Photographing this intimate area led to some unique and deeply personal stories. “Each one has stayed with me,” she says. “The 46-year-old virgin. The woman who endured FGM. The woman who had her vagina removed because of cancer.”

Kothari C, Diorio C, Durocher F. The importance of breast adipose tissue in breast cancer. Int J Mol Sci. 2020;21(16):5760. doi:10.3390/ijms21165760 Like when you’ve got fresh sheets on the bed, everything on your body has been waxed and you just slip under the sheets. Dr Naomi Crouch, chair of the British Society for Paediatric and Adolescent Gynaecology, has also noticed a “marked increase in girls and young women seeking labiaplasty” over the last few years.” As part of the project, Laura took her own photograph, partly to test how it worked, but in doing so, she was able to process some of her own thoughts about being a woman.I had a stage 1B grade 3, which is small, but nasty. Thankfully it was caught early. I had my cervix removed, the surrounding kind of tissue area and the top third of my vagina and, thank God, didn’t need further treatment, like chemotherapy. I can get pregnant, but because there’s no cervix there’s a high chance of miscarriage or early birth.

And after that, Laura considered the project complete. She didn’t think she would do a third series, despite suggestions that vulvas were the next step. The vagina is a very “elastic” organ, says Christine O’Connor, MD, director of adolescent gynecology and well women care at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore. One 2018 study investigating the appearance of vulvas belonging to white people aged 15–84 years found a wide variety of dimensions and descriptions of the external genitalia. There will likely be as much variance in the appearance of vulvas in people of any ethnicity. Ob-gyns can prevent and manage obstetric lacerations duringvaginal delivery, says new ACOG practice bulletin. (2016).

Miranda, 42

Caption: One of the contributors to the 100 Vaginas project with photographer Laura Dodsworth (right)