“Where is the clitoris?” Oh, if only we had heard the answer as much as we’ve heard this question. It’s a common joke that the clitoris is a mystery, as well as hard to locate. This is credited to the fact that the clitoris is quite small.
But how the hell can you miss an organ that is 9 to 12 cm in size? Simple – most of it is hidden.
What we think of as the whole clitoris is actually just the tip of the iceberg. Only one quarter of a total – the head, outside of the body, is just a part of a bigger organ hidden inside.
The clitoris is the main sexual organ in vulvic people, the analogous structure to the penis, having, proportionally, the same size as well. It’s a complex structure rich in nerve endings that also aids in reproduction. And it is, sadly, one of the most underrated and misunderstood organs we have.
Understanding how the clitoris works is fundamental for clit-owners to have more pleasure in their lives. So, let’s dive headfirst into this wonderful organ.
What is the clit? All you should know, but probably still don’t The clitoris is an organ with a shape that resembles a wishbone. It’s divided between the vestibular bulb, crura (or crus clitoris) and glans. The crura anchors the clitoris inside the body, while the bulbs are made of soft spongy tissue (just like the inside of a penis). The glans is the visible part of the clitoris, located outside of the body, and also the most sensitive – containing two nerves and many nerve endings (not 8,000 nerves – another common misconception we see around!).
The penis and the clitoris both come from the same embryonic structure – meaning they have very similar structure and tissue formation. Circulation around the clitoris is very abundant, with blood vessels covering the bulbs all the way from the anus to the insides of the labia minora.
Clit erections – understanding ‘lady boners’ When stimulated, the clitoris receives a rush of blood from all its sentinel vessels. The bulbs, which are wrapped around the urethra and the vaginal canal, have their spongy tissue filled with blood, causing it to swell. This phenomenon is called a clitoral erection, because that is literally what it is. It happens just like an erection of a penis.
When erect, the clit grows bigger and the swollen bulbs glue to the vaginal walls, connecting them to the sensorial system inside the clitoris. And this is what makes penetration pleasurable for vulvic people – it’s also the reason why, without being turned on, penetration might not feel like anything!
This means all orgasms – regardless of if they happen from penetration or direct stimulation to the glans – are clitoral. You might be scratching your head now – after all, it’s very common to hear about ‘vaginal orgasms’ and how they the ‘better’ version of clitoral orgasms. Well, this is nothing but BS designed to repress female sexuality. Let’s dissect it.
Blame it on Freud – the myth of vaginal orgasms Information about the clitoris has been scarce but we have also known about it since ancient Greece. However, it was in the 19th century, with the rise of psychology, that interest in human sexuality grew – and maybe not in the best way.
Freud was the one disseminating the idea that there were two kinds of orgasms: clitoral and vaginal. He deemed clitoral orgasms ‘infantile’, meaning women would only achieve sexual ‘maturity’ when they had vaginal orgasms – though penetration.
Not only is this anatomically incorrect, it also goes against the fact that most women need direct stimulation to the clitoral glans to orgasm. This makes sense if we think about the fact that the glans concentrates most of the nerve endings in the whole organ.
This misinformation led to neurosis aplenty – women believing there was something wrong with them because they couldn’t reach the ‘ideal’ vaginal orgasm. On top of that, very little research on the clitoris was performed after the 19th century, so clit-owners were unable to learn about their own anatomy in school or even in sex manuals.
Why would Freud do this, you might ask? No one knows. A lot of people believe it was unintentional. He was just too blinded by his own bias to accept the fact that women didn’t need penetration – or men – to have great orgasms.
Why clits need love in sex Lately, the pleasure gap has been put on the spot; rather than blaming women for not having sexual satisfaction, our culture is shifting to explore the reasons why that might be. The discrepancy between how many more orgasms lesbian women have in comparison to straight women, for example, indicates that the idea that penetration alone should be good enough for women is one of the wedges driving the pleasure gap.
The fact is, while penetration can be an important part of sex, most of the time, focusing on it alone neglects the clitoris. And the clitoris is the main sexual organ for vulvic people. To incorporate this knowledge in the way we see sex – especially straight cis couples – requires a shift in culture as well as the spreading of information.
The clit rises In the last two decades, the clitoris has been the protagonist of a kind of renaissance. New research= is being done, more information is being spread, sex toys are being designed with the sole purpose of clitoral stimulation and there is a multitude of platforms and sex educators talking about the clitoral anatomy – the term they have coined for it is ‘cliteracy’.
However, this is still slow to get to schools, and even universities where future doctors are being trained. This is why it’s so important to be loud about this subject, and break the taboo around it. To value the clitoris is to value pleasure – something all of us can get behind.