Vaginal hygiene practices and the formation of sexuality

Although different forms of vaginal cleansing practices are common throughout the world, studies relating to Iranian women’s experiences are scarce. This study uses the life-story method to give a thick description of one Iranian woman’s experience of vaginal practices, and the role nurturing plays in shaping attitudes towards the female genitalia and sexual formation. The study addresses how gendered ideas about femininity, hygiene and the moral body are interconnected. Vaginal practices such as external washing, intravaginal cleaning or douching, the application and insertion of substances and hair removal are discussed. The interviewee draws on religious and cultural frameworks as well as hygiene discourses to explain vaginal cleansing regimes. The narrative reveals the importance of practices not only in the formation of sexuality, but also in self-perceptions of the body, femininity and sexual behaviour.