Why We Started this Project

As an informal group of doctors, gynaecologists, urologists, paediatricians, parents, research scientists and educators (a group of friends), we kept noticing conversations came up about our children and indeed ourselves, with regards to:

• lack on knowledge of genitalia (children and adults)
• self-esteem issues about the appearance of genitalia (children and adults)
• sexting and suicide resulting from threats of exposure of naked images (children and teens)
• concerns that genitalia was abnormal (themselves, their children)

What we noticed, was that there isn’t really many places to go to inform yourselves about what genitalia looks like (or how different it looks from person to person). Sure, you could look at pornography, but the portrayal of genitals in porn is largely limited to large penises and Barbie-style designer vaginas (actually vulva). Aside from one or two resources from Australia with a limited range of Vulva pictures and an art project of vulva in plaster… the curious, concerned, scared, confused… didn’t really have many places to go for easy to access information.

Project Goals

We want to change that. So we decided to create this project. A project where we have the following goals:

• Provide easy to access and understand illustrations/photos of labelled genitals
• Provide simple descriptions of the different parts of genitals
• Identify 6 common shapes of Vulva – the shapes of the Labia
• Create a database of genital photos – categorized (where possible) by Vulva Shape, Age, Gender, Circumcision Status, Nationality, Ethnicity and more
• For all genital photos to be completely anonymous – no identifying marks, backgrounds, objects allowed
• For users to be able to easily access, sort and browse the genital database and to see the diversity that exists and to gain confidence in themselves – they are normal
• For users to be able to contribute their own anonymous genital pictures, to further support the project and to help others see they are normal
• To offer a place where someone can avoid exposing themselves in a sexting message by uploading an unidentifiable genital picture to our database and then sharing only the identifier of the picture – so they remain completely anonymous and no person (bad actor) with said image is able to create threats because the image alone has nothing to connect it with an identifiable person.
• To perform analysis over the database in an attempt to identify any trends or correlations between, for example: vulva shape and nationality, vulva shape and ethnicity, vulva shape and age, etc.

At the same time, we need to clarify what you should NOT use the project for:

• Self-diagnosis of medical conditions
  Please see your own gynecologist, urologist, dermatologist, pediatrician or doctor for medical advice and diagnosis. We cannot perform diagnostics for you and simple image comparison is not suitable for diagnostic purposes either
• Diagnosis or concerns about possible sexual abuse
  Detecting sexual abuse is a very complex task and requires a thorough examination by highly trained professionals. Even experienced medical professionals have frequently made incorrect diagnosis ^{1, 2}. Also, frequent investigations by a caregiver of a child’s genitalia for the purpose of detecting sexual abuse is a recognized abuse of it’s own. Please seek proper assistance from your local health professionals.
• Uploading pornographic images / sex acts
  No image on the Project site is allowed to include anything more than than the focused genital region. No objects are allowed to be inserted in any orifice (with the exception of a visible tampon string during menstruation). No image of masturbation is permitted. A hand of fingers may be present to position the labia or penis for the photo but anything considered to be included for sexual purposes is forbidden and will be removed.
• Uploading images where a person is identifiable
  There must never be any face visible. No identifiable marks (intricate tattoos or uncommon birthmarks) should be visible. Images should be of genitals only – with the exception of parts of legs, stomach etc that may be seen. There is no reason for an image to ever go above the navel/belly button or below the mid thigh.
• Uploading images of another person without their permission
  Only upload images of your own genitalia or that of your child (where you are giving permission as their caregiver) or of another person who has given you explicit permission to include their anonymous genitalia in the project.
• Sexual purposes
  This project is intended for educational and research purposes – to help people to learn about their genitals and to build their self-confidence by knowing they and/or their children, are normal, like everyone else. The images contained on the site are not sexual and are not intended for sexual purposes. Images of genitals for the purpose of education, without any sexual motivation or act involved in their production, is not pornography. If you are using these for your own sexual pleasure OR you find yourself disgusted with the content on the site – please consider seeking professional help.

How We Named it the Private Parts Project

Actually, we enlisted the help of Google AI for this.

Doctors aren’t generally the best people at writing nice texts or speaking in ways that people without medical training always understand. So who better to ask that Google’s AI technology – which has access to billions of lines of data – to get ideas of how to name the site/project and how to go about putting it together in a suitable way. We asked Google:

And they said back to us:

As you see, we went with one of the ideas Google gave us. We have also highlighted in Google’s response important points that they understood and that we try to continually make throughout the site/project.

We weren’t actually fans of the terminology ‘private parts’ because it somehow suggests that genitalia is something dirty or secret. This is not the case at all. So we also asked Google if there were other terms that might be better.

Common Terms Used to Refer to Genitalia

We asked Google what are common English-speaking terms used to refer to genitalia and they told us this:

What About the Name Asokoshiru? What is that all About?

We didn’t want to call the site the Private Parts Project because we don’t really like the terminology ‘private parts’. So we searched about for a nice name that people might be able to remember and chose to brand the site with that name – even though the domain name you end up at is PrivatePartsProject.org

We like to be known as: Asokoshiru – The Private Parts Project

But you can just call us Asokoshiru or The Private Parts Project as you prefer.

Asokoshiru is a name we created from two Japanese words. It may very well be incorrect to say the two words together like this but that is not relevant. It is a name, a brand.

Who are We?

As mentioned above, we are an informal group of doctors, gynaecologists, urologists, paediatricians, parents, research scientists and educators (a group of friends). This is to say, we are not affiliated with any one organisation, hospital, clinic or agency. We are distributed around the world with members of our team in (alphabetically): Australia, China, Germany, Japan, Russia, Switzerland and Ukraine.

References

1. Interpretation of Medical Findings in Suspected Child Sexual Abuse: An Update for 2018 – J.A. Adams et al. / J Pediatr Adolesc Gynecol 31 (2018) 225 – 231
2. Hymen and virginity: What every paediatrician should know – Moussaoui, Abdulcadir and Yaron / Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health 58 (2022) 382 – 387