Parenting

Female Masturbation Has A New, Pretty Awesome Name

by Maria Guido
Updated: 
Originally Published: 

In terms of word mash-ups, “clitoris” and “glitter” is probably one you never thought would happen. It has.

Sweden has invented a new term for masturbation to make women feel more included. Apparently the Swedish language has several words that apply to men engaging in solo sex acts, but not women. What gives? The not-for-profit group the Swedish Association for Sexual Education (RFSU) which “works for an open, positive view of sex and relationship issues,” decided to do something about that, to make the topic of female masturbation “less taboo,” reports The Huffington Post.

“When it comes to masturbation, people mostly think about just men doing it and we don’t think of it as common for women. If we don’t have a word in the language, how can we even talk about it?” asked RFSU spokeswoman Kristina Ljungros. If the words that describe the act really only apply to men — that is just ridiculous.

So RFSU decided to launch a nationwide contest to pick the best term for female masturbation. The clitoris/glitter mash-up “klittra” won, because clitorises and glitter are awesome, obviously.

Ljungros thinks the creation of a new word that is inclusive to females will move Sweden closer to gender equality. The group is petitioning to have the word included in the Swedish dictionary. Why not? A rich vocabulary is a good thing, and really — can there be too many words? Especially ones that describe something as common and glorious as masturbation? The only way to make this word better would be to also incorporate unicorns. Why didn’t anyone think of that?

“We are trying to put sexuality on the agenda — the positive aspects,” Ljungros said. “We want to focus on the good parts, the lust.” Sounds good. And who doesn’t love glitter? (Apart from every parent whose ever crafted with it.)

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