Full network of clitoral nerves mapped out for first time

[littlemissmartypants]

Anatomy of one of least studied human organs could improve outcomes for women who have pelvic surgery

Chris Simms
Sun 29 Mar 2026 07.02 EDT

Almost 30 years after the intricate web of nerves inside the penis was plotted out, the same mapping has finally been completed for one of the least-studied organs in the human body – the clitoris.

As well as revealing the extent of the nerves that are crucial to orgasms, the work shows that some of what medics are learning about the anatomy of the clitoris is wrong, and could help prevent women who have pelvic operations from ending up with poorer sexual function.

The clitoris, responsible for sexual pleasure, is one of the least studied organs of the human body. Cultural taboo around female sexuality has held back scientific investigations and the clitoris did not even make it into standard anatomy textbooks until the 38th edition of Gray’s Anatomy was published in 1995.

A Melbourne urologist, Helen O’Connell, says the clitoris has been ignored by researchers for far too long. “It has been deleted intellectually by the medical and scientific community, presumably aligning attitude to a societal ignorance,” she said.
...
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/mar/29/full-network-clitoral-nerves-mapped-out-first-time-women-pelvic-surgery

[Lochloosa]

1. Finally! I'll tell my wife i can find it now.

[2na fisherman]

7. Get Directions

On Google Maps. Located just below the Mound of Venus at a higher elevation.

[dlk]

2. Rachel Rubin, MD, also a urologist, has said medical schools don't teach about the clitoris

So doctors are left in the dark. This impacts their women patients and not in a good way.

We can do better.

[niyad]

17. But the misogynist male culture in medicine DOES NOT WANT TO.

The entire history of "modern" medicine has been one of ignorance and indifference, if not outright hostility, to females. Think about how, for example, major drug trials have NOT included women, including that damned framingham one. Think about how drug trials that actually, quite reluctantly, include women, do NOT assess the difference between pre-and-post-menopausal women. The list goes on and on.

There was a fascinating, depressing book in the '70's by Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English titled ""Witches, Midwives, and Nurses", that gave a brief history of how the maales wrested control of "healing" away from the women, and turned it into the nightmare we see today.

[SirReal69]

3. Finally...

somebody looks under the hood to figure it all out.

[twodogsbarking]

4. It is what we are. Best to know all we can. Humans struggling to be less, well, weird.

[Martin68]

5. One of the mistakes science and medicine have made in studies of the clitoris is regarding it as an organ that is

separate from the tissue and and organs that surround it. We've know for a long time that the clitoris has vital roots and connections that connect to the rest of the female genitalia and urogenital complex. If these are cut or damaged, it can negatively impact sexual function.

[niyad]

6. Rachel Gross' 2022 book, "Vagina Obscura", covers the basic dismissal,

ignorance, fear and hatred of women's anatomy, particularly as it relates to her entire reproductive system, by the entire medical, research, scientific communities, as well as religious and political communities.

It is but one example of the misogyny that infects every area of society, even in the third decade of the 21st century.

Thank you for posting this breakthrough.

[orangecrush]

8. Thanks for this.

[Figarosmom]

9. You'd think that

It would be the most studied instead of least.

I've known men that really studied it. Too bad they weren't doctors.

[Deep State Witch]

10. Men Still Won't Find It

We all know that they don't read maps!

[Clouds Passing]

11. Thank you lmsp 😁

[multigraincracker]

12. Just in time. They have just run out of subjects

for Master Thesis.

[Sneederbunk]

13. Akin to discovering the Northwest Passage.

[Blumancru]

14. Nothing new. I have been mapping it myself for years.

I am male, btw.

[Warpy]

15. Took them longenough

It is a clear demonstration of how deeply unimportant women have been to medical science and how thousands of years of religious bullshit declaring women to be the source of all sin and that the idea of women enjoying any part of sex was the proof.

Oh, they haven't ignored it completely since the 70s when those of us who had been raised under The Rules kicked over the apple cart and demanded a lot better than we'd been getting. The structure was mapped, at least, although much of the function is still unknown.

It's more than that little head, it's huge, bigger than the average penis, and with more nerve endings in the tip However, because women have always been such a low priority research will likely take decades to be funded, if alt all.

[pattyloutwo]

16. The mutilation

That is still happening is incomprehensible. How can we stop this?!