What Your Vaginal Discharge Is Trying To Tell You
Learning about our bodies is a feminist act.
Vaginal discharge is any fluid that is not your period that leaves your vagina. This could be anything from vaginal lubrication during arousal, old sperm, or cervical fluid. While vaginal lubrication often only appears during and after arousal, cervical fluid is there throughout your cycle. While we have been taught to feel uncomfortable about these bodily fluids, cervical fluid is truly a magical substance. It morphs during the month depending on your body’s biological needs. It also acts as a natural cleaner and alarms us when something is not quite right downstairs. Accepting our discharge is important in understanding our sexual health and fertility, and to challenge patriarchal ideas about female bodies being gross or unimportant.
The self-cleaning system
Cervical fluid changes during your cycle. It doesn’t have a strong or unpleasant smell, it’s white or clear and slippery or wet. Because people vary widely, it’s important to recognize your own patterns because a sudden change could be a sign of a symptom, a reaction, or a cry for help from your vagina.
For example, my vaginal discharge changed almost immediately after trying out scented laundry detergent. She was not having it! Because I was familiar with what my cervical fluid usually looked and smelled like, I could connect the dots. I went back to using a sensitive detergent for my sensitive gal downstairs, and she is thanking me for it.
Learning about your cycle and vaginal discharge can feel uncomfortable because there is an entire industry of flower-scented feminine “hygiene” products. Jokes on them, we are knowledgable enough to see through their hoaxes: Vaginas are self-cleaning marvellous systems, that don’t need products that have been produced to capitalize off our insecurities. My vagina is very hygienic, thank you very much, and it doesn’t need your “Rose Garden Intimate Wash Gel” to throw off their pH balance. If you take nothing else from this article, remember this:
Your vagina should smell like a vagina.
For many vaginas, even a bit of soap can create an imbalance in the vaginal bacteria and result in an infection. Add fragrance to the mix, and the likelihood is even greater.
Your vagina producing slippery, white, or clear fluid is totally normal and even helpful in many ways! Discharge helps to keep out unhealthy bacteria and viruses and keeps everything nice and healthy. Your vagina is a self-cleaning system that keeps itself healthy and regulated, without the assistance of overmarketed and unnecessary products.
The sperm wingman
On top of being vital or your vaginal health, cervical fluid plays an important role in your fertility. The cervix is the passageway to the uterus, so it is a crucial hotspot for reproduction. The discharge it produces — cervical fluid — seeks to either make conceiving easier or more difficult. The cervix acts like a gatekeeper for possible sperm to make the entrance to the uterus favorable or tough. Tracking your changes will help you learn about your cycle better and notice any changes. This is called Cervical Mucus Monitoring. While this might not be of use if you’re not coming into contact with little spermies (or penises), or are not interested in conceiving, it’s still a fascinating process to understand.
There are four stages in the cycle for different kinds of cervical fluid and they all have their own functions and missions. In the first phase of the cycle, the follicular phase, the uterus lining is shed and exits the body through the vaginal opening. After the bleeding cervical fluid is often absent or dry, so you may not even notice it. This changes drastically when we come closer to ovulation.
The body makes more mucus when an egg starts to ripen before ovulation is about to happen. Usually, the most mucus is produced right before ovulation as we come closer to the fertile window. This discharge is often creamy, white, and sticky to help sperm to survive long enough for the mature egg to appear, as it will survive in the fallopian tube for only about a day. At this point, the cervical fluid is acting as a friendly gatekeeper for the sperm, keeping them safe and warm. Normally, the acidic environment of the vagina is not ideal for sperm, and this creamy substance allows them to survive longer.
When ovulation happens, you get the clear and slippery cervical fluid, and often is referred to as an “egg-white kind of consistency”. This kind of cervical discharge is the easiest for the sperm to swim in, heightening the chances of conception. These days are your fertile days — do what you want with that information!
After ovulation, estrogen drops and progestogen rises, and cervical fluids become light or nonexistent until we’re back at square one again— the period — unless conception has occurred, of course.
While you may not want to use this data to better your chances at conception, you can also use it to do the opposite. Planned Parenthood describes the egg-white discharge during your cycle as a sign of your “unsafe days” when trying to prevent pregnancy.
The alarm
While changes in the cervical fluid can be 100% hormonal, it can also be a sign of infection or other problems. This is why it is important for us to get to know our own cycles and discharge patterns so that we can notice sudden changes and abnormalities. Healthy discharge doesn’t have a strong or unpleasant odor or color. Itching and soreness can be a sign of infection. Listen to your body’s alarms!
Our vulvas and vaginas are sensitive. Anything from a new partner throwing off our PH balance to strong laundry detergents and soaps can cause a reaction. The personal hygiene of both partners is crucial for prepping sex! Remember to wash your toys, and always ask your partner to wash their hands, rinse their mouth and genitalia if you’re coming to contact with them with your vulva or vagina. Also, try using underwear that is not made off synthetic fibers and avoid tight-fitting clothes if you’re prone to yeast infections or other kinds of uncomfortable itching.
Don’t fall victim to the douches, vaginal sprays, or scented menstrual products, they are a waste of money and not worth having an infection! These products are there to fix problems that don’t exist and often are the perpetrators of other problems because they throw off your vaginal pH levels.
If you experience symptoms that are out of the ordinary for your body, contact your doctor!
The wonder
Learning more about the wonders of vaginas has given me an appreciation and admiration for my body. Discharge isn’t yucky or fishy, it’s a sign of a happy and healthy vagina. It’s a natural, antibacterial cleaning system that allows us to observe our fertility and gives us a heads up if anything is going south — down there in the south.
Our bodies are marvelous. Vaginas are capable of incredible self-sustaining processes. In a world that is trying to capitalize on our insecurities (that have been created in patriarchal structures, to begin with), a personal revolution is a mighty act. Unapologetically accepting our discharge and admiring our bodies’ work is an anti-patriarchal act. Learning more about our bodies through science instead of the media is a crucial part of bringing down the patriarchy.
Your discharge changes during your menstrual cycle to best suit your body’s biological needs. Ovulation might not be the most interesting phenomenon when your not in the midst of trying to conceive, but it can be beneficial in understanding your body better. Your cycle affects your overall mood and energy levels, so it can be helpful to understand your cycle to understand yourself. And learning about the badass things our bodies can do on the daily is just cool.
