Vulva 101: The Book

Raise your hand if you like vulvas.

I'm assuming everyone who reads this website just raised their hand.

Remember how I reviewed a photo book all about vulvas a few months ago? It was called I'll Show You Mine, by Wrenna Robertson, a Canadian multiple degreed exotic dancer.

It seems that the Canadians have vulva on their minds, because another photo book all about vulvas was brought to my attention. This time, the author is a red-blooded heterosexual man named Hylton Coxwell (I take it that's a clever pen name?) who took it upon himself to uncover as much pussy as possible and present it in the form of a very large coffee table book called Vulva 101, in vivid color.

I asked him a few pointed questions about his project; his answers are below.

Q. What inspired you to publish a book featuring extreme closeups of female genitals?

A. Mainly the amount of shame and embarrassment regarding vulvas that's so prevalent in society. Many women I knew personally had trouble even saying the correct words for their genitals, or had concerns about the appearance of theirs. They felt their lips were too big, or too small, or too dark, or somehow they weren't "normal". But there wasn't anywhere for them to see what real vulva looked like, apart from porn, and the few books that existed at the time avoided full color photos in fear of being too graphic.

I wanted the book to show the true diversity of vulva, so I had some rules in place to that end. Anyone who wanted to be in the book was welcome, regardless of age (18+), body type, gender, ethnic background, etc. As long as they had a vulva and had time for a shoot, they were in. Sometimes this meant doing shoots unexpectedly, and in less than optimal conditions. No studio lighting was used, so all the vulva appear as they would be seen in that situation. And as you pointed out earlier in our conversation, this also means chipped nail polish, socks, razor burn or stubble and tampon strings. Real women as they actually are on a regular day.

Often people ask what kind of women are in the book. The only way to really describe them is to go to a busy shopping mall on a Saturday afternoon. They're the first one hundred and one women you see.

Also, I wanted to combat the censorship of the word itself, which most major TV networks won't even allow in dialog. Male genitals are acceptable, but "vulva"—that's too graphic for people to hear, apparently.

Q. Are men equally qualified to publish books all about female genitals?

A. Yes, why wouldn't they be? Women are equally qualified to publish books about male genitals (and several already have), so the reverse should be the case as well.

Q. Do you ever get accused of doing it for the wrong reasons just because you're a man?

A. Not very often and mostly by men. In general, people understood the concept of the book and if the "wrong reasons" were my intent, there would have been considerably cheaper and far less time-consuming ways of going about that.

Speaking of men, their reaction to the book is really funny sometimes. About a third are visibly afraid of it! As in, will leave the room as quickly as possible. Strange.

The few women who accused me of that, generally from the "you're a man, you have no right to do a book like this!" perspective, usually ended up posing for the book after learning more about it.

Q. Who do you dedicate your book to?

A. It's dedicated to all those who have ever felt shame regarding their bodies and to those who see beauty in all things.

Q. How did you find your models?

A. At first, online (various sites) and then later once the project took off, via word-of-mouth. In fact the response was quite overwhelming. Even after finishing the final hundred and first shoot, I still had almost 80 people on the waiting list.

Q. What female celebrity would you love to photograph in the style of Vulva 101?

A. I can't really pick just one, but off the top of my head: Sarah Silverman, Zhang Ziyi, Ke$ha, Monica Bellucci, Lady Gaga and Halle Berry.

Q. What's your personal favorite style of vulva? Hairy? Big lips? White?

A. I wondered prior to doing the book if I would find I had a personal preference when it came to vulva, however I found that I don't have a favorite style. They're all so unique, it's the variation I find most appealing. I have favorite photos in the book of course, but I'm not going to say which ones, as it doesn't matter what I think.

Q. What does it feel like photographing vulvas?

A. Each shoot was as unique as the person/people involved. I did my best to let the mood and personality of each person show in the photos. It's subtle of course, but everything from giddy nervousness to confidence and exuberance I tried to convey in each page, and the combination of the three photos played a part in that. Sometimes that even meant using a photo that wasn't my favorite (on a technical level: focus, color, etc) or not using a great one. There were photos that worked together and those that didn't. I can't really explain what made them work though.

Each photo session was dynamic too. I thought of it more as a partnership instead of as a photographer taking pictures of a model. If they were nervous, we usually chatted more prior to the shoot. Or if they had lots of ideas, they'd basically run the shoot—sometimes doing acrobatics on my deck or front lawn!

I definitely found the whole process extremely interesting, and met a lot of fascinating people along the way.

Q. So that Vulva perfume from Germany is for real and not a parody? You've smelled it yourself?

A. Yes it's real! I have smelled it myself and was surprised how accurate it is. Everyone has their own unique and variable scent of course, but it has the essence captured quite well. To clarify, it's not really a perfume, more of an erotic scent designed to stimulate arousal. Porn for your nose basically.