Vaginal Practices among Women in Thailand: Prevalence and Motivations

Aree Prohmmo, Mahidol University
Chintana Wacharasin, Burapha University

Women worldwide are adopting a variety of vaginal practices to change, influence, and enhance their sexual performance, their genital cleanliness, and their sexual health and well-being. Motivations for performing such practices are not well established. Study about vaginal practices is very limited in Thailand. This paper uses qualitative and quantitative data obtained from the project entitled “WHO Multi-Country Study on Gender, Sexuality and Vaginal Practices”. The qualitative data were collected in 2005, while the survey was conducted through face-to-face interviews of 920 women aged 18-60 years in October 2006. The most common form of vaginal practices among Thai women in the study province were washing and application of substances on external genital area. Almost all forms of vaginal practices were more common among younger women than older women. The main purposes for adopting vaginal practices include hygiene and to maintain wellness or health, not for sexual pleasure.