Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 5: Erotic Symbolism; The Mechanism of Detumescence; The Psychic State in PregnancyEllis, Havelock
Science
Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 5: Erotic Symbolism; The Mechanism of Detumescence; The Psychic State in Pregnancy
Ellis, Havelock
Sex; Sex (Psychology)
The outer sides of the labia majora are covered with hair, and on
the inner sides, which are smooth and moist, but are not true
mucous membrane, there are a few sweat glands and numerous large
sebaceous glands. Bergh considers that there is little or no hair
on the inner sides of the labia majora, but Lamb states that
careful examination shows that from one- to two-thirds of the
inner surface in adult women show hairs like those of the
external surface. In brunettes and women of dark races this
surface is pigmented; in dark races it is usually a slate gray.
From an examination of 2200 young Danish prostitutes Bergh has
found that there are two main varieties in the shape of the labia
majora, with transitional forms. In the first and most frequent
form the labia tend to be less marked and more effaced and
separated at the upper and anterior part, often being lost in the
sides of the mons and presenting a fissure which is broader in
its upper part and showing the inner lips more or less bare. In
the second form the labia are thicker and more outstanding and
the inner edges lie in contact throughout their whole length,
showing the _rima pudendi_ as a long narrow fissure. Whatever the
form, the labia close more tightly together in virgins and in
young individuals generally than in the deflowered and the
elderly. In children, as Martineau pointed out, the vulva appears
to look directly forward and the clitoris and urinary meatus
easily appear, while in adult women, and especially after
attempts at coitus have been made, the vulva appears directed
more below and behind, and the clitoris and meatus more covered
by the labia majora; so that the child urinates forward, while
the adult woman is usually able to urinate almost directly
downwards in the erect position, though in some cases (as may
occasionally be observed in the street) she can only do so when
bending slightly forwards. This difference in the direction of
the stream formerly furnished one of the methods of diagnosing
virginity, an uncertain one, since the difference is largely due
to age and individual variation. The main factor in the position
and aspect of the vulva is pelvic inclination. (See Havelock
Ellis, _Man and Woman_, fourth edition, p. 64; Stratz, _Die
Schönheit des Weiblichen Körpers_, Chapter XII.) In the European
woman, according to Stratz, a considerable degree of pelvic
inclination is essential to beauty, concealing all but the
anterior third of the vulva. In negresses and other women of
lower race the vulva, however, usually lies further back, being
more conspicuous from behind than in European women; in this
respect lower races resemble the apes. Those women of dark race,
therefore, whose modesty is focused behind rather than in front
thus have sound anatomical considerations on their side.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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