A pair of sexologists have just offered what they claim is the last and definitive word in the long-running debate over the female orgasm. In the latest issue of the journal , Vincenzo Puppo, a researcher at and co-author Guilia Puppo declare that the vaginal orgasm (and the G spot) does not (and could not) exist.
They argue that female anatomy simply does not support such a notion. And that direct clitoral stimulation is the only path to climax.
Within the first paragraph of their review, they state that 鈥渨omen have the right to feel sexual pleasure, and for this reason sexual medicine experts and sexologists must spread certainties on the biological basis to all women, not hypotheses or personal opinions, and they must use scientific sexual terminology.鈥� I鈥檓 with them there. But, then, somehow, someway, in dispensing with uncertainty over the nature of female orgasm and making their argument that the clitoris is the only game in town, they say it is simply a 鈥渇emale penis鈥� and conclude that orgasm is 鈥渁lways possible鈥� in all women, 鈥渨ith effective stimulation鈥�. And with those remarks, I鈥檓 afraid they lost me.
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Female sexuality, including the female orgasm, is complex. While anatomy is important, sexual response is more than the sum of our nether regions. And while there is certainly evidence that the clitoris is penis-like in nature, with similar developmental features, there is not enough data to conclude that the two are identical in sensation and function.
As scientists continue to explore differences between the sexes in both anatomy and behaviour, they are learning that hormones, enzymes and neurochemicals have quite different effects on organs that should be the same. There are subtle yet profound differences in how those organs function. And, so, to argue that the clitoris is nothing more than a 鈥渇emale penis鈥� seems, frankly, lazy.
In any scientific work, terms like 鈥渁lways鈥� are often suspect. There is little in the known world that is guaranteed 鈥� and anyone who studies human sexuality will tell you it is rife with individual differences.
The researchers鈥� dismissal of any other path to orgasm falls short for other reasons. In their anatomical reasoning the authors do not explain why so many women don鈥檛 climax even with sufficient clitoral stimulation 鈥� or why some are capable of orgasm in the absence of it. They don鈥檛 seem to take account of studies outside the anatomical field that examine the function of the vagus nerve, the role of the brain in orgasm, or how can lead to orgasm in paralysed women.
Studying sexuality is difficult. It carries with it a lot of baggage about what we think is normal, moral and healthy. And, unfortunately, that baggage often means that the research is coloured by societal norms and expectations. And, it would seem, it also means that the different labs which study sexuality are often talking over one another instead of to one another.
We鈥檇 all like to believe that all women can have orgasms. Yet, until scientists are willing to take a comprehensive, collaborative and interdisciplinary approach to understanding the many clues and contradictions in female sexuality, we have no hope of making sure that possibility becomes a reality.
Kayt Sukel is a science writer and author of (Simon & Schuster)
