Do you know the difference between vulva and vagina? If the answer isn’t a resounding yes, you’re part of La Dolce Vulva’s raison d’être. A brand of MSTRY Berlin, an apparel company founded in 2021 by Alexander Nicolaus as a means to give more visibility to marginalised groups, La Dolce Vulva’s mission is to bring some much-needed attention to the female reproductive organ, having long been misrepresented and under-researched.
To alleviate the depressing fact that less than 30% of people even know what a vulva is, Nicolaus decided to sell conversation-starting, vulva-embroidered socks, T-shirts, hoodies and totes, donating a share of the profits – at least €18,000 so far – to Vulvaversity Kollektiv in Freiburg. The feminist collective aims to destigmatise vulvas, most notably through the Vulva Museum, a glossy brochure intended for sex education in schools, which shows close-ups of vulvas in all their glorious shapes, colours and sizes.
Nicolaus, who may not have a vulva but does have a daughter, thinks that “privileged white cis men” have an obligation to use their voice for causes like these. “It is important to me that my little daughter grows up without shame and knows the right terms from the very beginning,” he says. If you read this far and still haven’t looked it up: the vagina is the passage that connects the uterus to the outside of the body; vulva is the name for the visible genitals outside of the body. Time to wake up, buy some socks and smell the intoxicating scent of equality – and maybe even a vulva.
- Follow La Dolce Vula on Instagram at @ladolcevulvaofficial and visit their website here.
