I’ve been a tomboy from a young age. My friends have always been guys, and I developed a dislike for being around other girls around age 10-11 because the people who bullied me were all girls.
When I was a teenager, I kept hearing that girls and women supposedly have a strong “fishy” smell. I know it’s a meme, but I’d seen and read enough firsthand stories that it stuck with me. I even came across accounts from gay men who said that every woman they knew smelled that way, and that it influenced their attraction to men.
In my case, I seem to be an exception. There’s no fishy smell on myself, just normal skin or sweat when I’m active, or at night when I’m due to shower. But that actually made me even more uncomfortable around groups of girls and women, because I really hate the smell of fish or seafood in general, and if there’s a lot of women in a room, that smell lingers even after they’ve left.
Sometimes I feel embarrassed, because people see me, see that I’m female, and I worry they automatically assume I’ve got a rotting crab factory somewhere.
I think its important to specify here that “poor hygiene” includes putting soap and other stuff on or in the vagina - stuff that for many other body parts would be good hygiene.
Proper hygiene consists of clean underwear every day, mild unscented soap on mons pubis and outside the vulva (thighs, ass), and only water on the outer parts of the vulva (labia, clitoris etc), and absolutely nothing inside the vaginal canal. The vagina is constantly flushing itself out, and trying to clean it’s inside is only ruining it’s process of self-cleaning.
Infections are most common when unsuitable stuff is introduced to the sensitive environment: perfume, soap, poorly washed sex toys or body parts introducing bacteria; or choosing wrong material for condoms, sex toys or underwear. Not washing or changing underwear can also lead to strong smells, but is by far not the most common one reason for infections.