106.16 /$ (1 p.m.)

NEW YORK Hapless lovers are not the only ones who get lost down there: Even sexologists cannot agree on what is what, and where, among womens female parts, according to a father-daughter team of researchers in Italy, Drs. Vincenzo and Giulia Puppo.

In a new review in the journal Clinical Anatomy, Vincenzo, of the Italian Center of Sexology in Bologna, and Giulia, a biologist at the University of Florence, point out some problems with some of newer anatomical and physiological terms researchers have been using since the mid-1990s.

The G-spot? Out. Vaginal orgasm? Out. Female penis? In. It is the best way to refer to female erectile organs, according to the Puppos.

Sexological and sexual medicine textbooks today often neglect the embryology, anatomy and physiology of the female erectile organs, Vincenzo Puppo said.

He and his co-author cite dozens of such publications by other researchers, largely from within the last 15 years, pointing out the use of terms such as inner clitoris that are, admittedly, not very well defined in those papers.

The internal clitoris does not exist, the entire clitoris is an external organ, Vincenzo said. It is composed of an externally visible glans and body, like the male penis, and of roots, which are hidden, he said.

But to back their assertions regarding the correct terminology to use, the Puppos employ no actual subjects or data and instead use 12 diagrams, 11 of which come from their own previous publications. The 12th is from Wikipedia.

What sexologists sometimes refer to as clitoral bulbs should in fact be called vestibular bulbs, and the areas that are stimulated and become erect during sex should not be called the clitoral complex but instead the female penis, they write.

That is not useful information for most women, who do not typically meet up for coffee to chat about anatomical terminology. But some other assertions could make a difference.

For one thing, the authors insist that researchers stop using the term G-spot for a spongy area of the front vaginal wall anecdotally linked to orgasm, because it has no basis in science.

Visit link:
106.16 /$ (1 p.m.)