Welcome to the Waves, Slates podcast about gender feminism and this week, Rap poison,

koalva jinas, dolphin clitoris, a whole bunch of stuff all centering around the science

of the vagina. Every episode you get a new paired woman to talk about the thing we

can get off of our minds. And today you've got me, Shannon Paulis, a senior editor at

Slate covering science and health. And me, Rachel Gross, a science journalist and former

slitester and author of the Jaina of Skiura and Anatomical Voyage.

So this week, of course, we're going to be talking about vaginas. So many of us have

them. And yet there are many ways in which there are a mystery to science and ourselves.

This is a topic I'm always thinking about as the owner of a vagina and all the other assorted

parts that come with it. And also a person who is really interested in what science can

tell us about the human body and also what science cannot tell us. Rachel, briefly,

because we're going to get into the longer story soon, why did you decide to write a book

about the science of a gynas?

Yeah, I mean, like you, I also, I love thinking and talking about my vagina and my vulva and

my uterus. When I got an IUD, I got an ultrasound picture and put it on my Instagram and said,

congratulations. I'm pregnant with an IUD now. And I've also been a science reporter for

many years. And I love the weird, wonderful, cool science of bodies. And when I started

combining these two things in my work and writing about animal sex and reproductive science,

I started to realize that not everyone was as thrilled about vagina science as I was.

So I was kind of interested in this disconnect. Like to me, vagina science was fascinating

and amazing. But when I worked at places like Smithsonian magazine, I did get reactions

of disinterest and squeamishness and disgust. And I found myself often having to explain

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