This month’s Science of Sex is even later than usual, but I hope you don’t mind. I am continuing with the theme of female sexuality and contentious subject. What better topic than the G-spot?
Don’t forget to check out the Science of Sex archives if you’re new here!
The G Spot: And Other Discoveries about Human Sexuality by Beverly Whipple, Alas Ladas, and John Perry was published four years before I was born, and it’s still one of the most highly rated books about the G-spot. It introduced sexual people to the Grafenberg area, or the G-spot, inside the vagina. Despite over three decades in publication and a long list of glowing reviews lauding the book for its wealth of information, the G-spot is still treated by some people as a myth. This ignores thousands of reports of people who have successfully located and stimulated their own G-spots.
It’s understandable why. The science of the G-spot is frustrating at best. There seem to be more reviews wondering whether the G-spot exists than there are studies arguing either for or against its existence. Even trained scientists seem unsure what to do with the results of studies. Titles include words such as ‘myth” and “fantasy.” Have we really learned so little about the G-spot after so much time?
There have been several small-scale studies that investigated the location and the very existence of the G-spot. Unfortunately, many of them have either produced inconclusive results or declared that the G-spot does not exist as an entity. One of the most notable of these studies was released only in 2014, 32 years after Whipple published her book! One study looked at twins and stated simply that there is no “genetic” basis for the G-spot. Many people rely on these reports to scream, ‘See!? The G-spot doesn’t exist!”. But they’re not looking at the bigger picture.
You’ll find some sex educators remarking that this is technically correct because the G-spot isn’t distinct, an orange unto itself and the researchers understand its form and function (as well as that of the clitoral). Rather, it’s a location within the vagina through which the clitoris can be stimulated internally to elicit a sexual response. That is, the G-spot isn’t a spot, after all. This also goes to show that people misunderstand the clitoris and underestimate how large and impressive the entire structure is.
Some studies do suggest the existence of the G-spot, including one from 2012 that described it as “a distinguishable anatomic structure that is located on the dorsal perineal membrane, 16.5 mm from the upper part of the urethral meatus, and creates a 35° angle with the lateral border of the urethra”.
But just because some women experience a response through the front vaginal wall in a location identified as the G-spot doesn’t mean that others do — or even that this response will be positive or lead to orgasms or squirting (remember that I covered female ejaculation in a previous installment of Science of Sex). My own responses vary and are sometimes surprising. To expect that every person with a vagina will have a G-spot or enjoy G-spot stimulation oversimplifies the issue.
Further research is clearly necessary, and I am glad that researchers continue to look into the G-spot. I also encourage my readers to continue their own experimentation into G-spot stimulation as part of a healthy sex life.
Further Reading
- G-spot anatomy: a new discovery.
- A Letter to Sexually Active Young Women – Some Advice For Your Sexual Pleasure
- THE DEFINITIVE ANSWER to the question, “Does the g-spot exist?”
- The G Spot: And Other Discoveries about Human Sexuality
- Female Ejaculation& the G-spot
- Is the female G-spot truly a distinct anatomic entity?
- [G-spot and female ejaculation: fiction or reality?].
- Beyond the G-spot: clitourethrovaginal complex anatomy in female orgasm.
- Clinical anatomy of the G-spot.
- The “G spot” and “female ejaculation”: a current appraisal.
- The G-spot: a modern gynecologic myth.
- Finding the G-spot: Is it real?
- I don’t enjoy G-Spot stimulation from my partner. What should I do?
