The female pleasure organ has finally received the same attention afforded to its male counterpart, decades later. A group of researchers in the Netherlands mapped the intricate web of the nerves within the glans of the clitoris, using high-energy X-rays that generated the first ever 3D maps of the organ.
The X-rays created 3D scans of female pelvises that have led researchers to conclude that some existing knowledge about the anatomy of the clitoris is in fact, wrong. The new research, first reported by The Guardian, may help ensure that women undergoing pelvic operations do not wind up with diminished sexual function. The mapping of clitoral nerves may also improve the recovery for girls and women undergoing reconstructive surgery after female genital mutilation — a practice suffered by more than 230 million girls and women across the world today. Despite being internationally recognised as a human rights violation and having no health benefits, FGM persists, leading women to suffer multiple serious, long-term health risks and even death.
According to Ju Young Lee, the lead researcher in this study, roughly 22 per cent of women who undergo surgical reconstruction after mutilation experience a reduction in orgasmic experience after their operation, hence a better understanding of how far the nerves stretch could lower that percentage.
Lee and her colleagues at Amsterdam University Medical Center were able to take detailed 3D images of the five branching nerves running through the clitoris.
They discovered that some branches of clitoral nerves stretch all the way to a part of the pubic bone, while other branches reach the tiny external part of the clitoris called the clitoral hood, and even to the folds of skin of the vulva.
It’s a significant step towards improving the knowledge of this sexually crucial part of the female body. One of the most medically neglected parts of the human body, medical misogyny has ensured that the clitoris was not even mentioned in mainstream human anatomy textbooks until the last century.
Lee hopes to open a clitoris exhibition within Amsterdam University Medical Center to help broaden public knowledge about the clitoris, similar to the Vagina Museum in London.