For all the centuries of men wondering what women want, the answer isn't all that mysterious. We want you to touch our clitorises. The success of a sexual encounter may hinge entirely on how and whether it is touched, but don't put too much pressure on your partner's understanding of this special body part. If you don't know what it's capable of, how can they? Study up with these fascinating facts. Two separate Italian academics both claimed to discover the clitoris in the s. Anatomy experts Realdo Colombo and Gabriele Falloppio yep, of Fallopian-tube fame fought over who first made note of the clitoris. Presumably, women had already found their body parts and their affects far before the Renaissance.

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Updated April 09, But actually all female mammals have a clitoris, the highly sensitive organ that is linked with pleasure and orgasm in women. Research is now starting to slowly unpack how the clitoris might be involved in sexual encounters in mammals. For example, a research paper presented at a biology conference this week showed that the clitoris in dolphins is very large, and more complex than we previously thought. All babies, regardless of whether they are destined to become a boy or a girl, begin development in the womb with a small bulge called a genital tubercle. If the developing foetus is destined to become male, the fetal testes will produce the male hormone testosterone and the genital tubercle will develop into a penis. If, on the other hand, the fetus is destined to become a female, the fetal ovary will not produce any hormones and instead the genital tubercle will develop into the clitoris. Since the penis and the clitoris both develop from the same structure, they share many similarities.
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But establishing whether sexual pleasure ever actually tips over into orgasm is hard. Whether they regularly have them during normal copulation is much less certain; most animal sex is very brief and often quite violent. Most other vertebrates use external fertilisation; the female deposits her eggs and the male squirts them with sperm. If you thought it was taboo talking about orgasms, just imagine how difficult it is to ask an animal By Luis Villazon. All female mammals have a clitoris, the sole purpose of which is to react to sexual stimulation, and presumably this stimulation has evolved to be pleasurable for most species. Female chimps, macaque monkeys and cows have all been stimulated in the lab to the point of experiencing vaginal and uterine contractions, which does suggest that other female animals are at least capable of orgasm. Beyond mammals, the case for a female orgasm is more tenuous. Luis trained as a zoologist, but now works as a science and technology educator. In his spare time he builds 3D-printed robots, in the hope that he will be spared when the revolution inevitably comes.
Unlike the penis , the male homologue equivalent to the clitoris, it usually does not contain the distal portion or opening of the urethra and is therefore not used for urination. The clitoris also usually lacks a reproductive function. While few animals urinate through the clitoris or use it reproductively, the spotted hyena , which has an especially large clitoris, urinates, mates, and gives birth via the organ. Some other mammals, such as lemurs and spider monkeys , also have a large clitoris. The clitoris is the human female's most sensitive erogenous zone and generally the primary anatomical source of human female sexual pleasure. Initially undifferentiated, the tubercle develops into either a penis or a clitoris during the development of the reproductive system depending on exposure to androgens which are primarily male hormones. The clitoris is a complex structure, and its size and sensitivity can vary. The glans head of the human clitoris is roughly the size and shape of a pea, and is estimated to have about 8, sensory nerve endings. Sexological , medical, and psychological debate have focused on the clitoris, [4] and it has been subject to social constructionist analyses and studies.