WEBVTT - The Vulva Photographer [re-release] 0:00:10.405 --> 0:00:13.125 You're listening to a MoMA Mia podcast. 0:00:13.925 --> 0:00:16.885 Mama Maya acknowledges the traditional owners of land and waters 0:00:16.885 --> 0:00:19.925 that this podcast is recorded on. The first time I 0:00:19.925 --> 0:00:23.525 spoke with Ellie Sedgwick, otherwise known as the Volver Photographer, 0:00:24.085 --> 0:00:26.645 was in twenty twenty two, and this is such an 0:00:26.725 --> 0:00:29.605 interesting conversation that I know you'll want to listen to, 0:00:30.245 --> 0:00:32.685 and we're bringing it back to you because there is 0:00:32.725 --> 0:00:36.045 a new chapter to this story. I asked Ellie for 0:00:36.085 --> 0:00:38.925 an update on how her project is going since the 0:00:39.005 --> 0:00:42.125 last time we spoke, and this is the voice note 0:00:42.245 --> 0:00:43.005 that she sent me. 0:00:43.445 --> 0:00:45.725 Hey, Mia, it's Ellie. I just wanted to send you 0:00:45.725 --> 0:00:48.045 a little update as a lot has happened since we 0:00:48.125 --> 0:00:52.325 last recorded this podcast. I'm super excited to announce that 0:00:52.405 --> 0:00:55.365 my coffee table book, Flip Through My Flaps, an Exploration 0:00:55.405 --> 0:00:59.245 of the Volver, is finally, after seven years in the making, 0:00:59.765 --> 0:01:03.885 available for purchase and next week I will personally be 0:01:04.005 --> 0:01:08.685 packing each and every order from where it's printed in Melbourne, Australia. 0:01:09.405 --> 0:01:11.805 It's something that I'm so proud to be able to 0:01:11.845 --> 0:01:14.645 put out into this world. The book aims to raise 0:01:14.685 --> 0:01:18.365 awareness of vulver diversity and it really breaks down the 0:01:18.365 --> 0:01:22.605 stigma surrounding women's health. It features the photographs and stories 0:01:22.645 --> 0:01:26.605 of over five hundred women, and it really dives into 0:01:26.645 --> 0:01:31.085 a range of readily important topics, from the complexities of 0:01:31.125 --> 0:01:37.805 our vulver anatomy to open conversations around sexual health, pleasure, motherhood, miscarriages. 0:01:38.045 --> 0:01:40.285 This book is something that I wish existed when I 0:01:40.445 --> 0:01:44.565 was younger. So it was only two weeks before the 0:01:44.605 --> 0:01:47.285 book went to print that I ended up finding the 0:01:47.365 --> 0:01:52.165 confidence to do my own vulver photo shoot, and I 0:01:52.485 --> 0:01:55.725 was feeling self conscious throughout the shoot, and my friend 0:01:55.765 --> 0:02:00.885 who shot me used the trial print copy of Flip 0:02:00.925 --> 0:02:03.885 Through My Flaps that we had on us to bring 0:02:03.965 --> 0:02:06.285 to me and show me that what I was worried 0:02:06.285 --> 0:02:09.805 about was really normal. So it was really cool seen 0:02:10.005 --> 0:02:12.685 it out in the world in action and I used 0:02:12.685 --> 0:02:16.765 it on myself, which is just amazing. I think that 0:02:16.805 --> 0:02:21.405 the statistics of people who have genital anxieties now are 0:02:21.565 --> 0:02:24.445 so large, so I really hope that this book can 0:02:24.525 --> 0:02:27.165 be used as a resource and a tool to show 0:02:27.165 --> 0:02:29.485 that we're all unique and that's what makes us beautiful. 0:02:30.205 --> 0:02:35.125 So yes, I'm very excited to be an author and 0:02:35.165 --> 0:02:36.965 for this book to be out on the shelves for 0:02:37.005 --> 0:02:42.085 the world to see. Big love for mom and me. 0:02:42.285 --> 0:02:45.125 You're listening to No Filter, the podcast where people speak 0:02:45.165 --> 0:02:48.205 candidly about their lives and aren't afraid to be vulnerable. 0:02:49.005 --> 0:02:51.405 I'm me a Friedman and I don't like the word vulver. 0:02:52.125 --> 0:02:54.925 It's not to say I don't love my actual volver. 0:02:55.485 --> 0:02:56.205 I obviously do. 0:02:56.805 --> 0:02:59.405 I mean I guess I do. Let's start some cool stuff. 0:03:00.125 --> 0:03:01.765 I don't think about it that much, to be honest, 0:03:01.845 --> 0:03:05.085 and that is part of the problem. If you have 0:03:05.165 --> 0:03:08.485 a volver, for example, did you even grow up calling 0:03:08.525 --> 0:03:12.965 it that? I didn't. My mum, a feminist, taught me 0:03:13.005 --> 0:03:15.285 to call it a vagina, and that's the word I 0:03:15.405 --> 0:03:20.405 taught my own kids their penises and vaginas. Today, you're 0:03:20.445 --> 0:03:24.365 going to meet a woman who's mad about wolvers. She 0:03:24.485 --> 0:03:27.685 loves them, and she uses the word at every opportunity. 0:03:28.325 --> 0:03:31.485 She's even turned wolvers into a well paid job, and 0:03:31.605 --> 0:03:34.925 wolvers have made her a little bit famous. So if 0:03:34.925 --> 0:03:37.965 you've ever thought to yourself, is my vulver normal or 0:03:38.645 --> 0:03:41.845 what the hell is an out yet, Ellie Sedgwick is 0:03:41.925 --> 0:03:45.045 here to set you straight. Ellie is a body positive 0:03:45.045 --> 0:03:49.085 photographer and entrepreneur who found it Comfortable in My Skin, 0:03:49.725 --> 0:03:53.005 a movement empowering people to love the skin they're in. 0:03:53.805 --> 0:03:56.725 But Ellie hasn't always felt comfortable with her own volver. 0:03:57.325 --> 0:04:00.605 She's gone from being scared to wear swimmers to even 0:04:00.645 --> 0:04:05.645 considering labiaplasty, and now she drives around the country photographing 0:04:05.685 --> 0:04:08.805 other women's volvers for her upcoming book, which is going 0:04:08.885 --> 0:04:12.445 to be called Slipped through My Flaps. I'm not even kidding. 0:04:13.045 --> 0:04:13.765 Here's Ellie. 0:04:14.205 --> 0:04:15.605 Ellie. What did you. 0:04:15.405 --> 0:04:17.925 Call your genitals when you were a little girl? 0:04:18.765 --> 0:04:22.125 Vagina always called vagina. 0:04:21.405 --> 0:04:23.445 So you weren't in one of those families that had 0:04:23.565 --> 0:04:26.885 cute little nicknames. What did your mama teach you about 0:04:26.925 --> 0:04:27.965 your vagina? 0:04:28.085 --> 0:04:29.965 This makes me feel a little bit sad, but my 0:04:30.085 --> 0:04:33.325 mom wrote me a message about a year inter comfortable 0:04:33.325 --> 0:04:36.405 with my skin, and she actually apologized. She said, I'm 0:04:36.445 --> 0:04:40.805 so sorry that I didn't teach you the correct terminology folver, 0:04:40.965 --> 0:04:43.605 because I obviously speak about that so much about how 0:04:43.605 --> 0:04:46.045 we should call it the right thing, and I had 0:04:46.125 --> 0:04:48.845 just done a post about what do you wish your 0:04:48.925 --> 0:04:51.685 parents in school taught you when you were fourteen? Then 0:04:51.685 --> 0:04:53.765 my mum read her all, and she felt really bad 0:04:53.765 --> 0:04:56.325 because she's very sensitive, loving lady, and she was like, 0:04:56.365 --> 0:04:59.365 I'm so sorry that I didn't teach you what all 0:04:59.445 --> 0:05:02.365 volvers look like and wrote me this big message about it. 0:05:02.605 --> 0:05:05.645 So she was always very lovely, but I mean, she 0:05:05.685 --> 0:05:07.085 just didn't call it a volver herself. 0:05:07.565 --> 0:05:09.245 Do you remember when you first became aware of it 0:05:09.405 --> 0:05:13.125 even having one, or that girls and boys had different bits. 0:05:13.405 --> 0:05:16.765 I remember the first time I was insecure about it, 0:05:16.885 --> 0:05:20.565 definitely was in high school and I got a note 0:05:20.565 --> 0:05:23.205 from someone saying, do you have an Innie or an Audi? 0:05:24.165 --> 0:05:26.885 After I realized it was Evolver that they were talking about, 0:05:26.925 --> 0:05:28.645 I realized that mine was maybe different. 0:05:29.165 --> 0:05:31.605 Was that note based on anything like It's not like 0:05:31.645 --> 0:05:33.165 in with no pants? 0:05:33.285 --> 0:05:35.885 No, No, It was just this little boy behind me 0:05:35.925 --> 0:05:37.645 in class and he just scribbled it with pen and 0:05:37.685 --> 0:05:38.965 tapped me on the shold and gave it to me. 0:05:39.005 --> 0:05:41.765 And I don't think I was even sexually active then, 0:05:41.925 --> 0:05:45.325 so it was definitely not aimed at me on purpose. 0:05:45.645 --> 0:05:47.685 It just was the start of my insecurities. 0:05:48.085 --> 0:05:51.925 And I'd never heard that terminology, certainly when I was 0:05:51.925 --> 0:05:55.685 a kid about the idea of innies and auties. 0:05:56.365 --> 0:05:58.805 I grew up on the Northern beaches, and it's very 0:05:58.885 --> 0:06:01.645 much beach culture. And I served my whole life, and 0:06:01.685 --> 0:06:04.405 so I was always hanging out with big groups of boys, 0:06:04.685 --> 0:06:07.085 and I was out the back and were to often 0:06:07.085 --> 0:06:10.125 hear the chat about the girl's it's like the night before. 0:06:10.765 --> 0:06:13.085 And I do speak about this a lot. But two 0:06:13.165 --> 0:06:16.725 of my best friends growing up have had labiaplasty, one 0:06:16.765 --> 0:06:19.405 when she was sixteen and then again when she was eighteen, 0:06:19.565 --> 0:06:21.765 and then another one had it when she was eighteen. 0:06:22.245 --> 0:06:24.645 And so I think that there was something about the 0:06:24.685 --> 0:06:27.885 boys we hung out with maybe and the girls that 0:06:28.325 --> 0:06:31.725 there was like this ideal way that your wolver should look, 0:06:31.845 --> 0:06:33.725 I mean mine. You can see it when I wear 0:06:33.765 --> 0:06:37.845 a bikini. And I photographed like, you know, four hundred 0:06:37.845 --> 0:06:40.685 people now, so I do know I have quite distinct 0:06:40.805 --> 0:06:42.885 laber and you can see it when I wear a bikini. 0:06:43.205 --> 0:06:45.005 And there was just like joke said that made me 0:06:45.045 --> 0:06:46.365 feel really sad growing up. 0:06:47.525 --> 0:06:51.045 You said that your friend had a labioplastin when she 0:06:51.165 --> 0:06:55.365 was sixteen. Was this the nineties or the two thousands? 0:06:55.365 --> 0:06:56.245 How old are you really? 0:06:56.445 --> 0:07:01.525 I'm thirty two, so this was the early two thousands. Yes, 0:07:01.685 --> 0:07:04.485 So I finished school O seven, so it would have 0:07:04.645 --> 0:07:07.325 just been a few years before that. She came and 0:07:07.325 --> 0:07:09.165 showed her mum and said like, why do I look 0:07:09.205 --> 0:07:12.165 like this? And her mum said, oh, I did as well, 0:07:12.165 --> 0:07:15.005 and I don't want you to go through what I did, 0:07:15.165 --> 0:07:18.125 feeling like it was not sexy, blah blah blah, and 0:07:18.205 --> 0:07:21.605 took her and gave her permission. And she doesn't regret 0:07:21.645 --> 0:07:24.485 it at all. She's actually happy with her laby a plasty. 0:07:24.525 --> 0:07:26.525 But we always laugh and say, imagine if we all 0:07:26.525 --> 0:07:29.845 had spoken and they only came forward and told me 0:07:29.885 --> 0:07:32.325 because of comfortable in my skin or else. No one 0:07:32.365 --> 0:07:33.125 else knows. 0:07:33.085 --> 0:07:37.445 Because it's not something that girls spoke about as teenagers. 0:07:37.485 --> 0:07:40.765 Not really. I mean, it's definitely changed now. You can 0:07:40.805 --> 0:07:43.405 look on social media and find so much cool Volver 0:07:44.005 --> 0:07:46.805 diversity awareness. Yeah, but I think when we were growing up, 0:07:46.845 --> 0:07:49.645 and probably the same as you, a lot of my friends' 0:07:49.805 --> 0:07:52.565 mums when I started comfortable with my skin were like, 0:07:53.045 --> 0:07:55.365 what they all look the same? What are you doing? 0:07:55.445 --> 0:07:58.045 What do you mean? They all had that kind of response, 0:07:58.605 --> 0:07:59.925 and I was like, no, they don't. 0:08:00.645 --> 0:08:06.325 The first time I became aware of the whole beauty 0:08:06.365 --> 0:08:10.525 standard around Volvers was and I worked in magazines and 0:08:10.525 --> 0:08:12.885 I was the editor of Cosmo, and I remember talking 0:08:12.925 --> 0:08:15.285 to one of the editors of one of the men's 0:08:15.285 --> 0:08:19.525 magazines in our same company, and he was telling me 0:08:19.685 --> 0:08:22.805 how they had to always battle with the senses because 0:08:23.285 --> 0:08:28.285 they were legally required to. And the wording was extraordinary 0:08:28.365 --> 0:08:34.005 from the Bureau of Censorship seal the opening to a 0:08:34.045 --> 0:08:38.605 single slit, a single crease, a single crease, so they 0:08:38.645 --> 0:08:42.605 had to airbrush any protruding labbya from any image of 0:08:42.645 --> 0:08:44.885 a naked woman that they showed, and then they didn't 0:08:44.885 --> 0:08:48.525 disclose this. So my generation didn't grow up looking at 0:08:48.805 --> 0:08:52.845 poorn necessarily, But we saw naked girls. 0:08:52.485 --> 0:08:55.765 In men's magazine except Playboy. 0:08:55.365 --> 0:08:57.805 And People and Picture and those kinds of things, And 0:08:57.885 --> 0:09:00.605 what we never realized was that what we were looking 0:09:00.605 --> 0:09:05.965 at were not real human vaginas they were in most cases. Rush, Bob, 0:09:06.845 --> 0:09:08.485 we're going to have to do this a lot. Let's 0:09:08.525 --> 0:09:09.405 go straight to that. 0:09:09.885 --> 0:09:11.965 What I was going to say just quickly about that 0:09:12.565 --> 0:09:15.765 is that a lot of sexologists, and you see a 0:09:15.765 --> 0:09:19.405 lot of people talking about this currently saying that porn 0:09:19.685 --> 0:09:23.045 is the reason why so many people are insecure. But 0:09:23.165 --> 0:09:26.085 I personally, and this is just speaking from my personal opinion. 0:09:26.125 --> 0:09:28.245 I'm the same as you. I had never watched porn 0:09:28.365 --> 0:09:32.085 growing up, and so I don't blame the porn industry. 0:09:32.125 --> 0:09:35.005 And I think that now especially, there's so much amateur porn. 0:09:35.485 --> 0:09:39.325 You can find anything online, and so I don't actually 0:09:39.405 --> 0:09:42.285 think that that's where a lot of the insecurities are 0:09:42.365 --> 0:09:42.965 coming from. 0:09:43.245 --> 0:09:44.685 Where do you think they're coming from? 0:09:45.285 --> 0:09:47.765 Well, I think for me it was like not seeing 0:09:47.885 --> 0:09:49.885 other ones, and then, like you said, the ones that 0:09:49.925 --> 0:09:54.805 I did in Playboy or anything had been edited and photoshopped. 0:09:55.285 --> 0:09:59.085 And then maybe the few because I'm very bisexual, I've 0:09:59.125 --> 0:10:02.365 never been straight. Maybe the few girls that I was 0:10:02.405 --> 0:10:05.765 sleeping with when I was starting to explore had that 0:10:05.885 --> 0:10:10.045 kind of design of vagina, so they'd call it Barbie. 0:10:10.245 --> 0:10:13.005 That's how my journey went. That was the kind of 0:10:13.045 --> 0:10:14.365 wolvers that I first saw. 0:10:15.565 --> 0:10:18.645 Tell me about the word ellie, I can't say it. 0:10:19.125 --> 0:10:20.525 I just don't like it. 0:10:20.725 --> 0:10:22.805 Volva, you don't like it. 0:10:23.205 --> 0:10:25.245 And I've been pulled up on this for so many 0:10:25.365 --> 0:10:29.365 years now, and I call them the Vulva police police, 0:10:29.445 --> 0:10:31.685 the Vulvar police of which you are a proud card 0:10:31.725 --> 0:10:34.445 can remember. Tell me why I don't like the word elie. 0:10:34.525 --> 0:10:37.005 I don't know why you personally don't like it, but 0:10:37.045 --> 0:10:40.485 it took me. I've been capturingvolvers for four years now 0:10:40.925 --> 0:10:43.805 and it took me about three is to start saying it. 0:10:44.365 --> 0:10:46.925 And then now I can't not pick up on it, 0:10:47.005 --> 0:10:49.405 Like if I hear anyone say it's just I think 0:10:49.445 --> 0:10:53.485 because my whole world is pussy, just like vulva, vulva, vulva, 0:10:53.605 --> 0:10:56.965 and so I'm so in tune with it. As soon 0:10:57.005 --> 0:10:59.205 as someone says, for Janah, it just tingles me. I'm like, 0:10:59.245 --> 0:11:01.525 it's vulva. It makes me angry because there's such a 0:11:01.565 --> 0:11:02.685 big lack of education. 0:11:03.085 --> 0:11:05.325 Well, yes, I know how I thought that volver was 0:11:05.405 --> 0:11:09.285 the name for labbia or for your slushy bits, like 0:11:09.405 --> 0:11:12.045 to me, it's a very fleshy word. Yeah, but can 0:11:12.045 --> 0:11:14.445 you explain the difference between a vagina and revolver for 0:11:14.445 --> 0:11:15.525 those who are playing at home? 0:11:15.765 --> 0:11:18.605 While the vaginas the canal, so it's you know, where 0:11:18.645 --> 0:11:22.085 the inside the inside, yes, can't see it from the outside. 0:11:22.085 --> 0:11:26.205 Hampon goes in, babies come out, toy baby comes out, yeah, 0:11:26.245 --> 0:11:29.645 and then the volvers everything on the outside. And so 0:11:29.645 --> 0:11:32.045 so many people are using the wrong terms, having no 0:11:32.165 --> 0:11:35.485 idea and that's because we're not educated on our bodies, 0:11:35.485 --> 0:11:37.325 that part of our body, Like we just missed out 0:11:37.325 --> 0:11:41.965 on that. There's so much information on penises and everything else, 0:11:42.005 --> 0:11:43.045 but just not volvers. 0:11:43.165 --> 0:11:44.965 So it's like as if we were calling a penis 0:11:45.005 --> 0:11:46.885 a scrotum, yeah, or testical. 0:11:47.245 --> 0:11:49.725 Exactly why is. 0:11:49.925 --> 0:11:55.045 That misinformation there? Because that's a bigger question, isn't it. 0:11:55.405 --> 0:11:58.645 Why did I grow up with a feminist mother who 0:11:58.685 --> 0:12:01.725 was very much about his the name that we call 0:12:01.765 --> 0:12:04.165 it because that's what it's called. And I had an 0:12:04.245 --> 0:12:07.405 argument with one of my best friends. We both had daughters, 0:12:07.525 --> 0:12:09.845 and we were in a shop trying clothes and I 0:12:09.885 --> 0:12:11.725 had a really short skirt and I said, oh goodness, 0:12:11.725 --> 0:12:13.805 you can almost see my vagina, which you would have 0:12:13.845 --> 0:12:16.965 corrected me on. But she got angry at me because 0:12:17.125 --> 0:12:19.765 her daughters in their family, they called it a wink. 0:12:21.165 --> 0:12:23.605 And so her little girl, who was I can't remember 0:12:23.765 --> 0:12:26.645 five as the time, was skipping down the street going 0:12:26.725 --> 0:12:29.085 vagina vagina, and she's like, thanks so much for that, 0:12:29.245 --> 0:12:30.605 and she was really angry at me, and I'm like, 0:12:30.645 --> 0:12:33.125 it's important that she learns what it's actually called. 0:12:33.245 --> 0:12:35.765 It's a body part, and also talking about it normally. 0:12:35.805 --> 0:12:37.685 Like my dad said this when I started comfortable in 0:12:37.725 --> 0:12:39.765 my skin. He was like, talk about it like it's 0:12:39.765 --> 0:12:42.165 a body part, because that's what it is. And when 0:12:42.205 --> 0:12:44.405 you make things weird and nickname me, then it feels 0:12:44.445 --> 0:12:47.085 like you're being naughty talking about it, when actually it's 0:12:47.205 --> 0:12:49.405 just a beautiful part of our bodies, like our breast, 0:12:50.045 --> 0:12:52.365 and it's something that we should treasure and love and 0:12:52.405 --> 0:12:54.565 feel connected to, so we should be allowed to talk 0:12:54.565 --> 0:12:55.645 about it in the right way. 0:12:56.085 --> 0:12:57.685 He used to be a preschool teacher. 0:12:57.885 --> 0:12:58.365 I did. 0:12:58.685 --> 0:13:04.205 It's quite the career trajectory you cash to becoming evolver photographer. 0:13:04.485 --> 0:13:07.765 Oh, speak to me about Everyone's always like what did 0:13:07.765 --> 0:13:09.685 the moms say? And what does your boss say? And 0:13:09.725 --> 0:13:12.125 I'm like, I'm very open with everything I do. And 0:13:12.165 --> 0:13:14.005 it's so hilarious because all the mums would pull me 0:13:14.045 --> 0:13:15.485 aside one by one to be like, I want to 0:13:15.485 --> 0:13:17.445 be photographed, but don't tell the other mums, so you 0:13:17.525 --> 0:13:20.845 do both. I don't so much. I mean, I do 0:13:20.965 --> 0:13:24.165 steal nanny a lot of travel nanny, so I sometimes 0:13:24.205 --> 0:13:26.365 go back and drop into it because I do genuinely 0:13:26.445 --> 0:13:28.645 love hanging out with kids. It's so much fun. But 0:13:29.365 --> 0:13:33.925 I do prefer hanging with the vulgar naked people capturing 0:13:33.925 --> 0:13:34.445 the volvers. 0:13:34.565 --> 0:13:36.925 Who was the first volver that you saw other than 0:13:36.965 --> 0:13:37.365 your own? 0:13:37.565 --> 0:13:40.805 The first volver I ever saw was Ella, my best friend, 0:13:41.085 --> 0:13:45.565 and we were quite best friend with benefits, with benefits, yeah, 0:13:45.725 --> 0:13:48.125 and so yeah, i'd say hers is the first I saw. 0:13:48.205 --> 0:13:50.805 We had a lot of fun, and what did you think? 0:13:51.325 --> 0:13:54.285 I remember thinking like, why does mine not look like hers? 0:13:54.485 --> 0:13:56.645 That's what I remember thinking. And then hers looked like 0:13:56.685 --> 0:13:58.445 a Barbie doll that I'd always played with when I 0:13:58.485 --> 0:14:00.045 was younger, and I was like, oh my gosh, I've 0:14:00.045 --> 0:14:02.805 got too much skin down there. Yeah, let's say that's 0:14:02.805 --> 0:14:04.165 where a lot of the insecurity start. 0:14:04.205 --> 0:14:06.645 Thanks Ella, But you didn't say anything to Ellen. Was 0:14:06.645 --> 0:14:08.005 Ella the one that got the surgery? 0:14:08.365 --> 0:14:08.685 No? 0:14:08.685 --> 0:14:11.045 No, no, okay, So you didn't say anything to Ella 0:14:11.085 --> 0:14:12.445 and she didn't say anything to you. No. 0:14:12.525 --> 0:14:15.125 Well, this is the problem with volvers is because it's 0:14:15.165 --> 0:14:17.525 such a taboo topic. I never told anyone except for 0:14:17.565 --> 0:14:20.965 my sister. And then I went traveling around in my 0:14:21.005 --> 0:14:24.245 early twenties around Europe, and I came back and I 0:14:24.405 --> 0:14:26.565 remember sitting in the park with Nicki and I was 0:14:26.645 --> 0:14:29.165 crying and sister. Yeah, because I just slept with someone 0:14:29.245 --> 0:14:30.725 and I was like, what if they tell what I 0:14:30.765 --> 0:14:33.165 look like? And I was like really upset. I used 0:14:33.165 --> 0:14:35.165 to do this thing, but I would honestly cry with 0:14:35.205 --> 0:14:37.485 people when I was sleeping with them, so sad for 0:14:37.485 --> 0:14:39.005 the person I was sleeping with, because I'd be like, 0:14:39.005 --> 0:14:40.925 what's wrong with it? It's so sad for you because 0:14:40.965 --> 0:14:43.965 you were self conscious. I was so self conscious of 0:14:43.965 --> 0:14:46.845 my volver. And so then NICKI said to me, there's 0:14:46.885 --> 0:14:49.325 this thing called Laba plusty, and I think you should 0:14:49.365 --> 0:14:51.805 get it because it's been so long now of you 0:14:51.925 --> 0:14:54.205 being worried about this part of your body. And so 0:14:54.285 --> 0:14:57.925 that's when my road led down to going to cosmetic 0:14:57.965 --> 0:15:01.805 sessions in Sydney and it's so concerning. They don't even 0:15:01.845 --> 0:15:03.645 look at your body. They were just like, when can 0:15:03.645 --> 0:15:05.645 we book you in? And yeah, this is the price. 0:15:05.765 --> 0:15:07.845 Because I was young, they were like, maybe you can 0:15:07.845 --> 0:15:11.045 get under medicare. It's eight centimeters long. We can help 0:15:11.125 --> 0:15:11.925 you get it cheaper. 0:15:12.285 --> 0:15:13.805 How old were you I must have. 0:15:13.845 --> 0:15:17.565 Been early early twenties. And then when I went to 0:15:17.645 --> 0:15:20.485 finally have the surgery done, I went to India because 0:15:20.525 --> 0:15:22.845 I used to babysit in India on and off for 0:15:22.885 --> 0:15:26.445 six years, and the doctor I couldn't talk properly. I 0:15:26.485 --> 0:15:29.045 was just calling it like liposuction and pointing down like. 0:15:29.165 --> 0:15:33.125 You were calling it liposuction. Yeah, when your sister Nicki, 0:15:33.525 --> 0:15:35.405 First of all, I don't have a sister. Do sisters 0:15:35.405 --> 0:15:36.765 look at each other's volvers? 0:15:36.885 --> 0:15:40.845 Nicki was the best best big sister you could ever 0:15:41.285 --> 0:15:45.085 ever have. She was so beautiful. She just always showed 0:15:45.085 --> 0:15:47.925 me hers and as looked exactly the same, and she 0:15:48.005 --> 0:15:50.725 was like, who cares? Like who cares what the people think? 0:15:50.765 --> 0:15:52.525 And she did surf boat rowing, and she was like, 0:15:52.565 --> 0:15:54.565 you can see my outline when I'm in a bikini. 0:15:55.045 --> 0:15:57.485 She just said she never cared all the time. 0:15:57.885 --> 0:15:58.725 And what about your mum. 0:15:59.165 --> 0:16:02.325 Mom's not a newdicist as such, so she was never 0:16:02.405 --> 0:16:04.325 walking around the house nage. She talked to her about 0:16:04.325 --> 0:16:06.925 it though, No, which is weird because as soon as 0:16:06.925 --> 0:16:09.405 I lost my Virginia, I told her. I told her everything, 0:16:09.445 --> 0:16:11.845 But for some reason, I never told he about my insecurities. 0:16:12.725 --> 0:16:16.325 So your sister didn't want to get labiaplasty herself. No, 0:16:16.485 --> 0:16:20.485 Nicky obviously knew that it existed, yes, and suggested it 0:16:20.565 --> 0:16:22.525 to you little did you know one of your friends 0:16:22.525 --> 0:16:25.205 had or two of you. I had it by that stage. 0:16:25.485 --> 0:16:27.805 Yeah, And so then I ended up in this horrible 0:16:27.805 --> 0:16:32.085 situation with a cosmetic surgeon in India and he was like, 0:16:32.245 --> 0:16:35.045 with a yellow highlighter drawing on my legs because he 0:16:35.085 --> 0:16:36.805 thought I wanted my legs like it's actually I was 0:16:36.805 --> 0:16:37.005 going to. 0:16:37.045 --> 0:16:39.845 Say, I don't think I'm learning a lot already about 0:16:39.845 --> 0:16:42.165 well my bolvaries, but I don't think it involves my legs. 0:16:42.965 --> 0:16:45.645 And then he said after a while, I was very awkward, 0:16:45.685 --> 0:16:47.925 and I said, I mean, like here, not my legs 0:16:47.925 --> 0:16:51.325 at all. And so that's when like this hilarious moment 0:16:51.405 --> 0:16:53.525 happened that I speak about all the time. He went 0:16:53.565 --> 0:16:56.485 and got a mirror that's a circle, and he brought 0:16:56.565 --> 0:16:59.005 over to my face and made me put my teeth 0:16:59.165 --> 0:17:02.645 forward and showed me that for the same price as 0:17:02.725 --> 0:17:05.965 lavio plasty, I could have my jaw line fixed with 0:17:06.045 --> 0:17:09.085 a chin extension. And he was like, everybody sees your 0:17:09.125 --> 0:17:12.645 face and only people you love seeing your vulva. And 0:17:12.685 --> 0:17:15.805 I was like, ugh, but yeah, I went in with 0:17:15.845 --> 0:17:17.285 one insecurity, came out with two. 0:17:18.045 --> 0:17:18.805 Did you leave? 0:17:19.125 --> 0:17:21.925 And I got yellow post its with all the prices, 0:17:21.965 --> 0:17:24.085 like of what a chin extension would cost, and what 0:17:24.205 --> 0:17:26.685 laby PLASTI would cost, and how long the bruising would 0:17:26.685 --> 0:17:28.285 be if I had to go back to work for 0:17:28.325 --> 0:17:31.285 a chin extension, all this weird stuff. And like me 0:17:31.365 --> 0:17:33.525 and my best friends we always send each other double 0:17:33.605 --> 0:17:36.725 chin self. These were like constantly doing that. So I 0:17:36.765 --> 0:17:38.965 remember later telling them like, oh my god, I almost 0:17:38.965 --> 0:17:41.965 got a chin extension. They're like, why would you change 0:17:42.525 --> 0:17:43.085 your face? 0:17:43.325 --> 0:17:43.565 You know? 0:17:43.765 --> 0:17:45.365 So it's kind of like, why would I change this? 0:17:45.405 --> 0:17:46.965 Why would I change this? It's just me. 0:17:47.525 --> 0:17:50.925 So you walked out of there with some post it notes, yes, 0:17:51.405 --> 0:17:53.485 but nobody alteration. 0:17:53.725 --> 0:17:57.125 Nobody alterations, which it is make you think again? Made 0:17:57.165 --> 0:17:59.365 me think again? He said to me, have you seen 0:17:59.445 --> 0:18:02.085 other volvers? Because I don't think you need this surgery. 0:18:02.125 --> 0:18:04.565 And I think I'm quite a natural, earthy girl, you know, 0:18:04.605 --> 0:18:07.725 I love I see beauty in everyone. And I think 0:18:07.925 --> 0:18:11.165 I was quite shocked that I would had even considered 0:18:11.165 --> 0:18:13.525 doing my face. I don't know. I just think it 0:18:13.565 --> 0:18:15.285 was lucky that he put so much pressure on, like 0:18:15.325 --> 0:18:16.285 fixing everything. 0:18:17.085 --> 0:18:19.365 Wow. So it's like what he restored to you and 0:18:19.405 --> 0:18:22.645 your self esteem about your volver. He tried to take 0:18:22.725 --> 0:18:25.285 away with your face, but you just didn't pick up 0:18:25.325 --> 0:18:26.365 what he was putting down. 0:18:26.645 --> 0:18:28.725 Yeah, I did not at all. And I also picked 0:18:28.765 --> 0:18:29.925 up where he was like you need to go and 0:18:29.925 --> 0:18:31.285 see others, and. 0:18:31.245 --> 0:18:33.445 So then like you need to go and see other volvervolvers. 0:18:33.565 --> 0:18:37.445 Yeah, this idea started where I should photograph heaps and like, 0:18:37.485 --> 0:18:40.925 it's really interesting because a lot of my girlfriends remember 0:18:41.045 --> 0:18:43.765 me one night at pizza and manly being like, oh, 0:18:43.805 --> 0:18:45.765 you know, like how cool would a book like this be? 0:18:45.965 --> 0:18:48.805 And this was like years before I started, but they 0:18:48.845 --> 0:18:51.405 didn't know about my insecurities. And then when I actually 0:18:51.565 --> 0:18:54.245 did this Facebook post in twenty eighteen saying I'm going 0:18:54.285 --> 0:18:57.205 to create a coffee table book flip through my flats 0:18:57.205 --> 0:18:59.845 and I'm going to photograph five hundred volvers, and they 0:18:59.925 --> 0:19:02.845 were like, I remember you talking about this for years, 0:19:02.925 --> 0:19:04.885 but I never made it about me. I was just like, 0:19:04.925 --> 0:19:07.165 how cool would that be? Just to see real you 0:19:07.205 --> 0:19:10.285 was still uncomfortable. I was still very uncomfortable, and is 0:19:10.285 --> 0:19:14.325 that when people started to go, oh, actually, yeah, that 0:19:14.365 --> 0:19:16.245 would be really cool. I'd love to see what other 0:19:16.285 --> 0:19:17.925 ones look like. But then you heard like also the 0:19:18.045 --> 0:19:20.645 jokes as well that were quite nasty. 0:19:20.925 --> 0:19:23.965