8 Fun Facts About the Female Erection Every Man With An Erection Should Know
Male and female erections are similar. It’s time we started talking about them the same.
This article first appeared on Sexography on Jan 2, 2023. If you are a Medium subscriber, you can read my full collection of sex education essays here. Or you can wait for them to be recycled every Wednesday.
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Every woman knows when a man has an erection, but do men know when a woman has an erection?
Or, to put a philosophical slant on this question…If an erection happens in the forest and you can’t see, touch, taste, or hear the moans, did it happen? Unfortunately, most of a woman’s erection occurs beneath the surface, hidden beneath the folds of her labia. That’s a lot of unheard trees falling (or not).
Many argue that the penis and clitoris are too different to compare, but science says differently.
When aroused, both structures increase in size as they engorge with blood. Both get harder and darken during that engorgement. And both genders need an erection for sex to be pleasurable enough to reach climax.
It’s time we peel back the layers and change how we discuss erections to include clitorises.
Fun Fact #1: Male and female parts are homologous.
Let’s start with a Miller Analogies Test (MAT) question.
Man: Penis:: Women: _________
Scroll for the answer…
Keep scrolling, my little budding sexologists.
I love this game.
I could never do this on Medium.
But Substack doesn’t have any rules against being annoying. Yay!
Work that wrist. You are almost there.
Right there.
Keep going.
Don’t stop.
Please don’t stop.
Yes! Yes! Yes! The answer is…
If you answered vagina, you would be wrong, at least from an anatomical perspective.
The correct answer is the clitoris.
The clitoris and penis are homologous — they have the same relation, relative position, or structure. Homologous structures also share a similar embryonic origin. For example, during gestation, male and female genitals are indistinguishable until about 8–9 weeks.
If we label the different parts of the clitoris and penis, they are also homologous. Here are a few examples:
The glans clitoris is homologous to the glans of the penis.
The penis’ prepuce or foreskin is homologous to the clitoral hood.
The shaft of the penis is homologous to the clitoris’ shaft.
The crura or legs of the penis are homologous to the clitoral crura.
The bulbs of the penis are homologous to the clitoris’ bulbs.
This will make sense with another of my bubble gum anatomy illustrations.
Hide the kids. Dick pic coming…
But the main reason the clitoris and penis are soul sisters is that they have similar erectile tissue.
Fun Fact #2: Male and female erections work the same.
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