The Clitoris is a pretty amazing (although nearly culturally invisible) organ. It’s got one purpose that we know of, and that is to bring pleasure to people with vulvas. You may not be familiar with the image of the clitoris here - I only found the image of the full anatomy within the last 10 years and I was shocked, and excited. And angry! How is it that nowhere in my high school or university anatomy and physiology classes did I see this diagram? And the answer is, that it was likely just being ‘discovered’. So if you are seeing this for the first time - yay! Unless things have changed a lot (and I hope they have) there is no reason that you would know this unless you are really interested and went looking for it. So for those of you seeing this image for the first time, here is a quick introduction. The external part of the clitoris that you may be familiar with is called the glans, that’s the pea sized ‘button’. It is nestled in the clitoral hood, which is formed by part of the labia minora (inner lips). The rest of this 9-11cm organ is located internally. The entire clitoris consists of erectile tissue, meaning it fills with blood and expands when aroused, similar to the penis. The clitoral crura (crus if you are talking about one), are the long arms. They become firm during arousal. The vestibular bulbs (bulb of vestibule) hug the vagina (internal tube) and urethra (where pee exits the body) and can double in size when aroused. The expanded bulbs may be the real story behind the elusive g-spot and the reason that some women are able to have orgasms from penis-in-vagina intercourse. Is this blowing your mind?
I am obviously not writing this as a definitive guide to the clitoris. I hope you get curious and start looking up more info on your own!
By Amphis - Drawn by Amphis., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1781165
Of even more interest to me is that research identifying the full anatomy of the clitoris was only published in 1998 thanks to urologist, Helen O’Connell. Like what?!? An organ that half the population has was only fully ‘discovered’ 25 years ago. I guess it wasn't that important to the anatomists for the last how many CENTURIES humans have been studying anatomy. In the decade that I have been fan-following the clit, it’s understood anatomy has changed, with diagrams now elongating the the descending part of the clitoral body. The clitoris is cutting edge science!
The lack of attention to the clitoris scientifically and culturally speaks a lot to our priorities and more specifically whose pleasure we prioritize. I’ll let you draw your own conclusions there.
So let’s spread the word about the clitoris. Learn about it. Talk about it. Try drawing it.
And if you need some conversation starters check out www.naughtysoap.ca
where you’ll find clitoris greeting cards, vulva soap with stone bead clitorises and coming soon… clitoris pottery. Follow Naughty Soap Company on FB, Insta and TikTok to stay in the loop.