Whatever the
form, the labia close more tightly together in virgins and in
young individuals generally than in the deflowered and the
elderly. In children, as Martineau pointed out, the vulva appears
to look directly forward and the clitoris and urinary meatus
easily appear, while in adult women, and especially after
attempts at coitus have been made, the vulva appears directed
more below and behind, and the clitoris and meatus more covered
by the labia majora; so that the child urinates forward, while
the adult woman is usually able to urinate almost directly
downwards in the erect position, though in some cases (as may
occasionally be observed in the street) she can only do so when
bending slightly forwards. This difference in the direction of
the stream formerly furnished one of the methods of diagnosing
virginity, an uncertain one, since the difference is largely due
to age and individual variation. The main factor in the position
and aspect of the vulva is pelvic inclination. (See Havelock
Ellis, _Man and Woman_, fourth edition, p. 64; Stratz, _Die
Schoenheit des Weiblichen Koerpers_, Chapter XII.) In the European
woman, according to Stratz, a considerable degree of pelvic
inclination is essential to beauty, concealing all but the
anterior third of the vulva.
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