The clitoris is the most important part of female sexuality. While it takes other parts of the female anatomy to get some women turned on and ready to go, at the end of the day, it all comes down to stimulating the clitoris. The clitoris is the only organ in the human body that exists simply for pleasure.
Sadly, even as owners of the magical thing that is the clitoris, studies have found we’re not as informed about it as we should be. According to a 2005 study by the University of Wisconsin, undergrad men and women both struggle in not just their knowledge about the clitoris, but in trying to locate it on a diagram. It’s the source of our greatest pleasure and yet some women can’t find it?! We really need to fix that.
But the clit's contribution to orgasms aside, it’s also capable of doing other things; things that you probably had no idea that it was able to do. It may not be able to bake you cake or order you a pizza when you’re too drunk to figure out Seamless, but it does do some other pretty fascinating things. Here are seven of those things.
1. It Gets Hard
While to compare its ability to get erect to that of a penis’ erection isn’t quite right, when the clit gets engorged with blood it hardens right up. It may not stand up at attention the way a penis does, but it gets harder as your arousal increases. But not like rock hard, because ouch.
2. It Can Grow
I’m not just talking about how it grows a bit when it’s engorged with blood, but it grows as your body grows.
The clitoris starts to grow during puberty and when puberty is over, it will have grown 1.8 times larger than it was when puberty began. And it just keeps growing! By the time a woman reaches 32, her clit will be four times the size it was when she began puberty and when she reaches menopause, it will be seven times bigger than it was when she was born.
3. It Knows When To Cut You Off
As with all good things, too much of it can be bad, and your clit is no different. The clitoris actually has a limit and when it reaches its max on pleasure it rejects further stimulation by hurting a bit. Besides, you need to save up your energy for round two.
4. It Gets Excited By Exercise
You may not love hitting the gym, but your clit is really into it. A study found that 20 minutes of “moderate exercise” can lead to the clitoris becoming engorged by up to 168 percent. I think from this we can deduce that having sex after hitting the gym is going to be pretty effing good ― and you need a reason to finally start using that membership, anyway, so now you have one.
5. It Can Multitask
We may think that the clit, as a whole, is responsible for orgasms, which it is, but it’s working three erogenous zones at once. The G-spot, the A-spot, and the U-spot are all connected to the clitoris, so it’s a group effort with the clitoris at the helm.
6. It Hugs You
While an orgasm can feel like an emotional, mental, and physical hug, the clitoris actually hugs you. The internal part of the clitoris (corpora cavernosum), which is the majority of it, wraps around and squeezes the vagina when it’s erect from arousal. Yes, that’s how much your clit loves you ― it’s giving you a great big hug.
7. It Plays Tricks
In 1559, the clitoris was “discovered” by Realdo Colombo, but then it seemed to be MIA for awhile. Then Freud, during his career, dared to say that not only were clitoral orgasms inferior to vaginal ones, but that the clit was inferior to the penis. Jerk.
By the time the 1950s rolled around, Kinsey “rediscovered” the clit, but it wasn’t until 1998, via an MRI scan, that an urologist finally, sort of, figured it out. Basically, the clit lives for playing tricks and pranks. It’s like the George Clooney of the human body.
Want more of Bustle's Sex and Relationships coverage? Check out our new podcast, I Want It That Way, which delves into the difficult and downright dirty parts of a relationship, and find more on our Soundcloud page.
Images: Fotolia; Giphy(7)
