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January 20, 2012 6:37 PM Subscribe
Until 2009, the human clitoris was an absolute mystery: Get ready, everybody — it's time you were brought up to speed on some important features of the female anatomy. (possibly NSFW: some diagrams of internal anatomy)
Here is a link to the source article that the io9 article is based on. Additionally, this is the Wiki about one of the two doctors responsible for this research and who are referenced in the source article.
Here is a link to the source article that the io9 article is based on. Additionally, this is the Wiki about one of the two doctors responsible for this research and who are referenced in the source article.
Until 2009, the human clitoris was an absolute mystery to men.
posted by Kerasia at 6:42 PM on January 20, 2012 [38 favorites]
posted by Kerasia at 6:42 PM on January 20, 2012 [38 favorites]
If I want to know about the clitoris, I know who to ask.
posted by delfin at 6:44 PM on January 20, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by delfin at 6:44 PM on January 20, 2012 [2 favorites]
Internal Clitoral Iceberg is my next band.
posted by Lutoslawski at 6:44 PM on January 20, 2012 [3 favorites]
posted by Lutoslawski at 6:44 PM on January 20, 2012 [3 favorites]
...according to Ms. M, news that the vast majority of the clitoris is actually internal will still likely come as a surprise to many women.
posted by DU at 6:46 PM on January 20, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by DU at 6:46 PM on January 20, 2012 [2 favorites]
In fact, according to Ms. M, it wasn't until 2009 that researchers Odile Buisson and Pierre Foldés produced the first complete three-dimensional sonography of the stimulated clitoris, similar to the one shown here, depicted in profile.
"They did this work for three years without any proper funding," writes Ms. M. "Thanks to them, we now understand how the erectile tissue of the clitoris engorges and surrounds the vagina – a complete breakthrough that explains how what we once considered to be a vaginal orgasm is actually an internal clitoral orgasm."
Three years of research, unfunded. That is scientific curiosity at its finest. I'm grateful to them.
posted by rtha at 6:48 PM on January 20, 2012 [14 favorites]
"They did this work for three years without any proper funding," writes Ms. M. "Thanks to them, we now understand how the erectile tissue of the clitoris engorges and surrounds the vagina – a complete breakthrough that explains how what we once considered to be a vaginal orgasm is actually an internal clitoral orgasm."
Three years of research, unfunded. That is scientific curiosity at its finest. I'm grateful to them.
posted by rtha at 6:48 PM on January 20, 2012 [14 favorites]
I knew all this stuff since high school. Someone should have asked me.
posted by cjorgensen at 6:48 PM on January 20, 2012 [7 favorites]
posted by cjorgensen at 6:48 PM on January 20, 2012 [7 favorites]
Until 2009, the human clitoris was an absolute mystery to men.
To most men, Kerasia, but not all of us.
posted by Relay at 6:50 PM on January 20, 2012 [6 favorites]
To most men, Kerasia, but not all of us.
posted by Relay at 6:50 PM on January 20, 2012 [6 favorites]
Pierre Foldes continues his work despite repeated death threats.
UGGGHHHHHH PEEOPPLE WHY
Also:
the clitoris. It is not required for reproduction.
I've never understood this statement. Sadly it's not technically required but there would be a whole lot less reproduction if it wasn't there.
women who are generally worldly and well-informed about their own bodies, react with a combination of fascination and confusion when I explain that their clitoris extends deep within them.
I think I've always understood this tacitly. The pleasure feelings feel just about the same no matter where they come from. And the blood flows around there like water in an enclosed system. Now it's up here, now it's in there, etc. It's not so shocking to see evidence of that.
posted by bleep at 6:50 PM on January 20, 2012 [8 favorites]
UGGGHHHHHH PEEOPPLE WHY
Also:
the clitoris. It is not required for reproduction.
I've never understood this statement. Sadly it's not technically required but there would be a whole lot less reproduction if it wasn't there.
women who are generally worldly and well-informed about their own bodies, react with a combination of fascination and confusion when I explain that their clitoris extends deep within them.
I think I've always understood this tacitly. The pleasure feelings feel just about the same no matter where they come from. And the blood flows around there like water in an enclosed system. Now it's up here, now it's in there, etc. It's not so shocking to see evidence of that.
posted by bleep at 6:50 PM on January 20, 2012 [8 favorites]
They did this work for three years without any proper funding...
It's for science! No really! You can trust me, I'm a scientist!
posted by TooFewShoes at 6:54 PM on January 20, 2012 [5 favorites]
It's for science! No really! You can trust me, I'm a scientist!
posted by TooFewShoes at 6:54 PM on January 20, 2012 [5 favorites]
I've never personally had any occasion to deal with clitorises, and I don't suppose I ever will, but I support research as a matter of principle.
posted by planet at 6:55 PM on January 20, 2012
posted by planet at 6:55 PM on January 20, 2012
[more inside] indeed.
posted by maryr at 6:55 PM on January 20, 2012 [112 favorites]
posted by maryr at 6:55 PM on January 20, 2012 [112 favorites]
I kind of figured that my clitoris had a larger internal structure, and wasn't just glued on like a Red Hot, but I had no idea that it was shaped like a tiny octopus, seen in profile.
posted by evidenceofabsence at 6:56 PM on January 20, 2012 [17 favorites]
posted by evidenceofabsence at 6:56 PM on January 20, 2012 [17 favorites]
A vag-hugging octopus. Aw yeah.
posted by heyho at 6:57 PM on January 20, 2012 [9 favorites]
posted by heyho at 6:57 PM on January 20, 2012 [9 favorites]
Justice: "The C.L.I.T. is not real." Willenholly: "No, no, no, no, the C.L.I.T.'s real. The C.L.I.T.'s real, all right. It's the female orgasm. That's the myth. You know what I'm talking about, hum?"
posted by hypersloth at 7:07 PM on January 20, 2012
posted by hypersloth at 7:07 PM on January 20, 2012
It's like a fanny pack around the hips of the vagina. Interesting stuff, but try not to think of it that way, gents!
posted by tumid dahlia at 7:09 PM on January 20, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by tumid dahlia at 7:09 PM on January 20, 2012 [1 favorite]
So glad I met my wife in 2010.
posted by The Deej at 7:29 PM on January 20, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by The Deej at 7:29 PM on January 20, 2012 [2 favorites]
This makes me weirdly hopeful on behalf of women who were subjected to female genetic mutilation. It's still a horrific human rights violation that needs to die, but until it does research like this help victims not be automatically assumed "Doooooomed To Inorgasmia Forever, ship them off to a nunnery or something."
unlikely alternate universe Dystopian Nightmare Fuel Unleaded hypothetical: evil FGM practitioners take scientific revelations as incentive to cut deeper and excise more tissue, ohgod ohgod ohgod
posted by nicebookrack at 7:29 PM on January 20, 2012
unlikely alternate universe Dystopian Nightmare Fuel Unleaded hypothetical: evil FGM practitioners take scientific revelations as incentive to cut deeper and excise more tissue, ohgod ohgod ohgod
posted by nicebookrack at 7:29 PM on January 20, 2012
If they didn't know this was there...what else inside people's bodies have they missed? Don't surgeons ever see it and wonder what it is? What else do surgeons see inside our bodies and think to themselves, "geez I must be dumb, I don't recall what that structure is", and continue operating away?
posted by serena15221 at 7:30 PM on January 20, 2012 [7 favorites]
posted by serena15221 at 7:30 PM on January 20, 2012 [7 favorites]
It's like a fanny pack around the hips of the vagina.
Or, for the Brits, a bum bag for the hips of the fanny, though this is a bit pants.
posted by Pronoiac at 7:35 PM on January 20, 2012 [42 favorites]
Or, for the Brits, a bum bag for the hips of the fanny, though this is a bit pants.
posted by Pronoiac at 7:35 PM on January 20, 2012 [42 favorites]
Don't surgeons ever see it and wonder what it is?I think the articles suggest that you can really only see how it works when it's erect? And probably not too many surgeons operate on aroused women. To see it, you have to have MRI technology, and then you have to have someone who is curious enough about the anatomy of female sexual pleasure to think to look at how the clitoris works. The first thing has been around for a while, but the second one only occurred recently.
posted by craichead at 7:36 PM on January 20, 2012 [1 favorite]
A vag-hugging octopus. Aw yeah.
I recall, upon exploring that..region as a young child, declaring "I HAVE AN OCTOPUS IN MY BOTTOM!" rather loudly. I don't think anyone knew what I was talking about.
Turns out I was right.
posted by louche mustachio at 7:38 PM on January 20, 2012 [19 favorites]
I recall, upon exploring that..region as a young child, declaring "I HAVE AN OCTOPUS IN MY BOTTOM!" rather loudly. I don't think anyone knew what I was talking about.
Turns out I was right.
posted by louche mustachio at 7:38 PM on January 20, 2012 [19 favorites]
I'm gonna go out on a limb here, and say that science has known how the penis works for a couple of weeks longer than how the clitoris works.
posted by crunchland at 7:45 PM on January 20, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by crunchland at 7:45 PM on January 20, 2012 [1 favorite]
Ahem... Some of us knew of this empirically. Pure deduction. We didn't write a paper on it. We applied it and continued on. It was only natural. Why spend time writing? Seriously.
posted by Splunge at 7:53 PM on January 20, 2012
posted by Splunge at 7:53 PM on January 20, 2012
Ten Things You Don't Know About Women.
posted by timsteil at 8:04 PM on January 20, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by timsteil at 8:04 PM on January 20, 2012 [2 favorites]
They did this work for three years without any proper funding...
It's for science! No really! You can trust me, I'm a scientist!
Obligatory Did you know you can just buy lab coats?
posted by rokusan at 8:16 PM on January 20, 2012 [4 favorites]
It's for science! No really! You can trust me, I'm a scientist!
Obligatory Did you know you can just buy lab coats?
posted by rokusan at 8:16 PM on January 20, 2012 [4 favorites]
I hope this discovery doesn't turn out like the fabled g-spot, leading people to rooting around in there like they were trying to find the hood latch on a foreign car.
posted by Mary Ellen Carter at 8:18 PM on January 20, 2012 [43 favorites]
posted by Mary Ellen Carter at 8:18 PM on January 20, 2012 [43 favorites]
...my clitoris had a larger internal structure, and wasn't just glued on like a Red Hot...
If that line isn't in The Vagina Monologues, it should be.
posted by rokusan at 8:18 PM on January 20, 2012 [6 favorites]
If that line isn't in The Vagina Monologues, it should be.
posted by rokusan at 8:18 PM on January 20, 2012 [6 favorites]
"a woman is like a tardis"
oh... internet.....
posted by Hicksu at 8:34 PM on January 20, 2012 [12 favorites]
oh... internet.....
posted by Hicksu at 8:34 PM on January 20, 2012 [12 favorites]
It's a little weird that the article appeared on io9, and not, say, Jezebel. Lady junk, the final frontier.
the fabled g-spot
Total hypothetical, but maybe that area of internal stimulation is related to what the article refers to as corpora cavernosum (and what I now think of as grabby tentacular forelimbs)? In another 60-2,000 years, we might just find out. Or not. I'm willing to settle for an understanding of cardiovascular disease in women, instead.
If that line isn't in The Vagina Monologues, it should be.
I'm so, so sorry. I'm sorry!
posted by evidenceofabsence at 8:39 PM on January 20, 2012 [1 favorite]
the fabled g-spot
Total hypothetical, but maybe that area of internal stimulation is related to what the article refers to as corpora cavernosum (and what I now think of as grabby tentacular forelimbs)? In another 60-2,000 years, we might just find out. Or not. I'm willing to settle for an understanding of cardiovascular disease in women, instead.
If that line isn't in The Vagina Monologues, it should be.
I'm so, so sorry. I'm sorry!
posted by evidenceofabsence at 8:39 PM on January 20, 2012 [1 favorite]
My very recent new beau called me moments ago and announced, "YOUR CLIT IS HUGE." I was absolutely startled until I realized he was referring to the post.
posted by mochapickle at 8:41 PM on January 20, 2012 [23 favorites]
posted by mochapickle at 8:41 PM on January 20, 2012 [23 favorites]
leading people to rooting around in there like they were trying to find the hood latch on a foreign car.
Those foreign models look great but they can be so high maintenance.
posted by rokusan at 8:43 PM on January 20, 2012 [2 favorites]
Those foreign models look great but they can be so high maintenance.
posted by rokusan at 8:43 PM on January 20, 2012 [2 favorites]
This is a fabulous post.
I remember the G spot kerfuffle. Even then I knew that nobody was going to listen to women who disagreed and said whatever is going on it is not happening in the tissue lining the vagina. I think any woman also could have said there's more to clitoral function than is apparent in the glans but nobody wanted to listen to what women themselves reported. Too few still do.
We have to thank Eve Ensler for insisting on the gold standard of vagina talk being women's own experience. I remember the world when a girl's expressed interest in such things could get her put away for good.
Evidenceofabsence, do not apologize; I vote for sending in your line at once to be included in The Vagina Monologues.
posted by Anitanola at 8:49 PM on January 20, 2012 [6 favorites]
I remember the G spot kerfuffle. Even then I knew that nobody was going to listen to women who disagreed and said whatever is going on it is not happening in the tissue lining the vagina. I think any woman also could have said there's more to clitoral function than is apparent in the glans but nobody wanted to listen to what women themselves reported. Too few still do.
We have to thank Eve Ensler for insisting on the gold standard of vagina talk being women's own experience. I remember the world when a girl's expressed interest in such things could get her put away for good.
Evidenceofabsence, do not apologize; I vote for sending in your line at once to be included in The Vagina Monologues.
posted by Anitanola at 8:49 PM on January 20, 2012 [6 favorites]
Come on folks, isn't anyone going to make a joke on this dude's name? FOLDES!
Maybe I'm pronouncing it wrong.
posted by Belle O'Cosity at 9:08 PM on January 20, 2012 [3 favorites]
Maybe I'm pronouncing it wrong.
posted by Belle O'Cosity at 9:08 PM on January 20, 2012 [3 favorites]
I wouldn't say that the clitoris was a complete mystery before 2009, given that the Museum of Sex article (second link in the FPP) points out the pioneering work done in the 1990s:
But Buisson and Foldès deserve full credit for the incredible effort and accuracy of their work. We've gone from "Here be .. something" to a proper map. And what Foldès is doing for mutilated women is damn near saintly.
posted by maudlin at 9:14 PM on January 20, 2012 [15 favorites]
The sad fact is it wasn’t until the 1990’s that researchers began using MRI to study the internal structure of the clitoris. By then, the intricate details of the penis were already well known.That's still pretty late, but I remember several mass media articles over the past few years about the anatomical revelations from O'Connell. Betty Dodson was even drawing a reasonable approximation of the full structure of the area a few years ago (NSFW; NSFDS).
Urologist Helen O’Connell of the Royal Melbourne Hospital set out to better understand the microscopic nerve supply to the clitoris using MRI, something that had already been done for men with regard to their sexual function in the 70s. In 1998 she published her findings, informing the medical world of the true scope and size of the clitoris. Yet ironically that same year, men in America began popping Viagra to cure erectile dysfunction.
In 2005 The American Urological Association published one of Dr. O’Connell’s reports on clitoral anatomy. The report itself even states, “The anatomy of the clitoris has not been stable with time as would be expected. To a major extent its study has been dominated by social factors … Some recent anatomy textbooks omit a description of the clitoris. By comparison, pages are devoted to penile anatomy.” The report also mentions how seemingly impossible it is to understand the internal structure of the clitoris with just one diagram. Several are required to truly get a comprehensive understanding of it.
But Buisson and Foldès deserve full credit for the incredible effort and accuracy of their work. We've gone from "Here be .. something" to a proper map. And what Foldès is doing for mutilated women is damn near saintly.
posted by maudlin at 9:14 PM on January 20, 2012 [15 favorites]
{i}
posted by Senor Cardgage at 9:27 PM on January 20, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Senor Cardgage at 9:27 PM on January 20, 2012 [1 favorite]
Found it!
posted by Senor Cardgage at 9:27 PM on January 20, 2012
posted by Senor Cardgage at 9:27 PM on January 20, 2012
That Dobson video maudlin links is really cool.
I had always figured that there was something more than the standard explanation I had heard, where there weren't many nerves inside and the clit was where all the action was, simply because the women I've been with haven't responded in such simple ways. But I had no idea that there was this cool octopus clit wrapping its happy arms around in there; that's a neat way of solving the "how do we make this feel good?" problem.
posted by Forktine at 9:46 PM on January 20, 2012 [2 favorites]
I had always figured that there was something more than the standard explanation I had heard, where there weren't many nerves inside and the clit was where all the action was, simply because the women I've been with haven't responded in such simple ways. But I had no idea that there was this cool octopus clit wrapping its happy arms around in there; that's a neat way of solving the "how do we make this feel good?" problem.
posted by Forktine at 9:46 PM on January 20, 2012 [2 favorites]
If I'm not mistaken the plural of clitoris is clitorides.
However if metafilter has taught me anything ... it's that I'm often mistaken.
posted by zomg at 10:10 PM on January 20, 2012
However if metafilter has taught me anything ... it's that I'm often mistaken.
posted by zomg at 10:10 PM on January 20, 2012
It's not the larger-than-previously-realized internal structure that's blowing my mind, it's that it took until 2009 to figure this out. I find it horrifying/appalling/depressing/unsurprising that women's anatomy is of such little clinical interest that they couldn't even get proper funding for this research.
I mean, damn.
posted by Space Kitty at 10:15 PM on January 20, 2012 [23 favorites]
I mean, damn.
posted by Space Kitty at 10:15 PM on January 20, 2012 [23 favorites]
The two sketches of the erect internal clitoris are completely inconsistent.
In the second, the crura emerge from the place where the shaft of the glans and the corpora cavernosum come together, and in the first they emerge from far back along the corpus cavernosum on either side.
The second is more consistent with the other pictures.
If the second is correct, I'd guess the function of the crura is to make the clitoris come forward out from under the hood when they become erect.
posted by jamjam at 10:25 PM on January 20, 2012
In the second, the crura emerge from the place where the shaft of the glans and the corpora cavernosum come together, and in the first they emerge from far back along the corpus cavernosum on either side.
The second is more consistent with the other pictures.
If the second is correct, I'd guess the function of the crura is to make the clitoris come forward out from under the hood when they become erect.
posted by jamjam at 10:25 PM on January 20, 2012
The sad fact is it wasn’t until the 1990’s that researchers began using MRI to study the internal structure of the clitoris.
Before that, what? Tongues?
posted by Smedleyman at 10:33 PM on January 20, 2012 [1 favorite]
Before that, what? Tongues?
posted by Smedleyman at 10:33 PM on January 20, 2012 [1 favorite]
Three years of research, unfunded.
I feel I should point out that my ~20 years of dedicated research has also been unfunded.
posted by elizardbits at 10:52 PM on January 20, 2012 [28 favorites]
I feel I should point out that my ~20 years of dedicated research has also been unfunded.
posted by elizardbits at 10:52 PM on January 20, 2012 [28 favorites]
Just to clarify here.. is this the meeting of the The Committee for the Liberation and Integration of Terrifying Organisms and their Rehabilitation Into Society? The last time I was faced with this issue, I took the wrong advice and hit it hard, and I mean hard, with a major leaflet campaign. .....whiiiich might explain why my subsequent phone calls have gone unanswered.
posted by Zack_Replica at 11:19 PM on January 20, 2012
posted by Zack_Replica at 11:19 PM on January 20, 2012
Urologist Helen O’Connell of the Royal Melbourne Hospital set out to better understand the microscopic nerve supply to the clitoris using MRI, something that had already been done for men with regard to their sexual function in the 70s. In 1998 she published her findings, informing the medical world of the true scope and size of the clitoris.
I remember this being reported on the Australian popular science show "Quantum" back in the late 90's, let me see... Here it is!
posted by Proofs and Refutations at 11:19 PM on January 20, 2012 [4 favorites]
I remember this being reported on the Australian popular science show "Quantum" back in the late 90's, let me see... Here it is!
posted by Proofs and Refutations at 11:19 PM on January 20, 2012 [4 favorites]
Why don't we let Maggie Gyllenhaal tell us why is sex fun? (NSFW)
posted by Wug at 11:36 PM on January 20, 2012 [13 favorites]
posted by Wug at 11:36 PM on January 20, 2012 [13 favorites]
Yeah I had no idea about the internal structure. We knew people could have vaginal orgasms, but I had no idea that it was because the clitoris wrapped around the inside of the vagina like that.
posted by delmoi at 12:12 AM on January 21, 2012
posted by delmoi at 12:12 AM on January 21, 2012
Internal Clitoral Iceberg
I've mislaid my glasses and read this as International Clitoral Iceberg - which is the now name of my new jazz project.
posted by mattoxic at 12:30 AM on January 21, 2012 [5 favorites]
I've mislaid my glasses and read this as International Clitoral Iceberg - which is the now name of my new jazz project.
posted by mattoxic at 12:30 AM on January 21, 2012 [5 favorites]
I think all the diagrams, sketches and whatever are pretty terrible. I would rather a detachable plastic model vulva because, despite having a medsci background, I find it difficult to visualise and imagine this anatomically in 3-D.
Above and beyond that : yay! for science catching up. The urology and gynaecology professions really have a lot to answer for in a historical sense I reckon.
posted by peacay at 12:43 AM on January 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
Above and beyond that : yay! for science catching up. The urology and gynaecology professions really have a lot to answer for in a historical sense I reckon.
posted by peacay at 12:43 AM on January 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
Until 2009, the human clitoris was an absolute mystery to men.
To most men, Kerasia, but not all of us.
posted by Relay at 2:50 AM on January 21
Oh, you silver-tongued devil.
posted by Decani at 12:46 AM on January 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
To most men, Kerasia, but not all of us.
posted by Relay at 2:50 AM on January 21
Oh, you silver-tongued devil.
posted by Decani at 12:46 AM on January 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
Actually, I kind of take that back. Thanks Wug, that Gyllenhall video has moving 3D modelling.
posted by peacay at 12:46 AM on January 21, 2012 [3 favorites]
posted by peacay at 12:46 AM on January 21, 2012 [3 favorites]
Wug's Maggie Gyllenhaal video does a pretty great job of explaining/visualizing this; it's a part of a Discovery Channel documentary and features Odile Buisson, one of the two researchers referenced in the post. (But, yeah, maybe not at work.)
posted by taz at 12:48 AM on January 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by taz at 12:48 AM on January 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
I hesitate to admit this, but I'm fairly certain I've seen that shape drawn in certain books well before 2009.
posted by lucidium at 2:40 AM on January 21, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by lucidium at 2:40 AM on January 21, 2012 [2 favorites]
That 3D animation actually does leave me with a whole new understanding of something that I can't help but feel would - in a perfect world - have been covered in my 6th grade sex ed. Simply having the equipment doesn't mean you get how it works. Just look at the uterus, which would have freaked me the hell out if I hadn't been warned about all the blood-and-pain stuff it gets up to, and understood the reasons why it hates me it does that. And, sure, you can figure out quite a few pleasant functions by yourself or with a fellow explorer, but having this sort of visualization most definitely helps on every single level.
I'm fascinated by how changeable the clitoris seems to be, how it moves and contracts during sex, and how all sorts of different contact stimulates it. I wonder just how much the design differs from individual to individual? I don't need science to confirm that there are huge differences in how women experience various stimulation, but it would be quite lovely if this sort of thing got proper funding and could turn out results with practical applications!
posted by harujion at 2:46 AM on January 21, 2012
I'm fascinated by how changeable the clitoris seems to be, how it moves and contracts during sex, and how all sorts of different contact stimulates it. I wonder just how much the design differs from individual to individual? I don't need science to confirm that there are huge differences in how women experience various stimulation, but it would be quite lovely if this sort of thing got proper funding and could turn out results with practical applications!
posted by harujion at 2:46 AM on January 21, 2012
I saw the Betty Dodson drawings of the full clitoris a year or two ago, and I remember reading then that women have as much erectile tissue in their genitals as men do: it's just mostly internal rather than external.
posted by colfax at 2:55 AM on January 21, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by colfax at 2:55 AM on January 21, 2012 [2 favorites]
In a similar vein, there's this rantucational post for romance writers about the location of the hymen.
posted by knile at 3:13 AM on January 21, 2012 [7 favorites]
posted by knile at 3:13 AM on January 21, 2012 [7 favorites]
Ian Kerner's book She Comes First, published in 2004, has similar looking diagrams (although not to this level of detail).
posted by Durin's Bane at 5:15 AM on January 21, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by Durin's Bane at 5:15 AM on January 21, 2012 [2 favorites]
As others have said, this may well be important research with new levels of detail, but it's not the case that up till 2009 scientists thought that the clitoris was an isolated nub, it was well known that it was part of a larger internal structure. Some sex guides from well before 2009 (e.g.) explain this.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 5:29 AM on January 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by TheophileEscargot at 5:29 AM on January 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
I remember the G spot kerfuffle. Even then I knew that nobody was going to listen to women who disagreed and said whatever is going on it is not happening in the tissue lining the vagina.
You can speak for yourself. The G spot kerfuffle confuses me because I definitely have one - it's not ALL about the clitoris. Some women can even orgasm from nipple pressure alone. This is the strangest post I've ever put on Metafilter.
posted by Summer at 5:31 AM on January 21, 2012 [5 favorites]
You can speak for yourself. The G spot kerfuffle confuses me because I definitely have one - it's not ALL about the clitoris. Some women can even orgasm from nipple pressure alone. This is the strangest post I've ever put on Metafilter.
posted by Summer at 5:31 AM on January 21, 2012 [5 favorites]
Hooray for sexuality! Seriously.
posted by h00py at 5:37 AM on January 21, 2012 [4 favorites]
posted by h00py at 5:37 AM on January 21, 2012 [4 favorites]
Imagine how many hands go up when they ask in Scientist School "Who wants to study female reproductive anatomy?"
Imagine also the disappointment when so few are chosen.
These then, are the chosen few.
posted by tommasz at 5:44 AM on January 21, 2012
Imagine also the disappointment when so few are chosen.
These then, are the chosen few.
posted by tommasz at 5:44 AM on January 21, 2012
From the reviews of the book TheophileEscargot linked to:
As far as sex tips in themselves go, it has hardly any. However, it mostly focuses on communication and so forth.
The world would be a lot better if sex ed. classes had practicals...
posted by Devonian at 6:11 AM on January 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
As far as sex tips in themselves go, it has hardly any. However, it mostly focuses on communication and so forth.
The world would be a lot better if sex ed. classes had practicals...
posted by Devonian at 6:11 AM on January 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
"Why don't we let Maggie Gyllenhaal tell us why is sex fun?"
Yes, I’m another fan of Secretary.
posted by bongo_x at 7:47 AM on January 21, 2012 [3 favorites]
Yes, I’m another fan of Secretary.
posted by bongo_x at 7:47 AM on January 21, 2012 [3 favorites]
I like how this information shines light on other things I've wondered about. It might more neatly explain why some women are total size queens (in reference to girth especially), and why other women look at those women sideways and wonder why.
Also, the shape reminds me of this. Is this yet another thing that people have known in the past, and we're just now discovering? Hmm. Maybe not, but you never know. It does relate to the key of life, if you will.
posted by heyho at 7:57 AM on January 21, 2012 [4 favorites]
Also, the shape reminds me of this. Is this yet another thing that people have known in the past, and we're just now discovering? Hmm. Maybe not, but you never know. It does relate to the key of life, if you will.
posted by heyho at 7:57 AM on January 21, 2012 [4 favorites]
This is probably evolution's way of desperately trying to get us to reproduce again once we know what it's actually like.
Clever, clever evolution.
I hadn't actually heard that, either! The things I learn on Metafilter...
posted by harujion at 8:45 AM on January 21, 2012
Clever, clever evolution.
I hadn't actually heard that, either! The things I learn on Metafilter...
posted by harujion at 8:45 AM on January 21, 2012
Is it just me, or does it sorta look like a headcrab from Half Life...
posted by Runes at 8:48 AM on January 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Runes at 8:48 AM on January 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
In a similar vein, there's this rantucational post for romance writers about the location of the hymen.
Great link, and I am thrilled to be introduced to "rantucational," which only has two google hits. I'm going to be using it a lot.
posted by rtha at 9:18 AM on January 21, 2012
Great link, and I am thrilled to be introduced to "rantucational," which only has two google hits. I'm going to be using it a lot.
posted by rtha at 9:18 AM on January 21, 2012
Thusly proving that the rigid distinction between vaginal and clitoral orgasms is the giant load of bullshit I always felt it to be.
posted by Squeak Attack at 9:44 AM on January 21, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by Squeak Attack at 9:44 AM on January 21, 2012 [2 favorites]
See, I really don't think it's intentional bullshit, though. There are definitely different types of orgasms, in my experience. If the area just around the visible part of my clitoris is the only part being stimulated, the orgasm feels one way; if my clitoris is being stimulated from the inside (at the so-called g-spot), there is a world of difference, and it's way, way more intense. I started having those crazysupercool orgasms when I was 33. Hell yeah, I remember.
I think people were just describing what they were feeling based on limited information. But there's definitely a sweet spot, and now I know that it actually corresponds to a very real intersection of nerves, and that the feeling travels exactly the way it does now makes a ton more sense to me. But I used to refer to that type of orgasm as a g-spot orgasm because that's what other people called it, and it made sense to stick with a recognizable name to communicate the same idea.
posted by heyho at 10:04 AM on January 21, 2012 [4 favorites]
I think people were just describing what they were feeling based on limited information. But there's definitely a sweet spot, and now I know that it actually corresponds to a very real intersection of nerves, and that the feeling travels exactly the way it does now makes a ton more sense to me. But I used to refer to that type of orgasm as a g-spot orgasm because that's what other people called it, and it made sense to stick with a recognizable name to communicate the same idea.
posted by heyho at 10:04 AM on January 21, 2012 [4 favorites]
Makes orchids look even sexier!
posted by Specklet at 10:14 AM on January 21, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by Specklet at 10:14 AM on January 21, 2012 [2 favorites]
Did they figure out the 9V battery taste yet??
posted by MtDewd at 11:08 AM on January 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by MtDewd at 11:08 AM on January 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
"rantucational," which only has two google hits. I'm going to be using it a lot.
which will inevitably reduce it to rantutainment.
posted by jonmc at 11:23 AM on January 21, 2012 [2 favorites]
which will inevitably reduce it to rantutainment.
posted by jonmc at 11:23 AM on January 21, 2012 [2 favorites]
Actually, from what reading I've done on the harsher form of FGM, they do end up taking out at least some of the internal clitoris. The operation commonly refered to as 'Pharonic female circumcision' combines removal of the external and internal clitoris with removal of the labia minora and sewing up the labia minora. This operation has been done in Africa for thousands of years. So the knowledge is not that new.
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 11:40 AM on January 21, 2012
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 11:40 AM on January 21, 2012
The clitoris: it's bigger on the inside.
posted by deludingmyself at 12:01 PM on January 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by deludingmyself at 12:01 PM on January 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
Ooh! So it's like a TARDIS! Excellent!
posted by rtha at 12:19 PM on January 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by rtha at 12:19 PM on January 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
Urologist Helen O’Connell of the Royal Melbourne Hospital set out to better understand the microscopic nerve supply to the clitoris using MRI
Which, btw, was based on her initial discovery back in the late 80's while working on female cadavers.
Thusly proving that the rigid distinction between vaginal and clitoral orgasms is the giant load of bullshit I always felt it to be.
Which is what I thought too when I first saw a 3D image years ago, but what bothers me about it all is its put forth as some elusive magic button that once pressed will reveal all to the uninitiated. I've tried finding mine and either I'm reading the directions incorrectly, or I just don't have one, but I know I feel pleasure and orgasms differently (sometimes on the surface and sometimes deep inside) depending on what's happening. I always find conversations like this frustrating because I only have my own frame of reference to go by while I try to grapple with how others express what their feeling when the same thing happens to them.
posted by squeak at 12:28 PM on January 21, 2012
Which, btw, was based on her initial discovery back in the late 80's while working on female cadavers.
Thusly proving that the rigid distinction between vaginal and clitoral orgasms is the giant load of bullshit I always felt it to be.
Which is what I thought too when I first saw a 3D image years ago, but what bothers me about it all is its put forth as some elusive magic button that once pressed will reveal all to the uninitiated. I've tried finding mine and either I'm reading the directions incorrectly, or I just don't have one, but I know I feel pleasure and orgasms differently (sometimes on the surface and sometimes deep inside) depending on what's happening. I always find conversations like this frustrating because I only have my own frame of reference to go by while I try to grapple with how others express what their feeling when the same thing happens to them.
posted by squeak at 12:28 PM on January 21, 2012
Ooh! So it's like a TARDIS! Excellent!
Because "The Doctor's Wife" didn't have enough weirdness going on.
posted by maryr at 1:32 PM on January 21, 2012
Because "The Doctor's Wife" didn't have enough weirdness going on.
posted by maryr at 1:32 PM on January 21, 2012
In answer to the question "Assess the impact of Second Wave feminism" on an undergraduate history exam at a university I shan't name:
"[Masters and Johnson] also proved that when applying a certain amount of friction to a woman's clitoris it gave her emence pleasure."posted by lapsangsouchong at 3:29 PM on January 21, 2012
The world would be a lot better if sex ed. classes had practicals...
Use your, er, python.
posted by anothermug at 4:04 PM on January 21, 2012
Use your, er, python.
posted by anothermug at 4:04 PM on January 21, 2012
Maybe I'm a overthinking this little bean(stalk), but in the video that wug linked...I can't quite figure out if the 3D model is supposed to be from the outside looking in (staring at the cervix) or the inside looking out (staring at the head of a penis). Still, it's amazing.
And orgasms make so much more sense now! Like, why sex feels better with a half-full bladder. Why certain angles work. What kegels do. Why weight/pressure from the top can help things along. Even why sex can ease menstrual cramps. Inside-out massage, f'yeah. 2009, heh...why did it take so many years for this 'duh' moment?
posted by iamkimiam at 4:33 PM on January 21, 2012
And orgasms make so much more sense now! Like, why sex feels better with a half-full bladder. Why certain angles work. What kegels do. Why weight/pressure from the top can help things along. Even why sex can ease menstrual cramps. Inside-out massage, f'yeah. 2009, heh...why did it take so many years for this 'duh' moment?
posted by iamkimiam at 4:33 PM on January 21, 2012
I just happened to stumble across this image today, after reading this post. Hmmmm...maybe they knew something we didn't?
Should've named their band "Yes! Yes! Yes!" in that case...
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:17 PM on January 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
Should've named their band "Yes! Yes! Yes!" in that case...
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:17 PM on January 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
My wife is home... Maybe I should put this new knowledge to good use.
posted by bryanthecook at 5:25 PM on January 22, 2012
posted by bryanthecook at 5:25 PM on January 22, 2012
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posted by Decani at 6:41 PM on January 20, 2012 [33 favorites]