Mystery of the Clit

Before 2005, humans invented language and maths, charted the solar system, built planes, set rockets on the moon, created the pill, MRIs, penicillin, TVs, the personal computer and a little something called the internet.

But while humans were moonwalking and marvelling at moving images onscreen, we paid little attention to understanding the clitoris, an organ so vital to our sexual pleasure that some researchers say all female orgasms come from it.

Let that sink in for a bit. Nearly half of the world’s population are vulva owners and have a clitoris. Yet, for most of history, the clitoris remained largely unknown, was deemed useless and brushed off by Freud as the “infantile organ”. Oh, shut up, Freud.

While the visible external bulb of the clitoris was identified in the 16th century, it wasn’t until Australian urologist Helen O’Connell performed MRIs on aroused women and published a paper in 2005 detailing the complete anatomy and role of the clitoris.

That’s only sixteen years ago. Isn’t that madness? Especially considering studies suggest that more than 80 per cent of vulva owners can’t orgasm without clitoral stimulation.

If you don’t understand the clitoris’ extraordinary role in our sexual pleasure, you need to read up. But here’s a quick crash course for you.

The clitoris has 8000 nerve endings–at least two to three times as many as the penis. It’s often referred to as an iceberg because 90% of it is internal, it’s also big and interconnected and is 10cm long, and whilst describing its spectacular form is difficult, in simple terms, it looks similar to a meaty wishbone.

But it’s so much more complex and exciting than that, so I suggest you head to Google, you know, just something else humans created before 2005.