The age-old question of whether or not size matters is typically directed at men. But although they might not talk about it, some women may worry about the size of their vagina and how it affects sexual pleasure, particularly after having a baby.
Not a lot of research has been done in this area. Because so many things affect women’s sexuality, it’s hard for researchers to know if vagina size and sexual pleasure are linked.
“Our ability to understand size as it relates to sexual function is poorly understood,” says Christopher Tarnay, MD, director of the division of female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery at the UCLA Medical Center.
The vagina is a very “elastic” organ, says Christine O’Connor, MD, director of adolescent gynecology and well women care at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore.
It’s small enough to hold a tampon in place, but can expand enough to pass a baby through. This is because the walls of the vagina are similar to those of the stomach in that they have rugae, meaning they fold together to collapse when unused, then expand when necessary.
“It doesn’t stay one particular size,” O’Connor says. “It changes to accommodate whatever is going on at that time.”
The most commonly used measurements regarding the size of vaginas come from Masters and Johnson’s work from the 1960s. They looked at 100 women who had never been pregnant and found that vagina lengths, unstimulated, range from 2.75 inches to about 3¼ inches. When a woman is aroused, it increased to 4.25 inches to 4.75 inches. Regardless of how long the vagina is, the area that is thought to be important for most women’s sexual response is the outer one-third.
So how does length relate to sexual satisfaction? No one seems to know for sure.
Tarnay says the main issues women report is discomfort during sex. This typically happens if the vagina is too short or tight or if they have a prolapse. In prolapse, the uterus, bladder, or other organs fall out of place, typically after childbirth.
But in general, vaginal length “probably doesn’t matter,” Tarnay says. “There is such a wide range of normal. One can be completely assured that in the absence of prolapse, length has no impact on sexual satisfaction.”
What may make a difference, Tarnay says, is what he calls the genital hiatus — the vaginal opening. If there’s a problem, it typically happens after childbirth.
The vaginal opening likely changes only slightly after birth, Tarnay says. In 1996, doctors began using a measurement called the pelvic organ prolapse quantification system as a way of helping them see how well they were doing repairing that area after childbirth.
This was the first time there was a true before-and-after measurement, Tarnay says. Doctors have used the system to look at populations of women and found that there is a slight increase in the size of the opening after vaginal deliveries.
