Why women should pay more attention to their lady parts

Did your parents have 'special' names for boys' and girls' genitals when you were growing up?

Understandably, mums and dads often shirk more clinical (or 'crude') terms in favour of euphemisms, in a sensitive attempt to shelter their little ones from the adult world.

Vaginas are often renamed mary, foof, noonie - the list is endless - in an attempt to make them sound cutesie.

But by doing this, are we creating a stigma around them? Do we grow up thinking we can't actually talk about our own genitals for fear of offending others?

One could even argue that this is one of the root causes of embarrassment women feel when it comes to sexual health matters

Do you get a shudder when your smear test appointment letter drops on the doormat? Or ignore symptoms of serious health issues because you're ashamed to strip off?

Perhaps it's time that this stigma is broken - that we DON'T feel awkward or uncomfortable talking about our body parts.

That's the thinking behind the Gynaecological Cancer Fund's lady garden campaign, which launched today in cooperation with TopShop.

The fund is a newly formed charity, set up by a group of nine women who have lost family or close friends to gynaecological cancer or other female cancers.

Their aim is to raise funds to support research projects and to increase awareness of women's knowledge of the symptoms of the five gynaecological cancers.