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 nervous supply of this little organ is very large, and the
dorsal nerve of the clitoris is relatively three or four times
larger than that of the penis. Yet the sensitive point of this
organ is only 5 to 7 millimeters in extent. The length of the
clitoris is usually rather over 2 centimeters (or about an inch)
and 3 centimeters when erect; a length of 4 centimeters or more
was regarded by Martineau as within the normal range of
variation. It is not usual to find the clitoris longer than this
in Europe (for among some races like the negro the clitoris is
generally large), but all degrees of magnitude may be found as
rare exceptions. (See, e.g., Sir J.Y. Simpson, "Hermaphrodites,"
_Obstetric Memoirs and Contributions_, vol. ii, pp. 217-226; also
Dickinson, loc. cit.) It was formerly thought that the clitoris
is easily enlarged by masturbation, and Martineau believed that
in this way it might be doubled in length. It is probable that
slight enlargement of the clitoris may be caused by very
frequent masturbation, but only to an insignificant extent, and
it is impossible to diagnose masturbation from the size of the
clitoris. Among the women of Lake Nyassa, as well as in the
Caroline Islands, special methods are practiced for elongating
the clitoris, but in Europe, at all events, it is probable that
the variations in the size of the organ are mainly congenital. It
may well be that a congenitally large clitoris is associated with
an abnormally developed excitability of the sexual apparatus.
Tilt stated (_On Uterine and Ovarian Inflammation_, p. 37) that
in his experience there was a frequent though not invariable
connection between a large clitoris and sexual proclivity.
(Schurig referred to a case of intense and life-long sexual
obsession associated with an extremely large clitoris,
_Gynæcologia_, pp. 16-17.) Of recent years considerable
importance has been attached by some gynecologists (e.g., R.T.
Morris, "Is Evolution Trying to Do Away With the Clitoris?"
_Transactions American Association of Obstetricians and
Gynecologists_, vol. v, 1893) to preputial adhesions around the
clitoris as a source of nervous disturbance and invalidism in
young women.
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