Hi, I’m Carlee. I’m 27, I live in the U.S., and I want to share something personal. My hope is that it resonates with other women who’ve ever felt different or unsure about their bodies. Specifically, I want to talk about my labia.

A Journey Off the Beaten Path Traveling through South Africa, I had grown accustomed to the unexpected—vivid landscapes, winding dirt roads, and the quiet hum of villages tucked between rolling hills. At 36, I had long since left the carefree curiosity of my youth behind, but something about this journey felt different, as if it would challenge the boundaries of what I thought I knew about the world—and about myself. Meeting Lerato: A Guide and Friend It was in a small Tswana village, far from the bustling cities I had explored earlier, that I met Lerato. She was roughly my age, warm and...

I used to think I was the only one. As a young woman, I noticed something about my body that I didn’t see in others, at least not in the magazines or media around me. My inner labia—my labia minora—were long. Really long. When fully stretched, they measure around 12 centimeters. I could twist them into shapes, even tie them into a little knot, something I discovered almost playfully as I became more familiar with my body. At first, it was just a curiosity—something strange and personal that I kept to myself. But as I got older, curiosity turned into concern. I began to notice how...