Women’s rights groups are applauding the latest addition to the definitive Dutch dictionary Dikke Van Dale of the word labia: vulvalippen, added alongside the word schaamlippen. While both words mean labia, the old schaamlippen translates as “shame lips”, which the organisations say is stigmatising as compared to the more neutral “vulva lips”. Schaamlippen is not the only word where shame is embedded in its name. There’s schaamhaar – “shame hair” – which is the name for pubic hair, schaambeen (shame bone) for pubic bone and even schaamstreek (shame area) for pubic area. “Everyone has pubic hair, a pubic bone, and a pubic area,” says the group, but “only half of us have labia – or ‘shame lips’ … which adds to a disproportionately large amount of trouble due to the taboo on talking about this.”