Clitoris

The clitoris is a female genital organ that includes erectile tissue, glands, muscles and ligaments, nerves, and blood vessels. Although the parts are placed differently, the clitoris is matching to the male penis. The clitoris functions to cause sexual pleasure and create orgasms as well as make a woman aroused.

During sexual arousal, the clitoris grows as its erectile tissue fills with blood until orgasm happens. Also during arousal, touching the clitoris and other sensitive areas of the female genitals makes a woman's vagina change shape and release a lubricant. The lubricant and change of shape makes it easier for a man to enter a woman and for sex to occur. Most of the clitoris is hidden inside the body and only a small part can be seen from the outside. Adding the outside and inside parts, the clitoris is similar in size to the penis. The clitoris and penis grow out of the same tissue in the womb. They share many similar parts.

Visible parts of the clitoris

The parts of the clitoris that can be seen from the outside stretch from the clitoral junction, the point where the outer lips meet at the base of the pubic mound, to the fork, where the lower edges of the inner lips meet below the vaginal opening. The outside parts include

• the glans: the head or tip. Filled with nerve endings, the sole purpose of the glans is to produce pleasurable feelings and increase a woman's sexual response.
• the hood: the fold of skin formed by the outer edges of the inner lips that covers the glans and is the same as the male foreskin.
• the inner lips, which are hairless and very sensitive to touch.

Hidden parts of the clitoris

The parts of the clitoris inside the body

The parts of the clitoris hidden inside the body include erectile tissue, glands, muscles, blood vessels, and nerves. In both the clitoris and the penis, there are two types of erectile tissue: body of caverns (corpus cavernosum) and spongy body (corpus spongiosum), which fill with blood during sexual response, causing an erection. The clitoral shaft is attached to the glans, just underneath the surface of the skin. The shaft is a round segment of spongy erectile tissue and is very sensitive like the glans. It feels like a hard ridge about one-half to one inch long, and it rises toward the pubic mound for a short distance, then bends sharply and divides, forming two slender legs which are also made of spongy tissue. The legs flare out like the wishbone of a chicken. In both women and men, the urethra (the tube through which we urinate), is surrounded by a ring of sponge.