7 Stimulating Facts About the Clitoris

November 11, 2014 / Cristen Conger

If you don’t have one, you know someone who does. But how much do you really know about the clitoris? If you’re like a lot of people, probably not much. That’s due in part to society’s focus on cis-male pleasure — thanks, patriarchy!

We could all benefit from learning a little more about the clitoris. To learn more about this amazing part of our bodies, check out this video!

To learn more about this subject, check out the following:

Click for the Transcript

I’m about to teach you all about the clitoris! But don’t get scared; get cliterate.

Fact #1: The glans, or the visible part of the clitoris, contains over 8,000 nerve endings, or twice the number of nerve endings in the head of a penis. But that, my friends, is just the tip of the clitoral iceberg.

Fact #2, some clitoral history, AKA clistory: In 1559, a renowned Italian anatomist named Realdo Colombo claimed to have “discovered” the clitoris, which he wanted to name the Love or Sweetness of Venus. Realdo really, really loved the clit.

Fact #3: In the 1920’s, psychoanalyst and princess Marie Bonaparte developed a rule of thumb for determining whether women will be able to achieve orgasm from vaginal intercourse alone. Based on the data she collected from her patients, if the distance between a woman’s clitoris and vaginal opening is no greater than the length of the tip of her thumb, then she should be able to achieve orgasm. Remember that that old school rule of thumb is probably not a reliable rule of thumb in the bedroom.

Which brings us to fact #4: Partially because doctors didn’t want to give the clitoris the time of day for so long, it wasn’t until the 1990’s that we even saw what the clitoris looks like, inside and out, when a woman is aroused. And it wasn’t until 2009 when the first 3D ultrasound of the so-called “clitoral complex” was created. And you might be wondering, “Well, why does it matter what the clitoris looks like when a woman is aroused? It’s just, like, sitting there. Right?” Haha, oh friend. Just you wait for…

Fact #5: Big news about the clitoris, because the entire clitoris is actually composed of at least 18 distinct, functioning parts.

Fact #6: What’s connected to that internal glans that we can see? That visible glans extends into the corpus cavernosum which, along the way, bifurcate into the crura, which are two pieces of erectile tissue which extend anywhere from five to nine centimeters.

Which brings me to our final clitoris fact: it moves. A bulk of this internal clitoral anatomy is composed of erectile tissue, which means that when we become aroused, it also swells. Meanwhile, when we’re aroused, the corpus cavernosa also swells to internally hug the vagina. And I haven’t even mentioned the clitoral vestibules underneath the labia minora which, when engorged, cuff the vaginal opening and actually cause the vulva to extend outward and look at all the strange hand gestures that I realize that I’m doing while talking about this.

For me, the most practical takeaway out of all of this is that, A) woah, that’s so cool that that is inside of me, and B) there’s no real need to debate clitoral versus vaginal versus G-spot orgasms because when you really understand what’s going on inside of you, they’re all kind of different versions of the same thing. Get cliterate already!

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Cristen Conger studied journalism at the University of Georgia where she worked as a reporter at the student newspaper. After graduating, she joined up with HowStuffWorks.com and Discovery Communications in 2009 as a staff writer. That same year, identifying a need for more intelligent digital media by and for women, she co-created Stuff Mom Never Told You and has since honed her expertise in women, gender and sex. Cristen also contributes to Huffington Post Women, and her writing has additionally appeared on Jezebel, Bitch, MSNBC and ABC News. Follow her on Twitter @CristenConger.