The “Female Penis” (Jan, 1964)
Source: Sexology ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jan, 1964
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Tags: sexuality
I have heard of women having their clitoris removed, but it is usually referred to as “genital mutilation” and is imposed upon women against their will. Do women still have their clitoris voluntarily removed because they think it is “unsightly”? Would a doctor actually perform that surgery?
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“Female Penis”
A distinguished researcher explains the role and function of the clitoris.By John Money, Ph.D.
Dr. Money is Associate Professor of Medical Psychology and Pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins University and Hospital. He is supported in research by Grants #M-01557 and #K3-MH-18635 from the National Institute of Mental Health, United States Public Health Seervice.
Do you have your own name for the clitoris? Most people have.
The clitoris has sometimes been referred to as the “female penis.” It is one part of the sexual anatomy for which there is no well-known American popular or slang word. Not enough people have heard the expression, “the man in the boat,” for that expression to be useful when a doctor wants to explain what he means by the medical word, clitoris.
In Europe, for some reason this is not the case. In England, the clitoris is known popularly as the “tickler”; in Germany this is translated literally into “Ritzier.” The French call it “le bouton” the button. In Spanish it is referred to as “la pepita” or little seed.In the sex education of girls, it is often necessary to have a drawing or a model of the female sex organs in order to show what the clitoris is. The same is true for many grown and married women who need to discuss medical or surgical treatment of the sex organs.
The clitoris is the little pea-sized “knot” of flesh that hides at the top of the slit created by the lips of the female organs.
In the forming of a female before birth, the nubbin of flesh that becomes a clitoris is the same nubbin of flesh that in a male grows into the penis. Medically, the clitoris is said to be the homologue, or female counterpart structure, of the penis. Cases are on record where it grows quite large before birth and looks like a half-formed penis when the baby is born.
Like every other part of the normal body, the clitoris varies in size from person to person. Usually it is 1/4 to 1/2 an inch long, about 1/4 of an inch thick. Like the penis, it is made up of two parts, the head and the stem. The penis has skin wrapped all around it, which covers the tube of the urethra, or urinary canal. But the clitoris has, instead, a cape or hood of skin, the ends of which (called the labia minora, or small lips) stretch down inside the folds of the outer lips.
When a woman becomes sexually aroused, the clitoris becomes erect by filling up with blood. In some women, the head and the stem of the clitoris both swell up, whereas in others only the stem swells. After swelling up, the clitoris draws back under its hood, like a snail into its shell, and is hard to locate. It stays in hiding when the woman reaches her climax or orgasm of sexual excitement, and then slowly comes out again.
At the moment of sexual climax in the male, the penis throbs and seminal fluid is discharged. The “female penis,” the clitoris, is not active in this way. In the female, the throbbing of sexual climax takes place in the tissues at the entrance to, and just inside of, the vaginal canal, where the man’s penis penetrates.
Normally a woman’s sexual arousal includes stimulation of the clitoris. Of course, many other parts of the body are sexually sensitive too, like the ear lobes in some women, the breasts, the skin around the sexual parts or, indeed, the skin anywhere on the body.
It is an interesting point of difference between men and women that. when a woman becomes romantically aroused by erotic litera-ture or pictures, the “female penis” does not necessarily swell up, as the male’s penis does.
Some women can reach a sexual climax from continuous stimulation of the clitoris, and nothing else. In this case, the throbbing movements of climax take place in the vagina, as usual. These same throbbing movements take place in the vagina also for those few women for whom stimulation of the breasts alone is enough to bring them to orgasm.
Even though the clitoris is sexually very sensitive, it is not essential to sexual arousal and sexual climax. Girls born with an enlarged and unsightly clitoris usually prefer to have it removed, for the sake of feminine appearance. Afterwards their sexual pleasure continues nevertheless, through adjoining and remaining nerves and they are able to reach a climax.
The same is true for women who have had to have the clitoris and all the surrounding skin removed because of a skin cancer. Men, too, who have lost the penis either accidentally or through surgical necessity are still able to reach a sexual climax.
Apparently the nerve fibers responsible for sexual sensitivity can still do their work, even when their endings in the skin have been cut away. The indispensable location of sexual climax, in the woman, appears to he the entrance way and first inch or two of the vaginal canal.
I am of the belief that there is a time & a place for these things, and when I am reading my blogroll to chill out for a while, that is not it. I recognize that “modesty” and “decency” are thoroughly outmoded concepts nowadays, but there are still those of use that adhere to these Biblical concepts. This blog is off my blogroll now- too bad, because I really enjoyed many of the articles.
Comment by Caya — July 4, 2007 @ 12:37 pm
John Money was an advocate of sexual reassignment surgery, the now-discounted practice of changing a child’s gender in infancy.
Money is best-known for his involvement in the sex reassignment of David Reimer, in what later became known as the “John/Joan” case. Money reported that he successfully reassigned Reimer as female after a botched 1966 infant circumcision. In 1997, Milton Diamond reported that the reassignment had failed, that Reimer had never identified as female. At age 14, Reimer refused to see Money again, threatening suicide if he were made to go. Reimer began living as male, and at 15, with a different medical team, he sought mastectomy, testosterone therapy and phalloplasty. Reimer remained a man until his suicide at age 38.
Sorry to see Caya go but I think this is legitimate science from the past and as such has little to do with ‘modesty’ or ‘decency.’
Just like TV, you don’t have to watch (or read) everything. If you don’t like it, change the channel (or scroll past)!
Comment by Stannous — July 4, 2007 @ 1:30 pm
I’m amazed (and to be honest, disgusted) that in the year 2007 people find medical articles indecent or immodest or think that talking about a MEDICAL matter is somehow non-Biblical.
Comment by Blurgle — July 4, 2007 @ 8:42 pm
Cayas’ comment is the exact reason science and religion will never mix. Sad to say that this is the “moral majority” that runs this nation, stunts it’s education, and down right misleads its’ followers deeper into ignorance. Jesus destroyed the temple because the money lenders perverted religion into a money laundering operation. Please, I actually challenge you Caya, to point out any religious organization that still uses Jesus as the cornerstone of the church, and not how many church members we can get to reach into their pockets more than once a sermon.
Being in Orlando, we just had a church museum open. It actually said Jesus probably rode dinosaurs.I fell over laughing.
The most enduring reasons science and god don’t get along? The bible says knowledge is the root of evil.
That’s right, keep the kids dumb so they live in fear of everything tech. Good going Jesus!
Comment by Tim G. — July 4, 2007 @ 11:33 pm
Thanks gang, you’ve expressed pretty much everything I was going to say but much more nicely. I generally don’t respond well to any argument about my actions that includes the word “biblical”.
Comment by Charlie — July 5, 2007 @ 2:03 am
Back to the topic:
To say that Money is a controversial character might be the understatement of the year. He considered himself progressive and feminist, but most of his theories (especially the idea that intersex infants should be converted to one sex or the other at an early age, theoretically to make them “more normal”) have been strongly refuted both by peer-reviewed studies and by his former patients.
Money’s words were also used by practitioners and parents to justify the clitoridectomies of girls who weren’t sexually appropriate – in other words, girls whose idea of sex wasn’t limited to the missionary position with a husband where everything that happens is designed solely to give the man an orgasm. Girls who masturbated, girls who identified as lesbians, girls who enjoyed premarital sex – all were subject to mutilation. Interestingly, there are no records of any woman having a clitoridectomy in North America due to vanity.
Comment by Blurgle — July 5, 2007 @ 4:11 am
very good Burgle!
And you’re right, at my age I should know better than straying from the topic. Human sexuality is an odd duck. Homosexuality is the norm for most warm blooded animals. At time of high population a large number turn “gay?” for lack of better word. (Sorry folks, not bashing by any standard)
So why is it so hard to understand that the human “animal”, because that’s all we really are, to react in the same fashion.
And, again, Burgle hit it right on the head. How would any man\woman responsible for the care of, and preserving the value of life stoop to think that they would have the best view as to the sexuality of a hermaphrodidic child.
Comment by Tim G. — July 5, 2007 @ 10:48 am
Ok, this is a hot topic for sure. Here’s the catch- We are all sexual creatures_ God gave us sex as a pleasure for us to share. DO we share it as children, No, I think it is our responsibility as parents to teach our kids to be RESPONSIBLE FOR THERE OWN CHOICES_ something that comes with time and experience. We should share that(our personal experiences) with our kids as they hit puberty- that is how it is done in most of the ‘third world or ‘primative’ cultures”. ALso sex is not taught to be dirty there. IT isn’t, it is a part of life, a damn good one if you ask me! There they are tauch how to be sexual creatures, and how to take care not to hurt or be hurt, like happens to our kids in America. We abdicate the throne of our homes, throwing our kids to society to teach, and then complain when we don’t like what they learn.
AS to Money, I have three kids, 22, 12, and 10. I am married to a straight man, I am bi, my oldest is bi, we shall see about the other 2. IF I had a child the was born both sexes, it would be up to that child, not some doc, to make a choice when they were ready.
God gave us a brain, He expects us to use it, not allow others to make choices for us. I Understand that Caya was upset, but medicine and Faith are just too different to mix, sometimes they walk hand in hand, but it take a special case for that. God gave us brains to understand how our bodies work, so we can learn how to be healthy. He wants us to use that brain.
Sorry, TIm, I am not some mere animal, I am more than that. BUt you can be one if you want to. (smile)ANd if animals were “gay”, they wouldn’t survive as a species. Homosexuality is a choice. One I support. Not my choice for me, but that is kool too.
Comment by Nova — April 5, 2008 @ 3:20 pm
I’m a student in Sweet Water High School. The information in this site should be taught. Not for pure amusement, but for informational reason. Kids around probably don’t even know how to locate that part of the vagina, and if they do they wouldn’t know how it works like how it explained in this page. Thank you for the info.
Comment by jeremy pedrozo — April 16, 2008 @ 2:11 pm
[...] say that the clitoris is the female equivalent of the penis. I say the penis is the male equivalent of the clitoris. Both have an abundance of nerve [...]
Pingback by What is the clitoris? | Sextoysforladies — October 5, 2009 @ 9:13 am
When John Money published this article, I was on the cusp of puberty. And I agree with him that there was little talk about the clitoris among teenage boys and none among girls. Most women of my generation learned about the clitoris from reading Our Bodies Our Selves in college. I don’t recall the slang term “clit” before the 1980s.
I fully agree with all of you who have posted that John Money, now dead, has a tarnished reputation as an authority
on human anatomy and sexuality.
Money seemed to believe that the clitoris was sensitive but not orgasmic. That is blatantly false. All women have the capacity to masturbate to orgasm without dildoes or inserting fingers in the vagina. The sexual capacities of the clitoris
are quite similar to those of the uncircumcised penis. The present day understanding of the clit has banished penis envy once and for all. A good understanding of the clit also makes cunnilingus much more exiting.
Comment by Roger — October 16, 2009 @ 7:06 pm