With the release of Naomi Wolf's Vagina: A New Biography, vagina is once again the word on everybody's lips.
An internationally renowned critic, her work marks a crescendo in the wide range of related discussions that have taken place this year. The book is a mixture of anecdotal accounts and scientific analysis.
She refers to her friends' "tense" reactions to a "cuntini" (a phrase coined for vagina-shaped pasta) party that was organised to celebrate her book deal, to expose the complicated relationship we have with the term.
Vagina: A New Biography takes the bull by the horns and addresses the way we use and interact with the V-word, both physically and emotionally. Wolf has found startling evidence that the vagina is connected with female consciousness, and claims that women react physically to verbal abuse made by men.
Naomi Wolf, author of Vagina: A New Biography
She's not the only one to get involved in the discussion around female genitalia, or lack of, this year.
Femfresh - whose sole market is vaginas and the women who own them - found themselves on the receiving end of social media backlash for shying away from the biological terms and replacing them with infantile words such as pom pom and froo froo.
"Femfresh is one of the kindest ways to care for your va jay jay, kitty, nooni, lala, froo froo!" read their Facebook page. "Whatever you call it, make sure you love it."
Femfresh's Facebook page
Protests have taken place around the world calling for the release of three members of Russian punk-pop band Pussy Riot. The trio were imprisoned for two years each on grounds of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred" after they performed an anti-Putin song in a Moscow cathedral.
So just for clarification, here's our guide to the word pussy...
Pussy: The Many Meanings
The Great Wall Of Vagina came to London as part of Jamie McCartney's solo exhibition Skin Deep with the aim of "changing female body perception through art".
A clever play on words the artist took made casts of women's vaginas from all over the world, bringing the female body out of its usual private, medical and pornographic space and into the spotlight.
“For many women their genital appearance is a source of anxiety and I was in a unique position to do something about that," he explained. "It’s time our society grew up around these issues and I’m certain that art has a role to play.”