A guide to the Vulva, Clitoris, Labia, Vagina, Prostate and the G-Spot area.
This piece is taken from Sex Explained: A Real and Relevant Guide to Sex, Relationships and You.
Girls are often taught not to refer to their sexual body parts directly and to use terms like ‘lady parts’, or ‘private parts’ or ‘down there’. The outer sexual anatomy is called the vulva: this includes the lips (labia), pubic hair, the clitoris, the urethra, the vagina and the vaginal corona. We talk frankly and honestly here at Bish.
Female sexual body parts are possibly not quite as easy to see as male ones: many young women like to have a look at theirs with a hand mirror between their legs. The more someone knows and understands their body, the more likely they will learn how to look after it, know when something is wrong, know how it functions and understand how it can give us pleasure.
So let’s start with the Labia
Labia (sometimes called vaginal lips or even ‘flaps’ by some people) are there to protect the clitoris, urethra and vagina. When someone is feeling really sexy (turned on/hot/etc) their labia fill with blood and swell up. They also part to reveal the clitoris and vagina and often feel moist when aroused. There are two sets of lips the inner lips and the outer lips. As you can see in the pictures above, they come in different shapes and sizes. For instance, sometimes the inner lips stick out above the outer lips sometimes not.
Pubic Hair
Lots of people shave or trim their pubic hair but lots don’t. Remember pubes have a function. Without them you might get more friction burns, spots or ingrowing hairs.
Urethra (pee hole)
Lots of people don’t realise that they don’t pee out of the vagina. Above the vagina but below the clitoris is a small opening where urine leaves the body. This is also where fluid (not urine) leaves the body when some people ejaculate. It’s also possible to get in infection in the urethra, this is know as a urinary tract infection. To prevent this it’s often advised to urinate after having entry sex.
Vagina
When someone is feeling sexy their vagina will get wetter, more relaxed and stretchy. It has loads of nerve endings on the outside and inside and feels really nice to touch and entry sex in the vagina (with a penis, fingers or a toy) can feel really really good. It is between 4.5 and 6 inches long. So long as the female is feeling relaxed, comfortable and very happy to be having sex, sex in the vagina should not feel painful – it should feel good.
Cleaning The Vagina
Vaginas have a natural scent, which varies from person to person. Lots of people like this smell, or don’t mind it, but some people don’t like it. You should take care when cleaning the vagina. The vagina has it’s own pH levels (acidity levels) caused by the natural discharge (whiteish fluid) which travels along the vaginal canal – this discharge cleans the vagina. That’s right the vagina cleans itself (clever vagina). Getting any soap or too much water into the vagina can change the pH levels which can stop the vagina from self-cleaning, this can cause an infection which makes the vagina sore and smelly. So really, the best way to clean the vagina is to leave it alone!
This is thin folds of skin tissue at the opening of the vagina (which used to be called the hymen). Fingers or penises or tampons can stretch it during first time sex. Occasionally it might bleed or hurt when it’s stretched for the first time, but not for most. For more about the vaginal corona go here It used to be said that the ‘hymen’ is a membrane of skin tissue which breaks: this is no longer accurate.
The clitoris is the key for sexual pleasure for most women. Unless it is touched, stroked, licked or buzzed with a vibrator directly most females would not be able to have an orgasm.
If you look at the Vulva image above you’ll see that the clitoris looks quite small (about the size of a pea), but that’s only the bit that you can see. If you look at this image above you’ll see that the clitoris is actually really big. It is behind the labia and surrounds the vagina.
When a female is feeling sexy the clitoris fills with blood and swells up. The outside part doubles in size (so it’s the size of a large pea) and feels hard. It is packed with nerve endings (it has around 8000 nerve endings, this is twice as many as the end of the penis) and is very very sensitive. This is why lots of people like to touch it lightly at first (perhaps through the clitoral hood).
Here you can see a cross section inside view of the vagina. We (well not me, researchers and scientists) are still discovering new things about the vulva. There has been a lot of debate about the prostate gland (formerly known as the Skene’s Gland) and the G-Spot in recent years.
Prostate Gland
There is a gland similar in shape and size to the male prostate which surrounds the urethra (it varies in position). Some females ejaculate a fluid (similar to semen) when they orgasm. This fluid comes out of the urethra and because of this a lot of people have confused it with urinating (lots of women report that they feel like they want to pee when they are close to having an orgasm). Urination before sexy times can prevent this feeling during sex.
G Spot
Many people find that the upper or front wall of the vagina has an area which is particularly sensitive to the touch and can have orgasms from having this area stimulated – many people call this the G-spot. Not all women like this area to be touched but some really do (there are some sexual positions which can enhance stimulation to this area). We don’t know why some people like this area to be touched, some people think it’s because it presses up against the prostate gland (and can cause some to ejaculate).
For a video from me about this click here
For the abstract of the original research about female ejaculation go here
Want more?
Female Reproductive Organs womb, fallopians and ting…
Female G Spot and Ejaculation – the video
Pubic Privates: they’re your pubes, shave them if you want to.
This information available in a leaflet for purchase for educators and healthcare practitioners. Click here for details
All images and text © Justin Hancock 2010 Bish Training
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