We’ve all been told to pick up a hand mirror and study our vagina, right? This way we can get to know it and understand ourselves more intimately. But a mirror won’t show you where and what the Bartholin’s glands do for you and your sex life.
I was giggling-high on morphine on a hospital bed in Thailand, while a pleasant Thai man was speaking to me in broken English, and positioned between my open-wide legs with a stern face and a scalpel in his hand.
Let me just state, for the record, that he was a doctor and he was situated there for medical reasons, as for one solid week prior to this dubious circumstance I now found myself in, I had been walking with a hobble, sitting down on my left cheek only, and not having sex – not to mention enduring serious agony from an unknown cause.
It was only the day before that I learned I had a Bartholin’s gland abscess. A million questions raced through my mind, but the first and foremost: ‘A Bartholin what?’ And then a close second: ‘… An abscess … like, in my vagina?’
To answer the above questions is Cape Town gynaecologist and endoscopic surgeon Dr Natalia Novikova.
‘The Bartholin’s glands are situated around the opening of the vagina, inside the small lips, and are ideally located to produce lubrication for sex,’ she says.
Okay, so they aren’t in the vagina per se, but still…
Many women do not know that Bartholin’s glands even exist in their bodies, let alone know their function. There is one on each side of the vaginal opening. They are approximately 2- to 2.5cm-long ducts, which open on the surface of the vulva, secreting relatively minute, but necessary amounts of fluid to moisten both the lips and the opening of the vagina. This ensures that any contact with the sensitive area is comfortable.
‘The opening of the vagina is the most narrow part of the whole organ. This is why lubrication for penetration is so important, and the glands assist with that naturally,’ says Natalia.
This story is from the August 2017 edition of Marie Claire South Africa.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the August 2017 edition of Marie Claire South Africa.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
These Women Are Not Real
These women have millions of Instagram followers, front-row seats at fashion week and the latest designer clothes … but they’re not real. This new social-media trend is the most futuristic yet: computer-generated avatars that look, talk and behave like real people. But, asks HANNAH-ROSE YEE, is this really the future of the influencer industry?
One Moment In Time
In February this year, para-athlete and journalist Palesa ‘Deejay’ Manaleng won gold in the women’s H3 hand-cycle event at the 2018 SA National Road and Para-Cycling Championships in Outdshoorn, Western Cape. Four years earlier, she had lost the use of her legs in a terrible cycling accident. Here, she shares that terrifying experience and her personal story of recovery
Never Had Sex But Trying For A Baby
For this 40-something-year-old, becoming a mother is high up on her priority list. And the fact that she’s a virgin, is not going to stop her from reaching her goal
Living In A Man's World
What really happens in the secret world of men? We asked four men who were born female to share their unique perspective on what it’s like to be parachuted into the opposite gender
Get In The Mood
You’re ready to ring in 2019, but that dreaded dress code has you in a panic. There’s no need to stress. Tarryn Oppel thinks you may already have a winning piece in your wardrobe. You just don’t know it yet...
A Charmed Life
Jewellery designer Ambra Gambale ’s handcrafted work has a curious undercurrent of magic realism, with a strong emphasis on bespoke pieces
Chelsea Lately
Former first daughter Chelsea Clinton talks privilege, female leadership, dealing with critics – and how Trump ‘degrades what it means to be an American’
Delivering Excellence
NOMZAMO MBATHA chats to Afika Jadezweni about her red-carpet style, why women need to support one another, and how she’ll never forget where she comes from
Soul To Soul
If There Were Ever a Visual Representation of the Expression ‘wearing Your Heart on Your Sleeve’, Lukhanyo Mdingi’s ‘soulful Ii’ Collection Would Be It, as Afika Jadezweni Finds Out
It's Kim's World
…We Just Live In It. How An Underestimated La Socialite Became One Of The Most Powerful Women Of The 21st Century