lubrication and in some cases, ejaculation.
What does this all mean? First, it means a woman’s potential for sexual pleasure is quite expansive—far more than the little “button” of a clitoris many of us learned about. Yet the clit doesn’t always get the attention it deserves. Students’ health textbooks sometimes neglect to include or label the clitoris in their female anatomy diagrams. (Can you imagine a diagram of male sexual anatomy omitting the penis?) In a 2005 study of heterosexual college students, 29 percent of womenand 25 percent of men weren’t able to locate the clitoris correctly on a diagram of female genitalia.
The word “vagina” regularly steals some of the clit’s limelight. When parents try to teach their children the correct anatomical words, they often tell their son he has a penis, and tell their daughter she has a vagina. While that’s true, these words are not equivalent! Many girls grow up with no idea that they have a clitoris (and rarely learn the word “vulva,” the actual word for the collection of external organs they see when they look between their legs). Thanks in part to Eve Ensler’s wildly successful The Vagina Monologues, now averaging over 2,000 performances each year, the word “vagina” has come out from the shadows. It’s a major step forward, given that not long ago, the part called “hoo hoo,” “coochie,” or just “down there” couldn’t be named in polite company, and certainly not written about in newspapers. Perhaps some day, the lusty, trusty clitoris will get her own day to shine. Women interested in getting better acquainted with their girl parts might want to check out pages 69 to 72.
does (clitoral) size matter?
WHEN IT COMES to the clitoris, size definitely does not matter. As far back as 1933, sex researchers found that despite considerable variation in the length and diameter of women’s clits, the size and shape have no impact on a woman’s orgasm. Many studies since then have come to the same conclusion: Whether your clit is dainty or voluptuous doesn’t predict whether your orgasms are fast or slow, intense or gentle, challenging to coax along or easy to come by.
female arousal: how does it work?
MASTERS AND JOHNSON, the pioneering sex researcher couple of the 1950s and ’60s, studied sexual arousal in their laboratory back when hooking women up to machines and watching them masturbate or have sex was pretty radical. (Okay, so it still is!) Based on what they learned from their observations, they described what they called the “human sexual response cycle.” Some contemporary experts criticize various aspects of Masters and Johnson’s work, including the way it’s overly simplistic, as if sex always flowed directly from arousal to orgasm without variation. Despite their shortcomings, many women find Masters and Johnson’s concepts helpful in understanding their own sexual response.
what’s between your legs?
OUR SURVEY ASKED women what words their parents used for female sexual parts while they were growing up. While most parents used words like “vagina,” and many didn’t ever discuss those parts of the body, some parents got pretty creative. Here are some of the words women told us their parents used instead of vulva or vagina:
area
between-the-legs birdie
birdie
book (“Keep your book closed so no one else can read it.”)
choo-choo
coochie
coochie coo
cookie
cookie jar
coolie
coos
crotch
down there
flower
fluffy
giny (rhymes with “shiny”)
girl parts
hoo-hoo
hoosie
king-king
muffin
mutzie
nunu
papaya
pat-a-cake
pee pee
pee pee area
pee pee hole
pee-tu
pizza (This family called a boy’s private parts a “sausage.”)
pom-pom
poo
poo-poo
potty
private area
private parts
privates
putterpat
snuffleupagus
special area
thing
tinkle
tinkler
tu-tu
tulip
tweeter
twittle
wee wee
The classic Masters and Johnson cycle begins with the excitement phase (though newer theories of arousal point out that sexual desire typically
Learning to Kill: Stories