4 Lessons Your Sex Ed Book Should Have Covered

Why can't women orgasm? They can, we're just ill-cliterate about female sexuality. Jenny Block, an author and Huffington Post contributor, just released a video called "Sex Education: The Missing Chapter," which aims to end ill-cliteracy and re-educate people about both sex and — more importantly — the clitoris. Get ready to learn everything your sex ed textbook should have taught you, but didn't.

Block explains that most people are taught that the clitoris is a tiny nub within the vagina (which, by the way, is definitely what I was taught). I believe the words "small, pea shaped organ" were used. Anyway, according to Block, the vagina is actually the female reproductive organ while the clitoris is the female sex organ. So while men have a penis which is both their reproductive and their sex organ, women have two different organs to suit both of those functions. What we think of as the clitoris is really just the tip of it; the clitoris actually is mostly an internal structure. Who knew, right?

There are a lot of pervasive, incorrect myths about women's ability (or lack thereof) to orgasm, which Block aims to correct in her video. I like to think that Block is a member of the subset of feminists dedicated to educating people about the clitoris called, "The Clitterati." With any luck, The Clitterati will be able to exert enough influence on the way we societally think about sex to change the way sex ed is taught, especially with regard to female pleasure and the clitoris. Sex ed is usually pretty awful, so here are four things you should have learned in sex ed (but probably didn't).

1. The clitoris is the only sex organ (in men or women) created solely for sexual pleasure.

The clitoris, which we now know exists predominantly internally, is made up of erectile tissue just like the penis. When it's aroused, it gets erect — so it turns out that women can get hard, too. Good to know.

2. The clitoris has about 8,000 nerve endings.

That's twice as many nerve endings that exist in the penis.

2. Very few women can actually come from vaginal penetration.

Eugh, how gross is the phrase "vaginal penetration"? Anyway, most women probably know this anecdotally, but very few women can actually come from P-in-the-V (that's almost worse, huh?) sex. Only about one in four women can orgasm like this, which is weird, since popular culture would sort of have you believe otherwise. Women are much more likely to be able to come from oral and manual stimulation.

3. The clit is capable of having multiple orgasms.

Unlike men, women are actually capable of having multiple orgasms, because the clit doesn't require the same recovery period as the penis does post-ejaculation.

4. Women don't take longer to come than men do.

When women masturbate or have sex with other women, studies have shown that they take the same amount of time as men do to come. So it's not that women have a harder time (pun unintentional) coming, it's just that we're not as good at making women come (because we're ill-cliterate).

Watch the whole video (and get cliterate) here:

Images: Fotolia; Vimeo (4)