Pop culture and sexual discourse has allowed us to remain misinformed and confused about big, important parts of the female anatomy. Apart from the fact that so many of us as so completely in the dark about our own bodies, it affects us in the way that we keep believing falsehoods about intimate parts of our biology. And that, in turn, affects the way we talk about them, the way we think of them, and the way we treat them. None of that is more true than in the case of the clitoris. Prepare your mind to be boggled with these 5 facts that will set the record straight about the clitoris.
We've known its exact anatomy for only 20 years!
If you ever thought sexism and patriarchy weren't deeply entrenched within Science, this one should give you some pause. While the penis has been studied in great detail from the 1970s, it took almost 30 extra years for scientists to turn towards the clitoris. In 1998, a urologist from the Royal Melbourne Hospital, Dr Helen O'Connell, published her findings after using an MRI to study the clitoris. It was the first time that the medical world was introduced to the exact anatomy and size of the clitoris. It would be another 11 years before the world would see its first complete 3D sonography of the stimulated clitoris, thanks to two French researchers' findings in 2009.
It is the size of a penis
For way too long, we've been conned into thinking of the clitoris as a button-sized part of a women's anatomy that, when pressed, makes women instantly orgasms. The truth couldn't be more different. What we think of as the entire size of the clitoris is actually just its tip. In reality, the clitoris is about 4 inches long, in total. The little 'button' we see is called the glans, and it is about 1 to 2 cms long. The glans branch out into the crura, or two 'legs', that extend towards the vaginal wall.
TLDR? Basically, the size of the clitoris is roughly the same as a flaccid penis - 3 to 4 inches, and it looks more like a wishbone than a button.
Size doesn't matter
Just like in the case of the penis, size doesn't matter for the clitoris too. How big or small a woman's clitoris is does not affect her ability to be pleasured during sex. What does matter, though, is how far the tip of the clitoris is from her vaginal opening. A distance of roughly an inch increases the chances of an orgasm due to the friction of intercourse. Strangely, the seeds of the research that led to this path-breaking discovery were sown by Princess Marie Bonaparte, Napoleon Bonaparte's great-grandniece. She couldn't orgasm through intercourse, which made her examine over 200 women. Her interviews with these women led her to the co-relation. She published her findings in Europe in 1924 undere a pen name. Princess Marie even surgically tried to move her clitoris with the help of a Viennese doctor. But since the exact size of the clitoris and its anatomy was not known then, the operation was unsuccessful.
It is only meant for pleasure
One of the other possible reasons that the clitoris was given the step-sisterly treatment when it came to research is that it has no role to play - other than increasing women's sexual pleasure. Unlike the penis, it is not a part of women's reproductive tract. Nor is it involved in urination (many among us are confused, but a woman's urethra is located a few millimetres away from the tip of the clitoris).
It has double the nerve endings compared to the penis
The clitoris might have just one job, but it sure seems to be equipped to do it well. Like, really well. The exposed part at the top of the clitoris has approximately 8,000 nerve endings, faar more than any other part of the body. And almost twice as more as that in the penis (4,000). That's not even all. Women's contractions during the orgasm extend to the pelvic area, affecting an additional 15,000 nerve endings.
One minute's silence to marvel at the wonders of our anatomy!
