Projects Gone Horribly Wrong

The Vulva project died a silent and painful death, without explanation to any of the eager folks who were on the edge of their seats in anticipation for today… as today was to be the opening of the Vulva community.

I’d like to say a few things about Vulva.

1. Vulva began with the best of intentions, and on the path it was going (with its editor’s tireless work and creativity) it was to be something quite spectacular, something to be proud of and something a lot of women (and men) would have benefited from.

2. Without proper communication from all parties involved in a project, the project is likely to go awry. This is what happened with Vulva. Some people realized that they had bitten off more then they could chew and for reasons unknown could not communicate this to the rest of the people involved.

3. If you’re going to go into a project as hefty as a magazine/community with friends, you are taking a big risk – you could lose friends if all involved are not capable of proper communication. On the other hand, the risk could be fruitful… this was not the case with Vulva.

4. Note for the future: don’t talk about a project until it’s ready to go. This will prevent you from looking like an idiot if the project fails before it even begins.

5. Always make sure your vision is the same vision the others have. My idea of feminism seemed to greatly differ from some of the other project participants. That can’t work – the vision has to be the same, so make sure you figure that out before you go forward.

6. If your project does not work out, take what you’ve learned from the experience and move forward to bigger and better things.

7. Another good rule of thumb is that if a group project fails, never go ahead with that project afterward on your own without discussing it first with the people who were involved – that is no different than stealing, unless the idea was originally yours, than don’t even think about it, it would be tacky. Besides, they would probably give you the okay if asked first.

8. If it weren’t for Vulva, I probably would not have gotten to know its editor as well as I have and we may not have become friends… so I’m thankful to Vulva for that, it is very much in the Vulva spirit :P Like I said before, take what you can from the experience and move on.

9. Luckily, there are many other publications and communities out there that share the same voice that Vulva had/was to have, so anyone disappointed that Vulva never got off the ground can check these other projects: http://vaginapagina.com/ is probably a great place to start.

10. I won’t get into the details of what a nightmare the Vulva project became at its end, but I will say that it ended with the best of intentions, for the sake of saving friendships, because some of us believe that friendships are more important than PDFs.

I’m all vulva at heart and the seed of what made Vulva a great idea has not died, it will just have to grow in other places.

R.I.P. Vulvazine


-Love Marylin.