"Little Man in the Canoe" Not So Little After All - Clitoris Finally Revealed

(Caution – if human anatomy scares you, you might not want to read this article.)

When I was about 8 years old I had a burning desire to understand the female anatomy. Although somewhat successful in getting little girls to “show me theirs”, I still couldn’t figure it out. It just looked like a slit. The one book on sex in my parent’s home (provided I think by the Lutheran church) spoke of a man and a woman loving each other and “laying down together”. Not nearly enough. I wanted pictures.

The local public library was my only hope, but the children’s books were in one section and the “adult” books in another. The entrance into the adult section was near the front where the librarian could watch and make sure no children got to the good stuff. I discovered a back route through the stacks which could get me there undetected.

Finally, and with great anticipation, I got my hands on an adult anatomy book and saw a drawing of the female genitals in cross-section. There I learned that the clitoris was a little bud hidden by labial folds. Not really much information, but it was a start.

When I finally began to get access to actual living clits, it still seemed a mystery. The clitoris seemed to be in a strange position to bring about maximum stimulation during vaginal intercourse.

During the sixties, it was a “hot” topic. Writers spoke of two types of female orgasm, clitoral and vaginal. Much was made of a “G” spot, somewhere inside, which only served to “deepen” the mystery.

But now, the truly ASTOUNDING NEWS. The “little man” (shouldn’t it be called “the little woman?) is just the top of a larger organ: “Inside, it's a much larger structure that wraps around the vagina and the urethra. The external 'head' is attached to a 'body', two 'arms', and a mass of erectile tissue, called the bulbs - which, like the penis, swell with blood when aroused.” Ah ha! Finally, the answer!

Isn't it amazing how biased toward males scientific research has been over the years? Apparently most of the anatomical information about the clitoris was gleaned by men from cadavers, and the connections between the clitoral parts was not known until 1998, and still seems not to be common knowledge.

Other articles report the use of the MRI to more fully reveal the secrets: "The clitoral unit formed a brightly enhancing, wishbone-shaped structure lying just anterior to the inverted V of the bulbs, which surrounded the urethra and vagina. The urethral complex had a target-like appearance with layers that were discernible on T1 post-contrast images. The urethra, vagina and rectum formed a distinct complex within uniformly enhancing soft tissue." (Emphasis mine).

Although this picture does not depict the internal connections to the clitoral body (the bulbs, which are inside), it may clear up some of the mystery for the uninformed.

This post is for educational purposes only. The bulbs are in the vestibule.

And finally, for those wishing a more detailed and illustrated examination, click here. And, most astounding of all, "In fact, when considered in its entirety, the clitoris may even be bigger than the penis."