When a doctor or a science book says genital, it means “about the outer sex parts of the body” — the sex parts on the outside, not the ones deep inside. A genital infection is an infection in those parts; genital herpes is a kind of herpes that shows up there. It is a calm hospital and classroom word, not a swear word, but it is still a grown-up word: friends in daily talk more often say “private parts,” or they name the part. It can talk about male or female bodies. Though actually, genital (no s) is mostly the describing word — a genital rash, genital surgery. The parts themselves are usually called the genitals, with an s. News and law also use heavy phrases like genital mutilation, still with this same describing sense.