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Carcinoma of the Vagina and Vulva
Published in Pat Price, Karol Sikora, Treatment of Cancer, 2020
Sadaf Ghaem-Maghami, Kostas Lathouras
The mons pubis is a pad of fat anterior to the pubic symphysis and covered by hair-bearing skin. The labia majora extend posteriorly from the mons on either side of the pudendal cleft into which the urethra and vagina open. They merge with one another and the perineal skin anterior to the anus. They consist largely of areolar tissue and fat. On their lateral aspects, the skin is pigmented and covered with crisp hairs. On the medial side, the skin is smooth and has many sebaceous glands. The labia minora are small folds of skin that lie between the labia majora and divide anteriorly to envelop the clitoris. The clitoris is an erectile structure analogous to the male penis. Partly hidden by the anterior folds of the labia minora, the clitoris consists of a body of two corpora cavernosa, lying side-by-side and connected to the pubic and ischial rami, and a glans of sensitive, spongy erectile tissue. The vestibule is that area between the labia minora into which the urethra and vagina open. The bulbs of the vestibule are elongated masses of erectile tissue lying on either side of the vaginal opening.
Variation of sex differentiation
Published in Joseph S. Sanfilippo, Eduardo Lara-Torre, Veronica Gomez-Lobo, Sanfilippo's Textbook of Pediatric and Adolescent GynecologySecond Edition, 2019
Anne-Marie Amies Oelschlager, Margarett Shnorhavorian
Clitoral surgery: Surgical techniques used to decrease the size of an enlarged clitoris have included total clitorectomy, clitoral recession, and clitoroplasty.70 Due to concerns about loss of sensation with clitoral surgery, current techniques aim to preserve the glans and preserve the neurovascular bundle while decreasing the corporal tissue.71–73
Physical Aspects of the Sex Response
Published in Philipa A Brough, Margaret Denman, Introduction to Psychosexual Medicine, 2019
The glans clitoris has a similar density of sensory nerve endings as the glans penis, which accounts for how 70%–80% of women reach orgasm by clitoral stimulation alone. The clitoris may also be stimulated indirectly by vaginal penetration and orgasm achieved in this way. Orgasm may also be reached by stimulation of the distal vaginal roof and periurethral areas of the anterior vaginal wall, as these areas are also richly innervated, although to a lesser extent than the clitoris (35). It has been argued that the sensitivity of these areas is a result of underlying clitoral structures, rather than sensory nerve density (34).
Effects of adverse childhood experiences on partnered sexual arousal appear context dependent
Published in Sexual and Relationship Therapy, 2023
N. Prause, H. Cohen, G. J. Siegle
As an example of a consensual, predictable intimate experience, we studied couples engaging in Orgasmic Meditation (OM). The OM practice is centered around fifteen minutes of indirect, manual stimulation of the clitoral shaft. The external clitoris consists of a glans (tip), a shaft which connects the glans to the body, and hood, which covers the glans. OM practitioners are instructed to stroke only the shaft; contact with the glans is incidental; contact with the hood is likely, but not the focus of the practice. OM is thought to have features that promote feelings of safety. For example, sexual anxiety would be minimized by not using intimate activities that required erections (Barlow, 1986) or orgasms (Chadwick & van Anders, 2017). This is a comfortable area for female genital stimulation (Schober et al., 2004). For example, the clitoral glans’ sensitivity is more likely to result in pain in response to touch. Human clitoral touch afferents also (Chadwick & van Anders, 2017) are active in processing social touch (Georgiadis & Kringelbach, 2016).
Vulvodynia – an evolving disease
Published in Climacteric, 2022
Although vulvar pain symptoms can occur at any time over the lifespan and are more common in the reproductive years, the symptoms may begin for the first time after menopause. In fact, the prevalence of chronic vulvar pain in mid-life women has been estimated to be 8–38%, making chronic vulvar pain a major health concern for women in the menopausal age group [9]. Women presenting with vulvodynia quite commonly are in long-term relationships, have had the pain for several years and have been examined by multiple physicians before receiving the diagnosis [4,8,10]. The vestibule of the vulva extends from near the clitoris to the back of the vaginal introitus. During embryo development, the tissues outside the vestibule (outer labia) and inside the vestibule (vagina) arise from different embryo layers. Each zone therefore has different and unique tissue properties including different nerve sensitivity. As a special narrow portion of skin which forms the introitus of the vagina, the vestibule is supposed to be sensitive in a positive way, but has the capacity to develop localized exquisite tenderness, namely vulval vestibulodynia.
In Pursuit of Pleasure: A Biopsychosocial Perspective on Sexual Pleasure and Gender
Published in International Journal of Sexual Health, 2021
Ellen T. M. Laan, Verena Klein, Marlene A. Werner, Rik H. W. van Lunsen, Erick Janssen
Not only women’s learned expectations about the likelihood that heterosexual sexual activity will be pleasurable or their (scripted) tendency to prioritize their male partner’s sexual pleasure over their own may limit the opportunities for sexual pleasure of women. The coital imperative (the common view that penile-vaginal intercourse is the most important of all sexual activities; Braun et al., 2003) but even the mere definition of the word “sex” as (penile-vaginal or penile-anal) penetration is likely to provide heterosexual women with fewer opportunities for sexual pleasure. Particularly when this coital imperative is combined with a lack of knowledge about the anatomy of the clitoris and a disregard for the requirement of sexual arousal in women prior to penile insertion, penile-vaginal intercourse represents a poor opportunity for sexual pleasure for women. Only when a woman is sufficiently sexually aroused and both the outer and the inner aspects of her clitoris are fully engorged, she is likely to experience pleasure and perhaps even orgasm during penile-vaginal intercourse, because, as Levin (2003) pointed out, only then the inner aspect of the clitoris is likely to become (further) sexually stimulated during penile-vaginal intercourse.