What is FEMALE EJACULATION?
Throughout time there have been reports of the expulsion of fluid from the vagina by women during sexual arousal and/or orgasm. There were references to this by historic scientific figures such as Aristotle and Galen, discussing and identifying vaginal expulsions which did not seem to have the appearance or smell of urine and did not stain bed sheets.
There were also many references to vaginal expulsions in classical literature. However, it is impossible to determine whether these passages are simple reporting of what the writer actually saw or a dramatization of popular male sexual fantasies of the times.
The first modern description both of female genitalia and the question of vaginal expulsions came from the 17th century Dutch physician, Regnier De Graaf. He stated: "The urethra is lined internally by a thin membrane. In the lower part, near the outlet of the urinary passage, this membrane is pierced by large ducts, or lacunae, through which pituito-serous matter occasionally discharges in copious quantities. Between this very thin membrane and the fleshy fibers I have just described, there is, along the whole duct of the urethra, a whitish, membranous substance about one finger-breadth thick which completely surrounds the urethral canal . . . the substance could be called quite aptly the female prostate or corpus glandulosum, 'glandulous body."
De Graaf's description of the "prostate" in women in reference to the glands surrounding the female urethra represented conventional medical thought for almost 200 years. In 1880, Dr. Alexander Skene, professor of gynecology in the Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn, New York, wrote a paper describing and diagramming various glands and ducts surrounding the female urethra. Modern science then began to refer to them as Skene's glands, a term that is still in use today.
In 1953, Samuel Berkow, MD, a urologist, came to the conclusion that the tissue of Skene's glands was erectile when stimulated. However, Berkow's primary interest was in urination and he believed that the function of the "erectile tissue" was to pinch off the urethra in order to control urination. He never explored the question of whether it could become erect during sexual activity.
In 1950, the German obstetrician, Ernst Gräfenberg, wrote of observing the expulsion of fluid from the urethra during sexual arousal. "If there is the opportunity to observe the orgasm of such women, one can see that large quantities of a clear, transparent fluid (that) are expelled not from the vulva, but out of the urethra in gushes. At first, I thought that the bladder sphincter has become defective by the intensity of the orgasm.
Involuntary expulsion of urine is reported in sex literature. In the cases observed by us, the fluid was examined and it had no urinary character. I am inclined to believe that 'urine' reported to be expelled during female orgasm is not urine, but only secretions of the intraurethral glands correlated with the erotogenic zone along the urethra in the anterior vaginal wall. Moreover, the profuse secretions coming out with the orgasm have no lubricating significance, otherwise they would be produced at the beginning of intercourse and not at the peak of orgasm."
At the same time, the medical and scientific establishment was highly resistant to considering evidence of a cause for female ejaculation other than urinary stress incontinence. Again, they (and presumably their female patients) tended to consider ejaculation as an undesirable bodily dysfunction, generally resulting in the women experiencing guilt and shame. There have also been frequent reports of disapproval and recriminations from sexual partners of women who "ejaculate" that have often led to painful relationship issues and even dissolution of marriages.
At this point, it should be noted that doctors, who may be very knowledgeable in the areas of urology and reproductive biology, have had little training or experience in human sexuality. If a woman patient were to have evidence of an expulsion of fluid during sensual/sexual activity, a doctor would be unlikely to check for sensitivity through the anterior wall of the vagina. Even if the physician were to suspect a possible expulsion from Skene's glands, ethics would prevent most doctors from engaging in an Ob/Gyn exam in which the patients was sexually aroused so as to duplicate the conditions of the expulsions.
In the early 1980's, there were several studies that concluded that what had been called Skene's glands and/or paraurethral ducts and glands were, in fact, not a vestigial homologue of the male prostate but, instead, a "small, functional organ that produces female prostatic secretion and possesses cells with neuroendocrine function, comparable to the male prostate."
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