The #IfMyVaginaWereASandwich Hashtag Claps Back at a Slut-Shaming Taylor Swift Tweet

Yesterday, a Twitter user called Jennifer Mayers, who purports to be a Trump supporter from Louisiana, posted a slut-shaming tweet that went viral. The tweet drew comparisons between an overstuffed ham sandwich and Taylor Swift's vagina, implying that it looked that way due to Swift's promiscuity. 

At first glance, Mayers seems like little more than a troll: Her account has less than 1,075 followers, and she regularly posts similarly inflammatory statements. Yet clearly, many people thought her tweet was genuine. It sparked a wave of outraged responses, as well as a sarcastic hashtag, #IfMyVaginaWereASandwich. 

While the hashtag itself is quite entertaining, many people still legitimately believe the sentiment behind Mayers' original tweet, i.e., that too much sex can change the shape of a woman's genitals. This urban legend is used to degrade sexually active women, propagating dangerous ideas about women's bodies and female sexuality in general. 

Putting the fact that Mayers' tweet clearly confuses the vagina with the vulva aside (the vulva refers to all the external organs, while the vagina refers to the canal that leads to the uterus), there's no evidence to support the idea that having lots of sex changes the shape or size of the female genitalia at all. 

There are only two things that can affect the shape of the vulva or the vagina: aging and childbirth. But neither of these changes are irreversible. After childbirth, the body naturally heals and repairs itself over several months. Kegel exercises can help tighten up any muscles that go slightly slack due to aging or childbirth complications.

The "tightness" often attributed to virgins or sexually inexperienced women is actually largely the result of anxiety, not a woman's sexual history. Sexual arousal warms genital muscles and allows them to stretch to fit the incoming appendage, while feelings of stress cause muscles to tense and tighten. So if a woman feels "tight," it doesn't mean she's sexually inexperienced; sometimes, it can mean that she's anxious or insufficiently aroused. 

Even though the viral tweet is likely bullshit, it nonetheless prompted a conversation about the relationship (or lack thereof) between sex and vaginal tightness. Vulvas come in all shapes and sizes — just like trolls on Twitter. 

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