The clitoris is the most important part of the female anatomy when it comes to sexual pleasure. In fact, it is the only part of the body whose only known function is pleasure. The head of the clitoris contains approximately 8,000 sensory nerve endings, the greatest concentration in the entire human body and twice the number in the penis. The shaft of the clitoris is supported by a ligament and anchored to the pelvic bones by two wings tips of tissue called crura. The crura run internally down either  side of the opening of the vagina.

During arousal the erectile tissue in the clitoris swells and increases in size. Eighty per cent of women require clitoral stimulation to achieve full arousal and orgasm, and despite the prevalence of the view that sex is penetration, only 20 per cent of women can actually orgasm through intravaginal sex. Hardly surprising, really.

SIZE DOESN’T MATTER

The only part of the clitoris that can be seen directly beneath the clitoral hood is the head. It is covered with a mucous membrane that is kept moist and shiny by tiny oil-producing glands. These glands also allow the clitoral hood to glide across the head. There is no standard size or shape for either the clitoral head or ots hood, which sometimes does not cover it completely. There does not seem to be any relationship between clitoral size and function – basically all clitorises are extremely sensitive. At birth, a girl’s clitoris is larger in proportion to the rest of the body than it is likely to be during the remainder of her life.

HELEN O’CONNELL’S DISCOVERY

The full importance of the clitoris has only been realised relatively recently. In August 1998, Helen O’Connell, a urological surgeon in melbourne, Australia, published a paper in the Journal of Urology announcing her discovery that the clitoral nerve system actually extended much further than the visible head of the clitoris. She found that beneath the clitoral head there is un upside-down V-shaped mass of erectile tissue full of nerves and blood vessels that extends away from the clitoris into the body. In the past, anatomists (usually male) had bee reluctant to dissect female sexual organs on grounds of taste, morality, or even lack of interest. Many people, particularly women, wonder how such an important piece of information could have remained undiscovered through most of the 20th century. The probable reason is that most corpses available for dissection (rathen than autopsy) tend to be elderly, so their erectile tissue has shrunk, so that the full extent of this organ cannot be seen.

Source: The sex book by Suzi Godson

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