas.
Well, it turns out that some cis men have complicated feelings about vulvas as well, feelings so complicated that they can’t quite believe that the word “vulva” is a specific word, with a specific meaning, that’s worth including in sentences from time to time.
Enter one overconfident fellow called Paul Bullen, who offered what he saw as a correction to the Guardian’s headline:
Since the correct word was in fact “vulva” — Dodsworth’s photos are pictures of the external genitalia — a number of Twitterers stepped up to correct his correction.
One of the correctors was San Francisco OB/GYN Jen Gunter, an actual world-famous expert on, you know, that whole area down there, and the media’s go-to Gwyneth Paltrow-debunker when the actress and would-be wellness maven tries to convince those with vaginas to do things like steam or stick rocks in them, both of which are evidently very bad ideas. Dr. Gunter has literally written the book on vaginas, or at least a book, titled The Vagina Bible, which will be out in August.
Dr. Gunter tweeted:
Here’s the link, by the way.
But Bullen, like many men in similar situations, refused to accept his defeat, and simply kept going, suggesting that those who refused to accept his “correction” were simply a bunch of vulva snobs.
Er,”euphemism treadmill psychology?”
Er, I’m pretty sure that the Vagina Monologues involved considerable discussion of things going into vaginas so I’m going to say no to that.
When it came to Dr. Gunter’s quite specific expertise on this issue, Bullen evidently felt it was outweighed by his confidence as a man with opinions on the internet.
He’s using an awful lot of words to basically say: “Ok, the ‘correct’ definition I used isn’t actually correct, according to the dictionary, but since people use the word incorrectly a lot this incorrect usage is actually the correct one and all you correcty-pants people are actually incorrect with all your fancy correctness, I am very smart.”
Ultimately, THE DICTIONARY ITSELF (or at least Dictionary,com) felt compelled to intervene, noting that the word “vulva” is indeed the correct word for the external genitalia — which is, again, what
Dodsworth’s photos depict.
Bullen wasn’t fazed by all the talk of dictionary definitions because, in his mind, he’s smarter than the dictionary too.
When some critics accused him of mansplaining, he tried to mainsplain mansplaining to them:
Dr. Gunter gently corrected him on that:
She also reiterated the rather basic point — which Bullen seemed unable to grasp — that the photos in question were photos of vulvas, not vaginas.
Last night I felt compelled to weigh in myself:
None of this — not even my especially brilliant tweet — stopped Bullen from endlessly repeating his point, and the, er, “debate” went on and on and on until, only a few hours ago, Bullen finally decided to stop posting on the subject.
In case you’re wondering if Paul Bullen has bad opinions on any other subjects aside from the correct use of the terms “vagina” and “vulva,” the answer is yes.
Bullen has also recently retweeted white nationalist congressman Steve King, white nationalist “journalist” Faith Goldy, and the white nationalist website VDare. You may notice a trend here. Not that Bullen would necessarily agree that any of these white nationalists are in fact white nationalists. Indeed, he has already used his powerful MAN LOGIC to convince himself that King has never said anything even vaguely white supremacist-ish.
But there’s more! Turns out Bullen is one of those people who contends that the Covington Catholic students photographed several years ago wearing blackface were not wearing blackface.
But, hey, at least his love life is going well:
I don’t know if Bullen has yet managed to make contact with either this woman’s vulva or her vagina.
H/T — To all those who tweeted funny stuff about this, including @Chinchillazllla,, @TakedownMRAs and @mistressmatisse.
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@tim gueguen
Rac(e real)ist is just “racist” with a few extra letters in between, as I have helpfully illustrated.
What a silly man. Just admit you’re wrong and move on.
He also said this, just after #4:
“I had a similar disagreement with you about the word fetus. It is standard usage pregnant women to speak of her baby, not her fetus. And there’s nothing incorrect about that”
So i guess we know his position on abortion.
I don’t know about you guys but a cis man trying to explain vulva and vagina to people that have them is really creepy to me. I don’t mean doctors because that’s a different thing, just an average dude that has no idea what it’s like to have those parts. It’s like if you saw someone breast feeding and you went “hey let me tell you how to do that better because I’ve seen a nipple before once”
his MA thesis: “The Development of Afrikaner Solidarity, 1652-1986”
gigantic spinning animated think emjoi dot gif
@Crip Dyke
Oh, understood! My screaming’s based on a few things:
1) I used to teach this stuff. It’s been years since I did that, but the habits of telling people “Dr. Google did NOT go to medical school!” plus “the spellchecker is only the first step of proofing” have taken their toll.
2) In the healthcare information world, you’re reminded over and over again that if you document something incorrectly, the worst thing that happens is somebody could die. I semi-teased my baby sister, who just became Dr. Parasol-sister last year, that she’d better not screw up on her charting or I would glare at her. She assured me that the nurses had complimented her charting. Good girl. She understands the importance of the nursing staff. I may’ve actually shed a tear.
3) There’s already a metric fuckton of medical misinformation out there. It’s not that hard to get basic anatomy right. It’s a LOT easier than keeping up with cancer drugs. 😛
Today Iearned from Baul Pullen that
– there are two meaning of the word vagina, and neither of them means vagina.
– and yes he can keep on going. For ever
I may have skipped some of the details there.
“I say! The patriarchy is remarkably piquant this evening, don’t you think?”
It’s immensely amusing seeing a guy like this argue against the dictionary for a change. Normally this kind of pedant will cling to the dictionary definition of a word in the face of all evidence. Like the so-called “dictionary atheists” one gets dropping in over at the Pharyngula blog who resist any suggestion that a lack of belief in a deity or deities might lead to holding certain opinions on social justice, human rights, etc. to complain about us filthy Atheism+ types getting humanism cooties in their marvelously cold and cerebral philosophy…
I’m in love with his name though. Bullen. It’s a common expression in Ireland to say, “I’m bullin’ mad” when you’re really angry. It comes from the Irish word buile meaning “rage”. There is a medieval Irish poem, Buile Shuibhne, “The Madness of Sweeney”, that American Gods fans might recognise. Or Papal Bulls. It seems appropriate someone given to pompous pronouncements should have such a name. Wikipedia tells me a “bulla” is also a kind of large blister filled with pus ? which also seems fitting ?
@victorious parasol:
I’m sure I speak for everyone when I say that the sound basis for your screaming was well understood.
If anything, I’m surprised it lasted only an hour.
If you need more cathartic screaming I could lay-splain to you about folk remedies for sore throats from your first round of screaming. I think I’m just medically ignorant enough to prompt a screaming cycle long enough to leave you entirely prostate.
Even taking his argument as “in colloquial usage ‘vagina’ is used to refer to the entirety of female genitals” (which… OK, I guess… maybe…), that still isn’t really any kind of defence of his initial assertion that the words used in the Guardian story and Dodsworth’s photography project are “not correct”. Like, by any measure even this guy’s own definition, “Me and My Vagina” would be a less accurate title than “Me and My Vulva”. I mean, I don’t think he’s denying that these photos and stories are about vulvas specifically. So his initial “the correct word is vagina” tweet is just straight-up wrong and everything after that is just further digging a hole of needless verbiage. (I’m pretty well educated, but I genuinely don’t understand what “the euphemism treadmill psychology” is supposed to mean. Can someone enlighten me on that?)
If Paul doesn’t want to legitimate the term mansplaining, he should stop doing it.
Just a thought
Another OT link: today in evolutionary psychology bullshit (but I repeat myself): lesbians exist because straight guys think it’s hawwwwt:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kdxDGkdBv8
Yes, really. ? Oddly, the researchers claim the opposite is not true– that gay guys don’t exist because straight women find man-on-man hawwwwt– which means they mustn’t know many yaoi fangirls ?
So I’m not saying I know a lot on this topic because I certainly don’t and I may be wrong. Also I would like to say that Paul’s original comment was completely wrong. But most of the time when I’m talking to women and they are describing anything to do with down there they say vagina. Regardless of inside or outside. The spoken vernacular is the commonly spoken word and is not commonly given a definition in written books. So I do believe that he is trying to say that the term vagina is the vernacular term for the vulva and that vagina. But again the whole way this got started was because he made a stupid comment.
I think the real question here is if “Paul Bullen” is another improper spelling of the word “asshole”.
I was readying this yesterday and I wanted to gouge my eyes out. I thought it was some elaborate troll at first: some guy embarrassing himself online over and over again to “own the libs”. But then his whole affair with the Alt Right popped up and of fucking course he’d assume he’s the expert on these subjects.
I think he’s about to overtake Nick Sandmann for most puncheable face of the moment.
He called feminism useless on his date then reiterated that the absence of feminism is patriarchy. So he defeated his own argument with a woman who benefited from the works of feminism in achieving higher education.
I know this story is fake but I’ve noticed so many anti feminists talk about patriarchy being brought back rathet treating people equally with respect.
It’s like feminism unequally praises women! Destroy it so we will uphold men again!
Like… Just treat everyone well?
@Cat Mara
Why… of course! That doesn’t sound like something that was made up in the most backwards table at the strip club at all! BETTER PUBLISH AN ARTICLE!
Seriously, when I studied psychology for a few semesters, one lecturer stressed how the least scientific parts of the subject were often used by racists and misogynists. Well… apparently those people didn’t disappear, they just tagged an “evolutionary” onto their doctorate…
Dammit. I wish I’d seen this yesterday to use against a bunch of Pedantic Penises who took offense to me saying that “this affects all women.” See, if just ONE MAN is affected, too, then you cannot use the word all.
On, and on, and on, and on. Don’t they get tired of listening to themselves?
@TheKND: Of course, there was someone along to “not all
menevo-psych papers” in the comments on that video. As usual, while assuring us that evo-psych papers that aren’t just-so-story horseshit really do exist you guys! they don’t tell us what they are ?.I’m guessing that last tweet ran out of characters before he could write “And then everyone on the plane clapped”.
@Crip Dyke
I’m a knitter. Therefore I always have pointy sticks handy.
*grin*
@ Crip Dyke
Sounds like a massage is in order.
Die-hard NoFappers are probably “entirely prostate”.
@Dr. Thang:
And that date’s name? Alberta Einstein.
I’ve said it before on the last Roosh thread and I’ll say it again: I’m fairly certain that a lot of these bizarre MGTOW/incel notions about women just stem from lack of knowledge of how the human body works, combined of course with the antisocial attitudes and malignant narcissism required to dehumanize people to that extent. Granted, it’s possible they do know and are just making shit up because internet, but you know, Hanlon’s razor and all.
Seriously, this is that guy you knew from ninth grade gym class that didn’t bother paying attention to the sex ed component because he “like totally banged the hot sophmore girl at a party once,” only now in his mid-50s and trying to get into that “Twitter thing that all the kids are doing, only they’re doing it wrong because they’re all SJW snowflakes. I know cool and that Gavin McInnes fellow is one cool dude!”
I can still remember feeling like a nerd just because I bothered to learn the different parts of the reproductive systems and what it is they do, but having read my fair share of erotica (to say nothing of the dirty illustrations) that spends far too much time using the word “cervix” in the context of ostensibly pleasurable sex… yeah, there’s a larger societal issue at play here where people (read: straight guys) think that three minutes of limp thrusting makes you the expert in all things woman.
In my experience this happens with not so straight guys as well. That was a fun time. But really this is so true. When I was pregnant the amount of young guys that tried to explain my body to me was the most frustrating thing. When your 16 though you don’t know a lot yourself so you don’t have response for shit that so basic you know it’s wrong.