What you should know about the clitoris

It’s the only part of the female (or male) body that exists just to make a person feel good. This is the clitoris.

Transcript

00:00This is the clitoris. It is a part of the female anatomy, and it is the only part of

00:07the male and the female body that exists solely for the purpose of pleasure. So it has no

00:13other functions, there is nothing else that it does other than just feel good.

00:27Most people, when you think of the clitoris, we only think of the little nub of skin that's

00:32visible to the human eye, and we tend to think that's it. But there's this whole entire structure

00:37that we really didn't discover until the 1990s. And it wasn't even until about 2009 that we

00:43figured out the 3D shape of it, what it really looks like internally.

00:48One of the coolest things about the clitoris is that in this entire structure, there are

00:538,000 to 9,000 nerve endings. And we can compare that to the penis, which only has

00:58about 2,000 to 3,000 nerve endings. So there are way more in the clitoris than in the penis,

01:03even though it's actually so much smaller.

01:10When we are fetuses in the womb, we start off basically having the same genitals. And

01:15it's not until about 8 to 11 weeks of development that those exact same tissues start turning

01:21into a clitoris for someone who's going to be female-bodied, or a penis for somebody

01:25who's going to be male-bodied. And so the clitoris and the penis really operate very

01:30similarly to each other. So when a person is erect, the clitoris or the penis can engorge,

01:36it gets swelled with blood, it actually increases in size, and it can move around a little bit.

01:44All orgasms are clitoral orgasms. And again, it really comes down to the structure of the

01:52clitoris. You can have an orgasm from external stimulation of the clitoris, of that little

01:58part of the glands, where you're either touching it directly, maybe you're touching it indirectly,

02:02like over the hood or through the labia. Or you can have an orgasm from internal stimulation

02:08inside of the vagina. But the thing is, these parts of the clitoris actually wrap around

02:14the vagina. So when you're doing internal stimulation, you're still stimulating the

02:19clitoris. It's a different part of the clitoris, but it's still the exact same clitoris.

02:26We tend to think of masturbation as just something that we do for pleasure, but there are actually

02:33a ton of incredible health benefits to it. So one of the most interesting ones is that

02:38when we masturbate, it actually increases our pain threshold. So things like menstrual

02:43cramps, headaches won't feel as intense if you're masturbating and experiencing orgasm.

02:49It can also increase your immunity, making you less likely to get sick. It can decrease

02:55stress, improve your mood, make it easier for you to get to sleep. There are tons of

03:00amazing benefits.

03:01I mean, if we were only really discovering the true shape of it 10 years ago, there's

03:11definitely still a lot to learn. So I really hope that we get some scientists, some researchers

03:15out there who are willing to study it more and just help us figure out even more about

03:20this incredible part of our bodies. We're not taught about the clitoris. We're not taught

03:24about female pleasure. And so it's totally understandable if you've never learned how

03:30to orgasm. And so I think it's really important to be gentle with yourself, recognize there's

03:35nothing to beat yourself up about or feel bad about, but there are much better resources

03:40that are available now. So don't let that shame or embarrassment get in the way of you

03:45learning the actual tools that you need to explore your clitoris, discover what makes

03:50you orgasm, and help you feel confident in the bedroom.