We spoke to the woman who lifts weights with her vagina

Life coach and sex therapist Kim Anami recently gained internet notoriety due to her #thingsIliftwithmyvagina Instagram hashtag, which is exactly what it sounds like.

Weight lifting with the vagina is not as difficult as it sounds: To do so Anami ties objects - most recently a model of an Oscar, once an entire surfboard - to a jade egg which she then inserts inside herself.

Now she is teaching women around the world how to do the same, while travelling the world, with her online ‘vaginal kung fu’ course.

According to a testimonial from one of the “thousands of women” she’s worked with (Kim doesn’t want to reveal exact numbers), listening to her is like reading “three how-to manuals, and the entire Shades of Gray trilogy” in one go. i100.co.uk spoke to her to ask more.

How does one get into vaginal lifting?

I’ve been studying Taoist sexuality for 20+ years so I was interested in trying the practice and I feel it had this really interesting effect, so I already felt quite connected to it to begin with.

We’ve heard about these things in Asia, right? Obviously there’s a historical context there for actually strengthening that muscle. It was done both physically to support the internal organs, as this energetic process to reconnect the woman’s vagina to her sexual energy and obviously to increase sexual pleasure, to increase orgasmic pleasure and then increase the pleasure for the partner as well.

I’ve seen criticism saying the technique is too provocative or too focused on pleasure that women can bring to men. What’s your response to that?

I promote it with this very playful, provocative energy. Because that is a good way for people to get open to what these things are about. The focus has never been how much pleasure you can bring to a male partner. That’s one of - say - 20 major benefits that you get from a practice right. The primary focus of all the work that I do is the benefit that it brings to the woman. If somebody happened to single out that particular reason that says more about them then it does about me.

Is too provocative?

Again I look at it as more of a reflection on those people. I want to have fun and want it to be playful but it’s also providing an education about a really serious issue which is urinary incontinence in women, pelvic organ prolapse, lack of sexual pleasure, lack of orgasm. There’s some really serious stuff that’s going on. And instead of a headline that says ‘hey ladies, pee your pants less’ it’s me lifting bananas in a rice field [with my vagina]. I might be playful but it’s really a way to bring attention to a very serious issue. My whole #thingsiliftwithmyvagina is really just a blend of all of those approaches.

Do you think there’s a lot of stigma in society about the size of a person's vagina?

I think there is probably and people worry about it secretly. They probably don’t talk about it, in the same way that men have that fear of ‘are they holding up size-wise’. The difference is that women can do a lot about it. Men can do a little about it, there are exercises that do truly make the penis bigger but women through the jade egg practice can do quite a bit about it.

So people start small? But what’s the heaviest you’ve lifted?

Just under 10lbs.

What reactions did you get from the men at Muscle Beach when they posed with you lifting?

I don’t know if they fully digested it. They were all over it. They were really happy to oblige, they were just trying to play it really cool. I was like ‘I lift too, with my vagina.’ They were just very polite and sweet about it.

The reactions are usually like, jaw drops and eyes bulging. People can’t really fathom it. You can see in their mind they are trying to fathom ‘how does that work’. They go off into space for a moment. But it’s generally really positive.

Do you get to the stage where you are walking around and looking for things you can lift with your vagina?

Yes. I’m always looking for objects that I think would make good lifting material.

You travel the world?

I divide my time between Bali, Vancouver and LA and wherever else I feel like going and I can do some lifting there. I go to the market, I have too many bags to carry so I attach one of the bags to my vagina and walk away..

Do you really do that?

I don’t actually do that. But the other stuff is true, that’s my lifestyle. I travel and I live where I feel like living.

For more see Kim Anami

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