Good Vibrations Magazine

By Diana Cage

When was the last time you took a good long look at a pussy? Do you know where your (or your girlfriend’s) clitoral cruras are? Even if you’re a hoohoo master, I’ll bet you can’t name all the parts of the clitoris! (Hint: What we routinely call our clit is really just the tip of the iceberg.) But believe me, if you understand where everything is and what each part does, you’ll have a greater mastery of your, or your lover’s sexual response.

First stop on the pussy tour is the mons, or mons veneris, which is Latin for Mound of Venus, also known as the mons pubis, or just “the mound.” It’s the fleshy, comfy, cushy area between your legs where the bush grows. It’s nicely padded to protect the pubic bone from impact during intercourse. It’s a very sexually sensitive spot, and while it’s not going to get anyone off, it’s full of nerve endings, and lightly stroking your lady’s mound before going below will fill her with shivers of delight.

Next we have the inner and outer labia. These are two sets of lips that surround all the sensitive insides. The outer lips, called the labia majora, are fleshy, padded, and hairy. The inner lips, or labia minora, are slippery little buggers that have no hair follicles. Inner lips come in every shade, from carnation-pink to burgundy to dark chocolate. They are extremely sensitive, often uneven in size, and sometimes long enough to extend past the outer lips. When a woman is aroused, the inner lips fill with blood, causing them to swell and turn darker. Many women love having their inner lips stimulated — and some enjoy it more than direct stimulation of the clit.

Now we come to everyone’s favorite magic bean, the clitoris, or “clit.” The clit is where a lot of the action happens. Think of it as similar to a penis, only with four times as many nerve endings. The part that most of us are referring to when we talk about our clits is actually just the head, or glans of our clits. The clitoris is a complex organ that pretty much extends throughout the entire genital region. Anytime you make your lady feel good by stimulating her vagina, her anus, her lips, or anywhere else down there you’re also indirectly stimulating her clit. The clitoris is the only organ in the human body — male or female — whose sole purpose is sexual pleasure.

The clitoris is a network of nerve-rich organs consisting of the hood, the clitoral glans, the clitoral shaft, the crura or legs of the clitoris, and the clitoral bulbs.

Until not too long ago, folks believed that the clit was just the little man in the boat and that was it. But now thanks to awesome books like Rebecca Chalker’s The Clitoral Truth, and A New View of a Woman’s Body by the Federation of Feminist Women’s Health Centers we know that it actually has many parts.

The clit is shrouded by the clitoral hood, a fold of draped tissue that keeps your sensitive button safe from over-stimulation. If you pull back the hood of the clit you will expose the glans or visible nub of the clit — otherwise known as the little man (or woman) in the pink canoe. The clit has about 8,000 nerve endings — more than any other structure in the human body. It’s pretty much a different size and shape on every woman. Pay close attention to the clit. It’s extremely sensitive and stimulation of this baby is essential to most women’s orgasms.

The shaft of the clitoris runs just superior to the clitoral glans. Run your finger over the hood of the clit and press down on it. You should feel a rubbery cord extending up toward the bush. This cord could be anywhere from half an inch to an inch long. It’s sensitive, and pressing on it should feel good. Most women will find that massaging it gets them hot.

Now we’re getting to the behind-the-scenes stuff. The shaft of the clitoris extends up toward the mons, then it forks and bends around forming two wishbone shaped legs, or the clitoral crura. The crura run down either side of the vagina about three inches, below the surface, just behind the labia minora. The crura are too deep for you to feel with your fingers. But, trust me, their presence is one reason penetration can feel so heavenly.

Starting from the point where the shaft and crura meet there are another two extensions — the clitoral bulbs. I told you this thing was big! The clitoral bulbs extend internally down and underneath each of the labia minora. They’re bigger than the crura and they fill with blood and get hard when a girl is all juiced up.

Below the clit you’ll find the urethral opening — you know, your pee-hole. This is where urine leaves the body. It’s also where ejaculate leaves the body. In both women and men, the urethra is surrounded by a ring of spongy tissue that fills with fluid during arousal, and this is the fluid that comes squirting out during female ejaculation. The exact make-up of this fluid is made of is still up for debate, but everyone agrees that it isn’t urine. The spongy tissue is called the urethral sponge or the G-spot. It’s pretty hard to locate if she’s not yet turned on. But once she gets going, bam! It’s a big old hard button about the size of a quarter that you can push on and rock her world.

You can feel the rough texture of the G-spot if you stick two fingers in your lady’s honey pot and prod around up toward the front wall of her pussy. That rough, textured, bumpy area is her G-spot. Push on it, and she may feel like she has to pee. That’s normal — you’re poking around her urethra. Or maybe it will make her eyes roll back in her head. There’s no telling. For many women this is a huge erogenous zone and stimulation of the G-spot may make your girlfriend act like the Sparklett’s Water Fantasy show at Sea World. You know that female ejaculation thing you’ve heard so much about? Well, this is where it all happens, baby.

Below the urethra is the vaginal opening. We think of the vagina as a tube, but really the walls of a woman’s cooch lie flat against each other until she gets hot. The vaginal walls are a mucous membrane. This is why we get slippery when turned on. The walls exude the slippery stuff that makes sex so much fun. But this slippery fun also helps to continuously flush out the whole works. The vagina is a self-cleaning organ. In other words, douching is never necessary. It fucks up the vagina’s natural bacteria killing acidic environment leaving you open to possible infection. And no one wants to eat a snatch that tastes like Bubbalicious anyway.

When a woman gets all juiced up, the outer, nerve-rich section of the snatch tightens up and gets hard, but the back two-thirds of the sexual hallway — the less sensitive section — expands dramatically in length and width. This process is called tenting, and it’s what makes vaginal fisting so awesome. There’s a lot more room in a pussy than you’d imagine.

Below the vaginal opening are two tiny little bean-sized glands called the Bartholins glands. These babies don’t do much except provide small amounts of lube during sex. They can get blocked and swell up, a painful and annoying event, but not life threatening.

For most women reading this article, I’m guessing your hymens were obliterated long ago. But let’s just pretend you’ve still got a cherry. It would be a thin membrane of tissue stretched across the opening of your hole. Most of the time this thing breaks before you ever get around to sticking anything up there. Just about any kind of strenuous activity can pop your cherry. The cervix is the opening to the uterus. If you stick your fingers up into the vagina you’ll feel a round knob-like thing. It’s a bit (doggie) nose-like. Yep, that’s the cervix. This is the place from which menstrual blood escapes every month. While it has no nerve endings on its surface, the cervix responds to pressure. Bumping into it with a blunt object can feel good, or it can really hurt. Depends on the lady.

Now test your pussy knowledge!

1. The vagina:
   1. has teeth
   2. should smell like grape Bubbalicious
   3. “tents” during sexual arousal
2. The clitoris:
   1. is just a cute little nubbin
   2. is actually an entire network of complex and nerve-rich organs
   3. is the way to a woman’s heart
3. The G-spot:
   1. is a myth
   2. is a lesbian bar in Los Angeles
   3. might just make your lady go Boom!
4. The vulva:
   1. is the name of the entire female genital area
   2. is a well-engineered Swedish car
   3. is often portrayed as a flower in feminist artwork

Key:
1 – c, 2 – b, 3 – c, 4 – a