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Clitoris

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File:Fem isa 2.gif
A woman's clitoris extends from the visible portion to a point below the pubic bone.

The clitoris is a female sexual organ. In humans, the visible knob-like portion is located near the anterior junction of the labia minora, above the opening of the vagina. Unlike the homologous male organ (the penis), the clitoris does not contain the distal portion of the urethra and functions solely to induce sexual pleasure. The only known exception to this is in the Spotted Hyena, where the urogenital system is modified so that the female urinates, mates and gives birth via an enlarged, erectile clitoris.

The word:

  • pronunciation: KLIHT uh rihs ( in IPA notation (listen)) or klih TOHR ihs ( (listen)). The OED suggests that KLY tor ihs () is also used in the UK.
  • plural forms: clitorises in English, clitorides in Latin


Recognition of existence

Medical literature first recognised the existence of the clitoris in the 16th century. This is the subject of some dispute: Realdo Colombo (also known as Matteo Renaldo Colombo) was a lecturer in surgery at the University of Padua, Italy, and in 1559 he published a book called De re anatomica in which he described the "seat of woman's delight". Colombo concluded, "Since no one has discerned these projections and their workings, if it is permissible to give names to things discovered by me, it should be called the love or sweetness of Venus."

Colombo's claim was disputed by his successor at Padua, Gabriele Falloppio (who discovered the fallopian tube), who claimed that he was the first to discover the clitoris. Caspar Bartholin, a 17th century Danish anatomist, dismissed both claims, arguing that the clitoris had been widely known to medical science since the 2nd century. It was also known to the Romans, who named it landica.

Noted researchers Masters and Johnson, Boston based researcher John Garabedian, and Dr. Matt Jaeger at the University of Kentucky all conducted extensive studies of the clitoris.

In the 1970s, the word clitoris was considered offensive in the spoken English language and is still seen as a taboo word by many people. The first use of clitoris on television in the United States is believed to have been by Dr. Rich O'Brien, a Harvard colleague of Garabedian's, on the Dr. Ruth Westheimer show.


See also