Understanding the G-spot

The Gräfenberg Spot, or G-Spot, has been surrounded by controversy ever since its ‘discovery’ only decades ago. Some women may have one about an inch or so (2-5cm) up in the front wall of the vagina.

The G-spot is believed to be an erogenous zone which when stimulated can lead to high levels of sexual arousal and powerful orgasms. Despite all the hype many couples struggle to find any evidence for its existence.

A recent (2010) study of 1,800 women in the Journal of Sexual Medicine has found no proof for it. The research team at King’s College, London suggest the G-spot may be a figment of women’s imagination, encouraged by magazines and sex therapists. So what does that leave us with?

Let’s take a look at our pelvic anatomy by focusing on the similarities between men and women. First, let’s tick off the anus. Men and women are identical here and both sexes can enjoy anal stimulation, given appropriate lubrication and a sensitive lover.

Next, we both have genitals (penis/clitoris) so oral and manual masturbation techniques can be effective for both sexes (note: mental arousal is needed before physical stimulation can lead to orgasm – this is crucial to understanding female sexuality since women’s sexual arousal is not as automatic as men’s tends to be).

There is also a difference in size of the genital organs. The male genitals – at least the parts we can see outside the body are much bigger. A man’s penis (when erect) must be a hundred times bigger than a woman’s clitoris…

Of course, inside is a different story. Both organs reach back into the pelvis and include muscles of the pelvic area of the body (basically in between the hips). When you are sexually aroused, the external organ becomes erect but also you have an erection of the muscles internal to the body (erectile tissue) that become engorged when a person is sexually aroused.

If you were to stimulate the person in this pelvic area when they are already engorged and physically aroused, this would stimulate their internal erection. For a man you have to stimulate his internal erection through the anus because there is no other opening. In fact, there is also a male G-spot, which is the prostate gland and accessible by penetrating a man anally. Some women do enjoy sharing physical intimacy with a partner but even so I wonder how many women explore that one…

For a woman, you have two options. The anal option is similar to that for a man except women don’t have a prostate gland. There is also the option of stimulating her internal erection through her vagina. The vaginal opening is the one absolute difference between the sexes. However, unless you want a baby there is no need to be overly distracted by the vagina.

“The vagina of the female is not matched by any functioning structure in the male, but it is of minimum importance in contributing to the erotic response of the female. It may even contribute more to the sexual arousal of the male than it does to the arousal of the female.” (p592 Sexual behavior in the human female 1953)

The vagina is part of the birth canal and so it has very few nerve endings. A woman is unlikely to be able to feel a man’s penis inside her even if he is built like a horse.

I have only become aware of my own physical arousal (swollen and moist) since around my mid-thirties. I have also around this time experienced physical orgasms from vaginal fisting and from anal sex. Both would stimulate an internal erection and these experiences are the closest I have ever come to what other people may be calling a G-spot orgasm.

Vaginal fisting is a misleading term since, for me at least, it does not necessarily involve putting the whole fist inside the vagina. My partner uses the fingers of one hand to penetrate my vagina. Some women orgasm during childbirth, which is presumably a similar experience to vaginal fisting.

The success of the G-spot myth is not simply down to men’s enthusiasm for intercourse. To explain their orgasms during intercourse, women have also leapt on an alternative to the clitoris. This illustrates just how few women identify with clitoral stimulation and female masturbation.

Excerpt from Ways Women Orgasm (ISBN 978-0956-894700)