The second season of Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives is here, you know it and you want to watch it. And after some of us cringe-watched it already, the internet is now trying to make sense of it. Spoiler alert: you can’t. While the show is a guilty pleasure, there are a lot of things about it, that are appalling. Neelam Kothari and Bhavana Pandey, refusing to say the word ‘vagina’ is just one of them.
In one episode of the show, Maheep Kapoor brings a collaboration for the other three friends, which is an endorsement of a ‘menopause pill’. While Neelam and Bhavana kind-of-sort-of agree to doing it, they mention that they’re not comfortable with using the word ‘vagina’. Neelam then goes on to call it everything, including the “V word”, but gives her reasons for not just using ‘the word’. Of course, they lack both logic and sense.
While Maheep mentions how it’s normal to talk about it, specifically in a discussion about menopause, Neelam goes on to say that it lacks ‘izzat’. So basically, calling vagina, vagina, means that you’re not proper or respectable enough. Her opinion not only feels insensitive, but also exhibits how we lack in the basic need to talk about sexual-health. We consider talking about our ‘body parts’ a taboo, so addressing the issues is a far-fetched idea.
And to think that this is coming from someone who has access to information and resources. Seriously though, what is the shame around saying vagina?
Twitter is not okay with this conversation, or the lack thereof.
Everyone, say it out loud, V-A-G-I-N-A, Vagina.