← All of Himeka's Erotic Trivia
The clitoris isn't a little bean. It's an iceberg
Most people picture the clitoris as a tiny bean. In fact, only the tip is visible; the rest is a large organ that spreads deep inside the body.
MaiHimeka-san! The clitoris is that teeny little bean, right!? It's so small you can see the whole thing from outside! I totally know this!
Himeka...Sigh. Have you never heard the phrase "tip of the iceberg"? What you see outside is just the tip, the glans. Most of it is hidden inside the body, behind fat and the pubic bone.
HimekaIn 1998, an Australian urologist named Helen O'Connell redrew the whole picture through dissection. Inside, the tip connects to the "body," which is about the size of the top joint of your thumb. From there, two "legs" run back into the body, up to 9 cm long.
Mai9 cm!? And it has LEGS!? So the clitoris goes on little strolls around in there!
HimekaIt does NOT go for strolls!! The "legs" are erectile tissue spreading along the pelvic bone! And from the body, two "bulbs" extend down either side of the vagina. When you're aroused, blood rushes in and the whole thing swells.
MaiOoh, I'll remember that! And the one who found it was Dr. Helen O'Cannoli, right!? Sounds crunchy and stuffed with cream!
HimekaIt's O'Connell! She is NOT a pastry! ...But yes, the textbook drawings before that showed it at less than half its real size. Most of it is hidden inside, and the bodies used for dissection usually belonged to women in their 80s and 90s, whose erectile tissue had shrunk with age. That's said to be part of the reason, too.
HimekaIn 2005, MRI scans of 10 healthy women confirmed that the body, legs and bulbs form one cluster of erectile tissue. The name comes from the Greek kleitoris, which some say means "little hill"... Hmph. Little hill? More like a whole mountain range.
HimekaThe nerves are impressive too. In 2022, a team at Oregon Health & Science University did the first count of the nerve fibers leading to the glans, and estimated about ten thousand. The often-quoted "8000" figure seems to come from livestock studies, so that's about 20% more.
MaiTen thousand!? Then starting tonight, I'm giving every single one a name! It's a mountain range, so... Everest, Fuji, Kilimanjaro!
HimekaYou are NOT naming them!! You'd be up all night and still not be done! ...Even the median nerve, running from your wrist through your hand, has only about eighteen thousand. Your hand is way bigger, and this tiny thing packs in more than half that many. ...Hmph. Now you'll never call it a "little bean" again.
Himeka's summary
- The visible glans is only a small part. Most of the erectile tissue, made up of the body, two legs and two bulbs, lies inside the body behind fat and the pubic bone. When aroused, it fills with blood and swells.
- In 1998, Helen O'Connell mapped the full structure by dissection: the body is about the size of the top joint of a thumb, and the legs are up to 9 cm long. Earlier textbook drawings showed it at less than half its real size. In 2005, MRI scans of 10 healthy women confirmed it.
- A 2022 Oregon Health & Science University study estimated about ten thousand nerve fibers leading to the glans, about 20% more than the often-quoted "8000."
Sources
General trivia only. For anything that needs a medical call, talk to a doctor. All characters are adults.
Translated from the Japanese original. Sources are unchanged.