A friend sent me a link to this Huffington Post article called "Cliteracy 101: Artist Sophia Wallace Wants You To Know The Truth About The Clitoris" I was like, cool - I'll check that out. I was really, really glad I did, but it took me a minute to fall madly in love.
I was beginning to be kinda disappointed as I read the first few paragraphs. It kinda seemed like it was all about the fact that the clit is bigger than just the glans we see on the outside. I mean that's all well and good, but knowing that the clit is bigger and resides deep into our pelvis doesn't really address the ignorance about the clit being the organ and not an organ of sexual pleasure (like the penis is the organ of male sexual pleasure) - which is what I really care about. Honestly, I often feel like when the inner part of the clit comes up in conversation about female orgasm - it's always kinda twisted around and used as the chic new reason behind "vaginal orgasms" - even though the inner legs of the clit are not nervy at all - and even though this "vaginal orgasm" people speak of, where stimulation of the inside of the vagina causes an orgasm, has never actually been observed. There simply is no scientific evidence of "vaginal orgasms" except that some women say they have them and sexperts continue to speak about them like they exist.
Anyway, I thought this article and this artist were going in that direction, but they weren't. It was much better than I could have imagined. Sophia Wallace just wants people to know about the clit - to make it part of common sexual knowledge - to up its place in our sexual culture. She does want you to know that it is bigger than just the insanely nervy glans that we can see at the apex of the vulva, but she also wants us to know things like the following, which are part of her Cliteracy, 100 Natural Laws:
"A man would never be expected to get off through sex acts that ignored his primary sexual organ"For realz, Ms. Wallace. So, why are we ladies expected pop off from a little banging in our vag? Could someone explain that?
"4 minutes: the average time it takes women to orgasm through masturbation"True story. So let's think about why it takes so long for women to come during partner sex...hmmm...could it be that when we masturbate we stimulate our clit, and when we're having sex with someone else, our vagina seems to be the one getting most of the attention?
"Freedom in Society can be measured by the distribution of orgasms."I'm just gonna say 'right on - let's start a revolution' to that one.
I mean, are you kidding me right now? I love this. She's right the hell on point. She calls it Cliteracy. I call it Orgasm Equality Movement, but it's all about trying to overthrow these absolutely absurd yet ubiquitous misconceptions our culture has about what makes women orgasm...it's the clit...in case you didn't get the gist yet.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Ms. Sophia Wallace. You are an Orgasm Equality Movement superstar, a professor in Cliteracy. You are a revolutionary artist. Keep on keepin' on.
Please share her Cliteracy with your friends and go check out her work if it ever comes to a city near you. Also, go check out all of the bad ass posters from her Cliteracy, 100 Natural Laws. Here's a few to tide you over.
I read the article as well, and was really fascinated by the info about the doctor who revolutionized reconstructive surgery for female victims of genital mutilation, whereby he exposed part of the internal clitoris, and was able to improve sexual function (ie. allow these women to experience orgasm again/for the first time) through this procedure.
ReplyDeleteThis suggests to me that at least some of the internal structure of the clit has nerves which can respond to stimulus, at the very least when they are exposed. I'll have to look into it more tomorrow!
Hi - Yeah, that French doctor seems to be doing some really important work. I haven't read any more about it, but from the description in the Cliteracy article, it seemed to me that the inner structure they are talking about (the part they say is lowered and revealed) must be the body of the clitoris. It's the apprx. 1 or 2 inch long part that sort of extends off from the glans before it forks down into the big spongy legs that go down on either side of the vagina. The definitely has some nerves that respond to stimulus. You can feel it below the skin just above the clit. It's about the width of a pencil and if you roll your finger over it you can tell it's nervy - so I feel like that's the part they were talking about, but I'll have to check into it. Let me know if you find anything that talks about the procedure more in detail.
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