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When Kurt Andersen took over as editor of New York Magazine, he printed out a list of \u201cannoying words<\/a>\u201d he didn\u2019t want his writers to use. When I was 32, I wrote about this list on Cup of Jo, then added a word that I myself hated: moist.<\/p>\n Moist? Ew, gross. If you described banana bread as moist, it sounded vaginal. And I really<\/em> didn\u2019t like the word vagina. It was weird, sort of icky. I avoided saying it, even at the doctor\u2019s office. *shudders*<\/p>\n I was far from alone. In 2012, The New Yorker<\/a> asked their Twitter followers what word should be eliminated from the English language. \u201cIn the end, there was a runaway un-favorite,\u201d they wrote. \u201cMoist.\u201d<\/em> Five years later, food writer Emily Johnson lamented this cultural aversion in her Bon Appetit piece \u201cStop Getting Mad at Me for Using the Word \u2018Moist,\u2019<\/a>\u201d explaining that \u201cyou can only describe a chicken thigh as juicy so many times.\u201d<\/p>\n Some like it wet. Some like it dry. Your call. See Rosamund Pike in Saltburn, in select theaters this Friday and everywhere Thanksgiving<\/p>\n \u266c original sound \u2013 Amazon MGM Studios<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n And did you ever see this scene from Saltburn<\/a>? \u201cI was a lesbian for a while, you know,\u201d the mother says. \u201cBut it was all a bit too wet for me in the end. Men are so lovely and dry.\u201d<\/p>\n Well.<\/p>\n Now that I\u2019m older<\/a>, and thankfully the culture has grown and shifted (big nod to Broad City<\/a> here, which loudly celebrated women\u2019s bodies and desires), the words moist and wet and damp actually sound so warm to me, so compelling. They remind us of women? Of sex? Good! I can\u2019t believe how much they\u2019ve changed in my mind, without my doing anything other than passively absorbing the culture around me. <\/p>\n The word \u201cvagina\u201d also sounds completely different \u2014 close and endearing, like the beloved name of a long-time friend. My friend\u2019s young son recently misremembered my name and called me \u201cVajenna\u201d all night, and I was so honored and charmed. How interesting, right? Do you feel the same? Or differently? Or nothing at all?<\/p>\n Today, Toby and I toured a high school, and the admissions director led us down a stairwell peppered with ceramic tiles made by students. One tile showed the Statue of Liberty; another, a basketball. And then I saw one of a vulva. \u201cOh, look!\u201d I said, pointing. \u201cHow cool is that?\u201d I loved that the student had felt inspired to make it and the school had then displayed it.<\/p>\n It actually wasn\u2019t the first vulva artwork my kids had seen \u2014 my sister, Lucy<\/a>, has a sculpture by Sophia Wallace<\/a> in her dining room, which means a terracotta clitoris appears in the background of many family photos. And I\u2019m excited to see the Brooklyn Artists Exhibition<\/a>, which features one of Wallace\u2019s giant clit sculptures, inspired by the strength and grace of swans.<\/p>\n Also, necklaces<\/a>!<\/p>\n What about you? How do you feel about the word \u201cmoist\u201d? \u201cVagina\u201d? \u201cVulva\u201d? Have your feelings changed or stayed the same? No wrong answers, of course; please share your thoughts below. xoxoxo<\/strong><\/p>\n P.S. Sex-positive parenting for prudes<\/a>, and is this the sexiest podcast<\/a>?<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cupofjo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Screenshot-2024-10-16-at-5.53.24%E2%80%AFPM.png\")
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