Today is International Clitoris Day! If you have a clitoris, appreciate it; if you care for someone who does have one, well, tell them you’re glad they do.
Here are a dozen facts about the clitoris that you might not know. They’re good icebreakers at parties, airport lounges, or while you’re receiving a speeding ticket.
FACT: The clitoris is the only organ in the human body with no function other than pleasure.
The clitoris plays no role in reproduction. This challenges conventional reproduction-centered models of evolution.
FACT: For more than half of all women, the clitoris is the primary sexual organ, not the vagina.
This was first documented by Shere Hite in the 1970s, and has since been replicated by many others. Most women who don’t orgasm from vaginal sex (what some people call “real sex”) climax easily from clitoral stimulation.
This is similar to the way that most men who don’t orgasm from having their balls stimulated can climax easily from penile stimulation.
FACT: The visible part of the clitoris is only a small part of it.
The full clitoris is mostly internal, about four inches long, partly winding around the vaginal canal.
FACT: As a woman becomes aroused, the clitoris typically becomes more sensitive.
Some women then want harder stimulation, while others want more gentle stimulation.
FACT: Millions of girls around the world are victims of clitoridectomy, the removal of the clitoris, each year.
Following tradition, the procedure is usually done by women.
FACT: Some women can have multiple orgasms from clitoral stimulation.
FACT: Given the distance between the vagina and the clitoris, penis-in-vagina intercourse doesn’t necessarily stimulate the clitoris at all.
This explains why many women can’t orgasm from intercourse alone.
FACT: While there are dozens of English slang words for vagina (and for penis), there are few words specifically for the clitoris.
This reflects the historical cultural silence about its existence. Also, many people use the word vagina (and its slang cousins) when referring to the vulva, which includes the clitoris. Interesting, no one says “clitoris” when they mean “vagina.”
FACT: In the human embryo, the clitoris (not the vagina) develops from the same tissue as the penis.
Developmentally, the homologue of the vagina is the testicles, not the penis.
FACT: The full internal anatomy of the clitoris wasn’t accurately described in medical literature until 1998.
It was therefore missing from medical school textbooks for over a century. This only began to change when Australian urologist Helen O’Connell published her landmark anatomical study.
FACT: In general, the clitoris doesn’t decline in sensitivity with age the way some other structures do (e.g., the eye, the ear, the tongue, the blood vessels).
While the hormonal changes of aging can affect the clitoris’s response, most women who were clitorally orgasmic before menopause remain so after it.
FACT: The largest clitoris on earth belongs to the blue whale–it’s about three feet long.
Every mammal species, and many non-mammal species, features a clitoris. This includes dolphins, bonobos, lions, ostriches, and crocodiles.