The best way I can explain it is like how the back of a Playstation or other console when it gets hot and the air coming out of it is hot. Combined with a slight armpit smell. As long as I have been on the internet, I keep reading about how women smell “fishy” down there, and I was always confused by that. Am I just weird?

  • CerebralHawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    13 hours ago

    People who say this are idiots.

    I had a good friend about 30 years ago who kept telling me vaginas smell like “tuna and bologna.” I didn’t pick up on it at first, but later realised he was saying this for his little sister’s benefit — who he hated, for some reason. (I liked her. She was a sweet girl. Took me way too long to realise he was just an arsehole.) I haven’t been with a lot of women, but I’ve since learned he’s wrong. I’ve never been with a woman who “smells fishy.” (He got his payoff eventually, he got her to blurt out “my pussy doesn’t smell like that!” in front of their mother, and we got sent away, I assume she at least got scolded. I wish I’d had the imagination (and the guts) to tell him hers really didn’t smell like that… partly to see how long it would take him to get it.) (We were not friends long. I couldn’t be friends with a guy who treats women or girls like that.)

    • Stacyasks@lemmy.cafeOP
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      2 days ago

      I was told this is how a vagina naturally smells, though, without an infection. The infection just makes the existing smell stronger.

      • mech@feddit.org
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        2 days ago

        You were told wrong. A fishy smell is not normal.
        Not trying to mansplain vaginas here, but I’ve probably smelled more of them than most straight women.

  • Assassassin@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    2 days ago

    In my experience, most don’t smell fishy. The scent you’re describing sounds pretty normal. Smell will vary person to person, and is largely dictated by vaginal flora and hygiene. Your crotch is essentially an armpit, so it should smell a little sweaty and gross after a long day, just like your pits. Putrid/fishy smell is typically a sign of abnormal flora, which can be caused by bacterial vaginosis or a yeast infection.

    If your cooch has always smelled that way and you bathe regularly and don’t have any weird discharge or symptoms, don’t worry about it. You’re totally normal.

    • Stacyasks@lemmy.cafeOP
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      2 days ago

      I’m not implying it’s unhealthy, just asking if it’s unusual, since based off of what I’ve read and heard, the typical smell “down there” for a woman seems to be a smell a lot of people compare to tuna.

      • Sanctus@anarchist.nexus
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        2 days ago

        I’m not a doctor but I’m pretty sure everyone varies and you usually dont want to smell like that down there.

  • Delta_V@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    “fishy” = bacterial vaginosis

    The common scent element in healthy cis women is “tangy”.

    Estrogen causes the vaginal walls to secrete glycogen, which gets eaten by lactobacilli, which produce lactic acid.

    Lack of tanginess can be caused by low estrogen levels. It tells us about your current endocrine ecology, not your gender identity.

  • RBWells@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    The fuck? Fishy smell is an infection, not a healthy vagina. You are usual, no worries.

  • Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Nope. You’re normal.

    I’m no expert, but I’ve only experienced fishiness after sex or a few days without a shower.