Lloyd, Jillian; Crouch, Naomi S.; Minto, Catherine L.; Liao, Lih-Mei; Creighton, Sarah M (May 2005). "Female genital appearance: 'normality' unfolds" (PDF). British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. 112 (6): 643–646. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.585.1427. doi: 10.1111/j.1471-0528.2004.00517.x. PMID 15842291. S2CID 17818072. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 October 2011 . Retrieved 21 March 2014. a b c d e f "Female genital mutilation". World Health Organization. Archived from the original on 2 July 2011 . Retrieved 22 August 2012. Norton, Rictor (12 July 2002). "A Critique of Social Constructionism and Postmodern Queer Theory, The 'Sodomite' and the 'Lesbian' ". Archived from the original on 15 February 2008 . Retrieved 30 July 2011. But the complexity of its structure shows us that there must be a lot more to this organ than meets the eye. Is it an organ of pleasure for other animals as well? Masters and Johnson's research, as well as Shere Hite's, generally supported Kinsey's findings about the female orgasm. [97] Masters and Johnson were the first researchers to determine that the clitoral structures surround and extend along and within the labia. They observed that both clitoral and vaginal orgasms have the same stages of physical response, and found that the majority of their subjects could only achieve clitoral orgasms, while a minority achieved vaginal orgasms. On that basis, they argued that clitoral stimulation is the source of both kinds of orgasms, [98] reasoning that the clitoris is stimulated during penetration by friction against its hood. [99] The research came at the time of the second-wave feminist movement, which inspired feminists to reject the distinction made between clitoral and vaginal orgasms. [91] [100] Feminist Anne Koedt argued that because men "have orgasms essentially by friction with the vagina" and not the clitoral area, this is why women's biology had not been properly analyzed. "Today, with extensive knowledge of anatomy, with [C.Lombard Kelly], Kinsey, and Masters and Johnson, to mention just a few sources, there is no ignorance on the subject [of the female orgasm]," she stated in her 1970 article The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm. She added, "There are, however, social reasons why this knowledge has not been popularized. We are living in a male society which has not sought change in women's role." [91]

Drea, Christine M.; Weil, Anne (30 October 2007). "External genital morphology of the ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta): Females are naturally "masculinized" ". Journal of Morphology. 269 (4): 451–463. doi: 10.1002/jmor.10594. ISSN 0362-2525. PMID 17972270. S2CID 29073999.Clitoraid launches 'International Clitoris Awareness Week' ". Clitoraid. 3 May 2013. Archived from the original on 28 January 2018 . Retrieved 8 May 2013.

There is no identified correlation between the size of the clitoral glans or clitoris as a whole, and a woman's age, height, weight, use of hormonal contraception, or being post-menopausal, although women who have given birth may have significantly larger clitoral measurements. [41] Centimeter (cm) and millimeter (mm) measurements of the clitoris show variations in its size. The clitoral glans have been cited as typically varying from 2mm to 1cm and usually being estimated at four to fivemm in both the transverse and longitudinal planes. [42] Gormley-Fleming, Elizabeth; Peate, Ian (2021). Fundamentals of Children and Young People's Anatomy and Physiology: A Textbook for Nursing and Healthcare Students. Wiley. p.307. ISBN 978-1-11961-924-6 . Retrieved 29 September 2023.Goldstein, Irwin (1 March 2004). "Persistent Sexual Arousal Syndrome". Boston University Medical Campus Institute for Sexual Medicine. Archived from the original on 8 October 2018 . Retrieved 7 February 2013. Alexander, Brian (18 January 2012). "Does the G-spot really exist? Scientist can't find it". MSNBC. Archived from the original on 8 March 2021 . Retrieved 2 March 2012.

In 1545, Charles Estienne was the first writer to identify the clitoris in a work based on dissection, but he concluded that it had a urinary function. [16] Following this study, Realdo Colombo (also known as Matteo Renaldo Colombo), a lecturer in surgery at the University of Padua, Italy, published a book called De re anatomica in 1559, in which he describes the "seat of woman's delight". [138] In his role as researcher, 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.", about the mythological Venus, goddess of erotic love. [139] [140] Colombo's claim was disputed by his successor at Padua, Gabriele Falloppio (discoverer of the fallopian tube), who claimed that he was the first to discover the clitoris. In 1561, Falloppio stated, "Modern anatomists have entirely neglected it... and do not say a word about it... and if others have spoken of it, know that they have taken it from me or my students." This caused an upset in the European medical community, and, having read Colombo's and Falloppio's detailed descriptions of the clitoris, Vesalius stated, "It is unreasonable to blame others for incompetence on the basis of some sport of nature you have observed in some women and you can hardly ascribe this new and useless part, as if it were an organ, to healthy women." He concluded, "I think that such a structure appears in hermaphrodites who otherwise have well-formed genitals, as Paul of Aegina describes, but I have never once seen in any woman a penis (which Avicenna called albaratha and the Greeks called an enlarged nympha and classed as an illness) or even the rudiments of a tiny phallus." [141] Wade, Lisa D.; Kremer, Emily C.; Brown, Jessica (2005). " Sexological, medical, and psychological debate has focused on the clitoris, [5] and it has been subject to social constructionist analyses and studies. [6] Such discussions range from anatomical accuracy, gender inequality, female genital mutilation, and orgasmic factors and their physiological explanation for the G-spot. [7] Although, in humans, the only known purpose of the clitoris is to provide sexual pleasure, whether the clitoris is vestigial, an adaptation, or serves a reproductive function has been debated. [8] Social perceptions of the clitoris include the significance of its role in female sexual pleasure, assumptions about its true size and depth, and varying beliefs regarding genital modification such as clitoris enlargement, clitoris piercing and clitoridectomy. [9] Genital modification may be for aesthetic, medical or cultural reasons. [9] Ampatzidis, Georgios; Georgakopoulou, Despoina; Kapsi, Georgia (15 October 2019). "Clitoris, the unknown: what do postgraduate students of educational sciences know about reproductive physiology and anatomy?". Journal of Biological Education. 55 (3): 254–263. doi: 10.1080/00219266.2019.1679658. ISSN 0021-9266. S2CID 208590370. The clitoris develops from a phallic outgrowth in the embryo called the genital tubercle. Initially undifferentiated, the tubercle develops into either a clitoris or penis during the development of the reproductive system depending on exposure to androgens (which are primarily male hormones). The clitoris forms from the same tissues that become the glans and shaft of the penis, and this shared embryonic origin makes these two organs homologous (different versions of the same structure). [22]While female spotted hyenas are sometimes referred to as hermaphrodites or as intersex, [187] and scientists of ancient and later historical times believed that they were hermaphrodites, [187] [185] [198] modern scientists do not refer to them as such. [185] [199] That designation is typically reserved for those who simultaneously exhibit features of both sexes; [199] the genetic makeup of female spotted hyenas "are clearly distinct" from male spotted hyenas. [185] [199] Just why is the gorilla clitoris hollow? Um, well, one suggestion is that it makes it easier to scent-mark territory using urine (think drip, drip, drip…) In reduction clitoroplasty, a common intersex surgery, the glans are preserved and parts of the erectile bodies are excised. [26] Problems with this technique include loss of sensation, loss of sexual function, and sloughing of the glans. [26] One way to preserve the clitoris with its innervations and function is to imbricate and bury the clitoral glans; however, Şenaylı et al. state that "pain during stimulus because of trapped tissue under the scarring is nearly routine. In another method, 50percent of the ventral clitoris is removed through the level base of the clitoral shaft, and it is reported that good sensation and clitoral function are observed in follow-up"; additionally, it has "been reported that the complications are from the same as those in the older procedures for this method". [26] Petty, Joseph M. A.; Drea, Christine M. (7 May 2015). "Female rule in lemurs is ancestral and hormonally mediated". Scientific Reports. 5 (1): 9631. Bibcode: 2015NatSR...5E9631P. doi: 10.1038/srep09631. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 4423346. PMID 25950904. Ancient Greek and Roman sexuality additionally designated penetration as "male-defined" sexuality. The term tribas, or tribade, was used to refer to a woman or intersex individual who actively penetrated another person (male or female) through the use of the clitoris or a dildo. As any sexual act was believed to require that one of the partners be " phallic" and that therefore sexual activity between women was impossible without this feature, mythology popularly associated lesbians with either having enlarged clitorises or as incapable of enjoying sexual activity without the substitution of a phallus. [136] [137] De re anatomica