In
the 1980s, Beverly Whipple and John Perry were teaching women Kegel exercises
for urinary stress incontinence. They identified a patch of erectile tissue
that can be felt through the front wall of the vagina, directly behind the
pubic bone. They named this the G-spot after Dr Ernst Gräfenberg, who wrote
about the area in 1950 and published a book with Alice Khan Ladas: 'The G Spot:
And Other Discoveries about Human Sexuality' in 1982.
Men
were known to have a G-spot situated at the base of the prostate gland. This
was clever thinking because it implied symmetry between the sexes. However,
these anatomical parallels are erroneous. The only sexual anatomy that men and
women have in common is the phallus (penis or clitoris). The male glands
(including the prostate) develop from ducts that waste away in the female. As a
result, a woman has very different internal reproductive anatomy to a man. So
women do not ejaculate as men do.
Similarly,
the vagina (including the anterior wall) develops from ducts that waste away in
the male. So if women were capable of orgasm through stimulation of any part of
the vagina, such a response would need to have evolved quite separately from
the male's orgasmic capacity. Yet there is no biological justification for
women ever having an orgasm by any means.
If
women truly had an orgasm as a result of vaginal stimulation, they would want
the stimulation to end once they had had an orgasm. No one wants to (nor is it
usually comfortable) to continue the kind of stimulation that causes orgasm
once orgasm has been achieved. Yet we never hear of this issue with women's
so-called vaginal orgasms. Men would not be pleased because ejaculating into a
vagina is key to men's sexual satisfaction. Intercourse ends with male orgasm
and ejaculation of sperm into the vagina because this is the goal of
intercourse and the key reproductive event.
Kinsey
and Hite did succeed in highlighting the indisputable arguments for the
clitoris being the equivalent of the penis. Thereafter, researchers tried to
find ways to make the clitoris indirectly responsible for female orgasm by
suggesting that the internal clitoral organ is connected in some way or
adjacent to the vagina. No one ever comments on the comparison with the male
situation where men need much more direct stimulation for orgasm. The G-spot
has succeeded for this reason. Men want to believe in the ability of the vagina
to cause orgasm no matter how ridiculous the theory.
Regardless
of whether the clitoris or the vagina is assumed to be the anatomy involved in
female orgasm, it would never be possible for a woman to reliably use the
stimulation of intercourse to achieve her own orgasm. Intercourse is a
demonstration of the male arousal cycle from erection to ejaculation. This
cycle takes a different amount of time every time. A man cannot predict himself
when he will discontinue intercourse.
A
woman is just an onlooker during intercourse. Apart from providing erotic
turn-ons or increasing penile stimulation, there is little she can do to
determine the length of time intercourse will last. Women are supposed to be
'satisfied' in some vague way when intercourse ends. Her satisfaction derives
primarily from a relief that the man has achieved his sexual release.
In
2010 Andrea Burri did some research at Kings College, London. There was no
physical examination. There were 3,000 women, pairs of identical and
non-identical twins, who completed a survey. Among other questions, they were
asked if they believed they had a small area on the front of the vagina that
was sensitive to deep pressure. The study (the biggest of its kind to date)
concluded that the G-spot as a well-defined area did not exist. Despite
appearing in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, the findings have had little
impact compared with the sensational success of the original theory.
Other
areas of science involve proposing theories that are then tested and supported
by considerable evidence before they are accepted. Yet the G-spot (which has
never been described as a theory) continues to be promoted despite widespread
cynicism and contrary evidence. The G-spot is still actively promoted today
after more than 30 years. It could never apply to every woman because the
samples involved were so small. Yet the G-spot is talked about as if every
woman can benefit from knowing about it.