In this section you will find useful information related to women's health, focussing on our bodies and reproductive system, breast awareness and mental health.
Talking about sex and related body parts can be really embarrassing. Embarrassment causes people to not talk about things. If we don’t talk about things, how can we be expected to stay healthy? This section aims to give you a better understanding of your body.
Women have two ovaries, connected to the uterus (or womb) by fallopian tubes. The ovaries contain eggs which are formed before we are born. Women release an egg (ovulate) roughly once every twenty eight days.
The egg (or ova) is released by the ovary and travels along the fallopian tube. If the egg is not fertilised it will die off, our hormone levels drop and we have a period.
The blood that we see comes from the lining of the womb, it travels out through the cervix, which opens on to the front wall of the vagina, and then through the vaginal opening.
Female Sex Organs
- Vulva - the term used to describe a woman's external sex organs.
- Clitoris - the concentration of nerve endings. Stimulation of the clitoris is the way that most women reach orgasm. Covering it is a little hood of skin.
- Inner lips (labia minora) - the lips surrounding the clitoris and vagina.
- Outer lips (labia majora) - the prominent lips surrounding the inner lips.
- Urethral opening - connects the bladder to the genitals which is how women urinate.
- Vaginal opening - muscular canal which leads to the uterus. The vagina has an elasticity which means it can stretch during sex and childbirth.
- Anus – external opening of rectum. Faeces are expelled from the body here. The anus plays a big part in sex for many people.