2. OUTER LABIA:
They are the doors keeping your entrance protected. It’s all you can see when you first look for your vagina and can’t yet find it. The doors are closed and you will have to gently open them up, like delicate petals of a sleeping flower.

3. INNER LABIA:
Inside the main doors, once they are gently opened, you’ll find another set of smaller doors (inner labia), still protecting your entrance from view. When you are sexually aroused, they will gradually open and the entrance will be in full sight (if you're aroused that is. If not, you will not see much for the moment), or you can gently move them aside to get a peek, if you don’t want to wait for arousal.

4. THE CLITORIS and clitoral glans:
The clitoris is a Y-shaped organ that is mostly inside the body. The clitoral hood is the little hood of flesh at the top of the vulva, just below where the outer labia meet at the top. If you lift it up, gently (it can be very sensitive), you can find a slightly redder part which is the clitoral glans.
The clitoris and clitoral glans only have one purpose:
to provide you with pleasure.
You can try to gently rub it, press it, massage it, move it, or it may be too sensitive and it may hurt you to do that. You will be able to find what works best for you, but one thing is sure: women (and men) have ignored this part of the body for a long time but it is no longer deniable by now that the clitoris has a large role to play in giving women pleasure during intercourse and before and afterwards too.( please try this exercise at home)

• Exercise two:
  
  Attempt to locate your clitoris with your finger and stimulate it for a few minutes. See what you experience. I want you to write a short paragraph describe the sensations and what you thought about this exercise.
  
  5. THE VESTIBULE:
  This is that soft smooth area beneath your inner labia. Basically, it shouldn’t hurt you to touch it.
  
  6. THE URETHRAL OPENING:
  It’s quite shocking to hear that even in this day and age, some girls still believe that urine (pee) exits from the vagina. So urine does not exit from the vagina. Vaginas are very clean and urine is released out of a very tiny opening (so small in fact that it can hardly be seen) which is further up, hidden inside the inner lips.
  You may want to try and see for yourself next time you go to the toilet.
  The fact that this opening is so close to the vaginal opening unfortunately makes women more prone than men to get Urinary Tract Infections. If you feel an itching or burning when peeing, you may want to check for these infections with your Doctor, they are quite common but highly treatable. And please don't feel ashamed! Having a UTI will not make a doctor think that you had some sort of sexual contact! Or if you have a jealous partner, he should not think that you were betraying him!
  Some infections that hurt our vaginas have NOTHING to do with sexual contact so even virgins can get them.
  
  7. THE VAGINA and Vaginismus:
  The word vagina is often used to describe the whole area made up of the parts we just described, but that is not the correct use and we don't encourage it. In most cases people will understand that you may be referring to some other parts but it'd be better to use vulva for the whole area.
  The Vagina is a hidden inner tunnel inside the vulva that links the outer world with the inside uterus and it's that part of the body which can open to let a penis in, close to keep a penis out and open to let a baby out. Your vagina is also the place where menstrual blood comes out of. But nope, pee does not come out of it! That's the urethral opening.
  So one of the NATURAL functions of a HEALTHY vagina is to close to keep something unwanted from entering her.
  In this light, Vaginismus is the natural, FUNCTIONAL ability of vaginas to close to keep something out which is not welcome or that could potentially hurt, or hurt again. So it's far from dysfunctional! her muscles will fully clamp in anticipation of pain and to keep a penis out so Vaginismus is an important defensive function that each healthy vagina has.
  The inside of a vagina is very smooth to the touch, just like the inside of your mouth, but it also has some little bumpy ridges on the walls: they are to allow the vagina to expand in width, like wrinkles :) so if you should feel them with your finger inside, you are perfectly normal.
  The vagina is a tunnel but unlike a real tunnel, the walls here are actually gently touching each other when it’s not aroused. Imagine a long balloon when it's empty. The upper and lower parts will touch but as soon as you fill it with water or air, they won't touch anymore. That's why when you look for "the opening", you may not find any "hole" there. Because in it's relaxed state, it's closed...
  A vagina can be dry or wet, depending on the state of arousal. Vaginas are made of mucus membrane, so they are always a bit moist, like the insides of mouths and noses and intact penises. But there’s a difference between normal moisture and being wet when aroused. Usually a vagina will not open unless it’s aroused/wet and the juice it produces will help anything slide in effortlessly.
  Vaginas are elastic, that means they can usually accommodate regular-sized penises and stretch to the point that a baby’s head can get out of it, so even if you should look at the opening and see a very tiny one, remember that in an aroused state and with lubrication and proper foreplay and gradual insertions, it is very likely that size won’t matter.
  On average, a vagina is about 7 cm in length and it stretches to about 10 or 11 cm when it’s aroused, but they do vary in length, just like penises! and that doesn't affect their ability to feel or give pleasure.
  
  8. THE CERVIX:
  If you explore your vagina with your hand, at the end of the vaginal tunnel, your fingers or your partner's penis could bump into the cervix, which is like a little passage-door to the uterus. This door is usually closed and only opens during labour, also, when a woman gets aroused, the cervix retracts into the sides of the wall of the vagina so that it gets out of the way of the penis.
  The opening in the cervix is tiny and there is no way a tampon, a penis, or anything else could get in there. Cervixes do not open unless they have a good reason: childbirth!
  
  9. THE OPENING (a.k.a. THE INFAMOUS HOLE):
  Your vaginal opening can be the most elusive part to find. That's because your vagina will be closed most of the time. It only opens for intercourse, when aroused, or to allow something like a speculum in (or a baby out).
  It may sound corny but it truly is just like a flower, opening as soon as the first rays of sun touch it. So if you are not aroused, and you are looking for the entrance to the tunnel, you may not find it. As we described it above, the vagina tunnel can be comparable to a long balloon when it's empty. The upper and lower parts will touch but as soon as you fill it with water or air, they won't touch anymore. That's why when you look for "the opening", you may not find any "hole" there. Because in it's relaxed state, it's closed...
  If you should see pictures of women right after they had sex or if you look at yourself when in a state of full arousal, you may be able to clearly see the vagina entrance fully opened for a while.
  The vaginal opening will go back to closing itself and will go back to its original state very quickly, because it’s very elastic, but for a while it will be very clear that the opening certainly is there and able to stretch!
  
  
• exercise three:
  
  Explore your vagina, what does it look like? Can you identify the parts named in this document?
  
  10. THE HYMEN or The veil
  This can be a tricky one. Some women believe it’s inside the vagina but it’s actually right on the outside, it's what covers the vaginal opening. Basically, the hymen is a membrane with a little or few tiny holes which let fluids out, like blood for instance, when you have your period. It also can be quite flexible so if you put something really small like a finger or q-tip or small tampon through it, it should get inside no problem without pain or tearing.
  It is believed that hymens will have to ‘break’ during first-time sex, but in most cases if that happens it’s only because there hasn’t been enough gradual preparation for intercourse so the hymen tears. Things should not go that way. There should be no pain associated with first-time sex
  
  

So, now that you can name the parts, you'll hopefully be tempted to take a mirror and start exploring them for yourself. There is no rush but it can be a life-changing experience to do that. and it can be something beautiful to share with a partner later.
Hopefully they can share both your amazement and awe.
By now you'll have your vagina on your side. You got to know the enemy and it's much more friendly than you probably thought before. If you reached that attitude, that would already be a great success, more than reaching intercourse but still feeling a stranger to one's vagina or even disattached from it.
If you can get to feel love for your vagina and vulva, that'd be terrific. If not, we'd suggest that you take some more time getting to know her and explore her, before you move on or before letting someone else do the exploring for you.
But whether you like what you saw or not, at least now you'll know her and that's already a great step forward.

Homework from this document:

• Please write all the thoughts that come into your mind when you hear vagina, sex, penetration, penis
• Explore your vagina, what does it look like? Can you identify the parts named in this document?
• Attempt to locate your clitoris with your finger and stimulate it for a few minutes. See what you experience. I want you to write a short paragraph describe the sensations and what you thought about this exercise.

Disclaimer- the narrations are not based on a particular persons life. They are the descriptions of how trauma and healing manifest in first person voice.