from the book Healing Love Through the Tao
by Maneewan & Mantak Chia
The publication of Masters' and Johnson's Human Sexual Response in 1966 opened the floodgates for books, articles, and seminars that interlocked with the sexual revolution of the Sixties and Seventies. The little-known profession of sexology burgeoned.
Gradually, sexologists began to pay attention to the particular sexual needs of women. They noticed that it was a rare man who went to his grave without ever having an orgasm, yet there were quite a number of women having little experience in sexual orgasm. Lonnie Barbach addressed herself to "pre-orgasmic" women in her book, For Yourself. In The Hite Report, Shere Hite disclosed how women brought themselves to orgasm, based on the anecdotal responses of hundreds of women to her vast questionnaire. Compiled by the Federation of Feminist Women's Health Centers, the book, entitled A New View of a Woman's Body, took a new look at women's genitals and redefined the clitoris.
It is a social fact that most women have never looked closely at another woman's genitals. Of the women who picked up a mirror to scrutinize their own (after making sure the door was locked or that no one else was home), many were left with the feeling that somehow they were not put together entirely correctly. The sexual isolation of women results in the complete absence of a socially acceptable word that encompasses everything we can see in a mirror: "down there" is probably the closest we have come to saying that there exists a large area that we recognize as being our sexual organs.
A. The Mound of Venus
Starting at the front and top is the Mound of Venus (also called the mons veneris, or mons, for short). The color, amount, texture and distribution of hair will depend a great deal upon age and inherited characteristics and can vary from a few straight hairs to a bushy growth extending up the abdomen or down the thighs. The mons is a cushion of fat protecting the pubic bone underneath. The pubic bone is the place where the pelvic bones are joined together by cartilage, which during pregnancy softens so that the bones can separate, if necessary, during childbirth. The mons divides and separates into what is called the outer lips, or labia majora, which are of similar skin and hairiness as the mons.
B. The Inner Lips
Inside the outer lips are the inner lips, the labia minora. The skin of the inner lips is very different in color and texture because of their relation to the mucous surfaces in the same way that the lips of the mouth are different from the skin of the face. In an unaroused state the inner lips can vary in color from pink to dusky pink to dark maroon or purple. Sometimes the inner lips are pink and ridged, and sometimes they are long and wavy. Some women's inner lips are larger than the outer lips, and when these women are standing up, the inner lips can be seen protruding from between the outer lips. During sexual arousal the inner lips, richly supplied with blood vessels, become engorged and swell to two or three times their resting size. As orgasm approaches they can go through a dramatic color change, sometimes turning crimson or a dark wine color.
C. The Glans of the Clitoris
Following the small lips to the top, they join together to form the hood that protects the glans of the clitoris. Usually the glans in the un-erect state is nestled under the hood. You can see it by pulling back on the hood. The glans of the clitoris is loaded with nerves, and for most women the glans is the most acutely sensitive spot in their sexual anatomy. Some women find that it is so sensitive that direct stimulation can be irritating. The shaft of the clitoris feels like a strong rubber band under the surface between the glans and the mons. As sexual excitement mounts, the shaft thickens and shortens, and the glans, shaft and supporting structures become erect. As with men, there can be a dramatic change in size and shape. Some women find that with intense prolonged arousal the swollen inner lips can obscure the glans almost entirely.
D. The Urethra and Vagina
Down from the glans is the opening to the urethra. Below this is the opening to the vagina. A woman's urethra is about one and a half inches long from the outside to where it opens into the bladder. This short distance from the outside to the inside helps explain women's propensity towards bladder infections (cystitis).
E. The G-Spot
Surrounding the urethra is a plexus of blood vessels. Since these blood vessels had no name in medical books, a group of women named the area the "urethral sponge." (See A New View of a Woman's Body.) During sexual excitement the blood vessels engorge and a bulge can be felt through the vaginal wall. This bulge has been named the G-Spot, after Grafenberg, one of the first sexologists. It can be explored by feeling around the front and upper part of the inside of the vagina. (It has also been said that the G-Spot is located one-half inch deeper than a woman's longest finger.)
The G-Spot can be difficult to reach during intercourse in a face-to-face position, except with those men whose penises, when erect, press up against their bellies. A change in position may be necessary if a woman wants her G-Spot stimulated more directly. Rear entry is one way. Fingers are often effective and direct. A woman stimulating herself might choose to squat or lie down with her legs up in the air in order to reach it better. Her partner might find it easier to reach if she is lying on her stomach. During coitus, if the woman is on top she can position herself pretty precisely for such stimulation.
Some women, while holding their partners tightly, enjoy the sensation of an erect penis pushing on their lower abdomen, immediately above the pubic bone, stimulating the G-Spot from the other side. When the G-Spot is massaged, often a woman's first impression is that she has to urinate. Sexologists assure women that if the pressure is continued there will be a transition to sexual arousal.
One of my students reported: "When I worked in a women-controlled clinic, we always talked rather glowingly of the virtues of the diaphragm. Every once in a while a woman would tell us that she didn't like the diaphragm because it interfered with her sexual enjoyment, that it covered up something. That was before the G-Spot became well known, and I think now that that was probably what these women were talking about." Some women find that stimulation of the G-Spot can trigger an orgasm, while many women enjoy G-Spot stimulation as part of the whole panoply of sexual stimulation.
F. Female Ejaculation
An ancient Taoist Master discovered that a woman, when reaching a higher point of orgasm, had different responses, which ejaculated different "waters." Three waters, or types of fluid, involved in female orgasms were found to exist. The lubrication experienced during arousal is considered the first water; the fluids emitted during a normal orgasm are the second water; and the third water of a female ejaculation, never experienced by many women, is released from the G-Spot.
However, with or without G-Spot stimulation, there are women who ejaculate when they have an orgasm. This ejaculation, which can be quite copious, produces liquid that is much like seminal fluid. It is definitely not urine. However, many women who have experienced ejaculation report that they were dismayed and embarrassed, feeling certain that they had urinated. They then learned to withhold this reaction. Now that the fact of women's ejaculations is known, there will probably be much relief, relaxation, and increased pleasure by the women who have this capacity. As yet, no research has discovered where this fluid is made or stored.
G. The First Lubricative Fluid of the Vagina
Inside the vagina the walls rest against each other but the potential for space exists. With a plastic speculum, flashlight and mirror, you can look inside the vagina yourself. You will probably first see the pink, ridged walls of the vagina. The many folds account for its tremendous elasticity. During sexual arousal, lubricative fluid oozes out of the walls in a kind of sweating action. At the back of the vagina is the cervix, the only portion of the uterus visible in the vagina. The cervix is round with a hole or slit in it. This is the opening of the cervical canal, which goes into the uterus. Most sexologists agree that women have little sensation beyond the outer third section of the vagina. However, many women strongly disagree, saying that they experience terrific pleasure with deep penetration either by penis or finger at the back of the vagina, and many women feel pleasurable contractions of the uterus during orgasm.
There may be mucous dispersing from the cervix. The source and purpose of the mucous will be discussed in the next section.
