Shape

Female Orchid Classification System

Labial Shape

The labia minora have seemingly endless shapes (and sizes) which makes the shape description very challenging, but achievable. Also due to the variety of labial shapes, any descriptions are bound to have levels of subjectivity, since there may be many ways to describe the same labial features. The following section articulates how to describe labial shape, using shapes we are familiar with in our daily lives. This labial shape section is intended to provide a framework of flexibility so that even the most difficult labial shapes can be described.

Firstly, the shape of the labia is best determined when the labia are in the open (lingual) position. Below are the most familiar shapes that can be used to describe the labia. Most of these shapes have been borrowed from the cuts of precious gems and are considered as the standard suite of labia shapes.

Standard Suite of Labia Shapes

Crescent is the default shape for very small labia where the exact shape cannot be adequately determined.

The inverted heart or inverted pear shape is very uncommon.

So far, describing the shape is the easy part. The harder part is determining what the shape includes. Is it the whole labia (prime and lesser)? What about orchid variations where the lesser is absent? Or cases where the lesser doesn’t really contribute to the overall shape?

For these reasons, there are two additional shapes in the standard suite of shapes: spoon and chalice as shown below. The special usage of these shapes is discussed later in this section.

The problem is that the handle portions of both the spoon and chalice, representing labia lesser, are not the primary features of the labial shape. The labia prime (the bulging parts) of the spoon and chalice primarily indicate the shape of the labia. In these cases, knowing the overall shape (either spoon or chalice), and knowing the shape of the labia prime provide a good description of the labial shape. This leads us to the need to differentiate what is being used for the shape description, called labia context.

Labia Context

1 – Labia Prime Only– Description of the labia prime only, because the:

labia lesser is absent (i.e. all prime by default)
the shape of the labia is crescent or cushion where a labia lesser may not be evident (i.e. all prime)
the lesser is present but has minor significance in the overall shape
spoon and chalice variations

2 – Prime and Lesser– Description of the prime and lesser are viewed as a whole. That is, the lesser is present but the shape description is that of the prime and lesser taken together.

For precision, when describing the shape of labia, it is best to use the labia shape + the labia context, but practically, most labia shapes can be designated by using the standard suite of shapes without the context.

Some examples (not inclusive):

oval – prime only (lesser is absent)
crescent – prime only (lesser is not distinguishable)
marquise – prime and lesser
round – spoon
pear – prime only (lesser has minor significance)
diamond – prime and lesser
heart – chalice

Note in the above examples, spoon and chalice are defined shapes, but are only used as labia context. This is discussed after the standard shape descriptions.

The following three examples of diamond, heart and inverted heart are uncommon labial shapes. The heart shape must have a labium or labia top that reverse or bulge above the glans stems.

The shapes for spoon or chalice labia both have distinctive and standard shape labia lessers. Therefore, when describing the shape of spoon or chalice, only the prime shape needs description. Although spoon and chalice are shapes, they are only used as context for the labia prime.

Examples below.

Note the marquise – chalice immediately above. A good description of the labial shape would be marquise with a context of prime and lesser. However marquise – chalice is a better description which is more representative of the shape.

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