Did you know that silk bows worn around the neck for purely decorative purposes -- or, more commonly these days, fastened to the collars of blouses -- are commonly referred to as "Pussy Bows?" Because they have a cool feminist history, and they're super hot this fall, a feminist artist in New York has decided to give the quirky moniker a more literal meaning -- by creating silk scarves printed with images taken from the inside of her own vagina.

Christen Clifford regularly takes on art projects dealing with the female body (and her own body in particular), period stigma, rape and and reproductive rights because, as she recently told the Daily Dot, "I want to fight the patriarchy with art."

Last fall, as part of a performance art project with the dance group AUNTS, Clifford used a vibrator with an internal camera to broadcast images from the inside of her vag onto the walls of New York's Ace Hotel, while also live-streaming the images to viewers online via Periscope.

On the Pussy Bow Tumblr, Clifford recalls that during the show, "All these people watching the stream messaged things like, 'Show me your pussy!' I guess they didn’t understand that’s what they were seeing." Clifford also says the beauty of the images took her by surprise.

"I thought the colors would be a deeper red," Clifford told the Daily Dot. "The pinks and purples and even blues that resulted were a surprise. The light on the camera highlighted my vaginal mucus to that lavender blue."

Clifford, who, in addition to being an artist is also a mother, writer, actor, and professor at the New School, told MTV News, "I grew up with so much shame about my body and my sexuality and I don't want that for anyone else -- shame makes you feel like you yourself are inherently bad. Generations of women grew up feeling this way, and so many women artists before me have been trying to fight the shame."

"I think the thing I love the most about this project is people saying 'pussy bow' all the time," Clifford said, laughing. "I hope the Pussy Bow is serious and funny at the same time. It can spark a lighthearted conversation."

"Seriously, though, anything I can do that helps women's health is good for me. That's my favorite thing about the project. Talking about vaginas, laughing about vaginas...I don't even care if you're making fun of the project or if you genuinely think it's cool. I think the more we talk about women's health, the better off we are as a country."

Clifford also told MTV News that she'd been working on the project before the recent attacks on Planned Parenthood made headlines, but that she's now using a portion of Pussy Bow's proceeds to support the organization.

"This was something that I had already been working on [before the Planned Parenthood shooting]...It wasn't actually a reaction to that. It was just something that I was doing, and then one of the first people who bought a Pussy Bow was Rachel Fershleiser, who is the books person at Tumblr, and she Tweeted that she bought a Pussy Bow and felt guilty about her 'vag spending,' so she doubled her donation to Planned Parenthood. I thought that was amazing."

As a result, Clifford donated the proceeds from the first 20 Pussy Bows sold to Planned Parenthood, and has pledged to donate 10 percent of every additional Pussy Bow purchased to the organization.

"They need all the help they can get right now," Clifford told MTV News. "There's that meme that's been going around Facebook...if we made people go through what they have to go through to get an abortion to get a gun, it would be a very different country."

Clifford said the Pussy Bow has been selling well so far. "I'm just delighted," she said. "It delights me to be able to talk about women's bodies and reproductive health....I could talk about it all day."