Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under Creative Commons licence. It seems remarkable to me that well into the 21st century we still have so much to learn about many parts of the human body. Top of the list of the most misunderstood of organs must surely be the clitoris, a structure whose function seems to be entirely about providing sexual pleasure to its bearer. Incredibly, the structure of the clitoris was hotly debated by anatomists until just a decade ago, when it was found that the organ was a lot more complicated than had been thought. French researchers have recently made a 3D printed model of the clitoris that will be used in schools to help educate children about sex.
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The Clitoris, the Penis, Political Correctness and Biological ‘Factness’
Clitoromegaly or macroclitoris [1] is an abnormal enlargement of the clitoris that is mostly congenital or acquired, though deliberately induced clitoris enlargement as a form of female genital body modification is achieved through various uses of anabolic steroids, including testosterone , and may also be referred to as clitoromegaly. The different grade of genital ambiguity is commonly measured by the Prader classification , [6] which ranges, in ascending order of masculinisation, from 1 : female external genitalia with clitoromegaly through 5 : pseudo-phallus looking like normal male external genitalia. Clitoromegaly is a rare condition and can be either present by birth or acquired later in life. If present at birth, congenital adrenal hyperplasia can be one of the causes, since in this condition the adrenal gland of the female fetus produces additional androgens and the newborn baby has ambiguous genitalia which are not clearly male or female.
In my previous post, The Myth-Busting Sexual Anatomy Quiz , one of the answers in particular prompted comments and questions. But how can this be and does it really matter? Of course, the statement was meant to be contentious and spark discussion. When we talk about sex and gender we are storytelling. And, how we set the scene for our stories is key.