Clitoris  

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"Colombo, à qui l'anatomie est si redevable pour bien de ses parties, n'a pas montré ici la même originalité. Il appelle comme Fallope le clitoris, cantigo ; il en donne une bonne description ; il signale notamment les cas d'hypertrophie de cet organe, qu'il a vu une fois de la longueur du petit doigt ; pas plus que les auteurs qui l'ont précédé, il ne parle des corps caverneux : cette découverte était réservée à Graaf."--Étude historique sur les organes génitaux de la femme (1891) is a book by Gabriel Peillon


"But I forgot to tell you about the clitoris. It is a membranous body located near the bottom of the mound, and appears to be a smaller form of the male rod. As with the male rod, amorous lust straightens it."--Aloisiae Sigaeae, Toletanae, Satyra sotadica de arcanis amoris et Veneris (c. 1659) by Nicolas Chorier


"The clitoris, fatal organ of the daughters of Eve is responsible for all temptations. This is where nature has put the throne of her pleasures and delights, as it did in the glans of man. This is where she placed her excessive itching. It is a superfluous organ, unnecessary for reproduction, and in some cases its removal is necessary to prevent serious pathologies that may arise from its continuous excitation [...] It is therefore not necessary; even unwise, to introduce girls to personal hygiene, at the risk of them engaging in investigations that lead seeking impure pleasures. Do young girls and women really need this type of hygiene, there where it is futile and dangerous to linger [...] Which keeper of the conscience would accept such intimate toilet [...] this sin against decency?"--Tableau de l'amour conjugal by Nicolas Venette, (tr. JW Geerinck)


"Among the older authorities quoting instances of enlarged clitorides are Bartholinus, Schenck, Hellwig, Rhodius, Riolanus, and Zacchias. Albucasis describes an operation for enlarged clitoris, Chabert ligated one, and Riedlin gives an instance of an enlarged clitoris, in which there appeared a tumor synchronous with the menstrual epoch. --Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine


"After the reading of the paper was concluded, the author exhibited some of the ancient works from his own collection, which had been alluded to, and some drawings of Gynaecological instruments, (the specula in bronze) found in Herculaneum and Pompeii. Among these books were the following : Spachius^ Gynaeciorum Argentinae, 1597, (this work comprises the writings upon diseases of women of Hippocrates, Felix Plater, Moschion, Cleopatra, Trotula, Jac. Sylvius, Rueffus, Mercurialis, Albucasis, Pare, Akakia, Mercatus, and others), ^tius^ Basle 1567. Rueffus ^ De Conceptu et Generatione, Frankfort on the Main, 1597. Scultetus^ Armamentarium Chiurgicum, Frankfort, 1666. Asiruc, Traite Mai. des fem., Paris, 1785. Garengeot^ Traite de Instruments de Chirurgie le plus utile, Paris, 1723. Dionis^ Traite des Accouch, Paris, i7i8,,and several volumes pertain- ing to diseases of women in the early part of the last century."[1]

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The clitoris (Greek κλειτορίς) is a female sex organ present in mammals, ostriches and a limited number of other animals. In humans, the visible button-like portion is near the front junction of the labia minora (inner lips), above the opening of the urethra. Unlike the penis, the male homologue (equivalent) to the clitoris, it usually does not contain the distal portion (or opening) of the urethra and is therefore not used for urination. While few animals urinate through the clitoris, the spotted hyena, which has an especially well-developed clitoris, urinates, mates and gives birth via the organ. Some other carnivorous animals, or mammals in particular, such as lemurs and spider monkeys, also have a well-developed clitoris.


Recognition of existence

The clitoris has been rediscovered repeatedly over the centuries (Harvey 2001, Laqueur 1989). Over a period of more than 2,500 years, some have considered the clitoris and the penis equivalent in all respects except their arrangement. Medical literature first recognized the existence of the clitoris in the 16th century. This is the subject of some dispute: Realdo Colombo (also known as Matteo Renaldo Colombo) was a lecturer in surgery at the University of Padua, Italy, and in 1559 he published a book called De re anatomica in which he described the "seat of woman's delight". Colombo concluded, "Since no one has discerned these projections and their workings, if it is permissible to give names to things discovered by me, it should be called the love or sweetness of Venus."

Colombo's claim was disputed by his successor at Padua, Gabriele Falloppio (who discovered the fallopian tube), who claimed that he was the first to discover the clitoris. Caspar Bartholin, a 17th-century Danish anatomist, dismissed both claims, arguing that the clitoris had been widely known to medical science since the second century. Indeed, Hippocrates used the term columella (little pillar). Avicenna named the clitoris the albatra or virga (rod). Albucasis, an Arabic medical authority, named it tentigo (tension). It was also known to the Romans, who named it (vulgar slang) landica.

This cycle of suppression and discovery continued, notably in the work of De Graaf (Tractatus de Virorum Organis Generationi Inservientibus, De Mulierum Organis Generationi Inservientibus Tractatus Novus) in the 17th century and Georg Ludwig Kobelt (Die männlichen und weiblichen Wollustorgane des Menschen und einiger Säugetiere) in the 19th. De Graaf criticised Columbo's claims for this. (Harvey, Laqueur).

The full extent of the clitoris was alluded to by Masters and Johnson in 1966, but in such a muddled fashion that the significance of their description became obscured. That same year, feminist psychiatrist Mary Jane Sherfey published an article on female sexuality that described in detail the extensive nature of the internal anatomy of the clitoris and in 1981, the Federation of Feminist Women's Health Clinics (FFWHC) continued this process with anatomically precise illustrations. Today, MRI complements these efforts, as it is both a live and multiplanar method of examination.

See also




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