Editing Female ejaculation (section)

==Reports==
In questionnaire surveys, 35–50% of women report that they have at some time experienced the gushing of fluid during orgasm.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Bullough B, David M, Whipple B, Dixon J, Allgeier ER, Drury KC |author-link3=Whipple B | title = Subjective reports of female orgasmic expulsion of fluid | journal = Nurse Pract |date=March 1984 | volume = 9 | issue = 3 | pages= 55–9 |pmid=6546788 | doi = 10.1097/00006205-198409030-00009 }}</ref><ref name=davidson>{{cite journal | vauthors = Davidson JK, Darling CA, Conway-Welch, C |date=Summer 1989 | title = The role of the Grafenberg Spot and female gushing in the female orgasmic response: an empirical analysis | journal = J Sex Marital Ther | volume = 15 | issue = 2 | pages = 102–20 | pmid=2769772 | doi = 10.1080/00926238908403815 }}</ref><ref name="darling">{{cite journal |author1=Darling CA |author2=Davidson JK Sr |author3=Conway-Welch C. | title = Female ejaculation: perceived origins, the Grafenberg spot/area, and sexual responsiveness | journal = Arch Sex Behav |date=February 1990 | volume = 19 | issue = 1 | pages = 29–47 |pmid=2327894 | doi = 10.1007/BF01541824|s2cid=25428390 }}</ref> Other studies find anywhere from 10 to 69%, depending on the definitions and methods used.<ref name="wimpissinger"/><ref name="zaviacic99"/> For instance Kratochvíl (1994) surveyed 200 women and found that 6% reported ejaculating, an additional 13% had some experience and about 60% reported release of fluid without actual gushing.<ref name=Kratochvil/> Reports on the volume of fluid expelled vary considerably, starting from amounts that would be imperceptible to a woman, to mean values of 1–5 ml.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Zaviacic M, Zaviacicová A, Komorník J, Mikulecký M, Holomán IK |title=Circatrigintan (30 +/- 5 d) variations of the cellular component of female urethral expulsion fluid. A biometrical study |journal=Int Urol Nephrol |volume=16 |issue=4 |pages=311–8 |year=1984 |pmid=6543558 |doi= 10.1007/BF02081866|s2cid=6231824 }}</ref>

The suggestion that women can expel fluid from their genital area as part of [[sexual arousal]] has been described by women's health writer Rebecca Chalker as "one of the most hotly debated questions in modern [[sexology]]".<ref name="chalker"/> Female ejaculation has been discussed in anatomical, medical, and biological literature throughout recorded history. The reasons for the interest in female ejaculation have been questioned by [[feminist]] writers.<ref name="bell">{{cite book | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ph-2F94pR_0C | author = Bell S. | chapter = Feminist ejaculations | editor = Alison Jaggar | title = Living With Contradictions: Controversies in feminist social ethics | publisher = Westview | location = Boulder | year = 1994 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/livingwithcontra00jaggrich/page/529 529–36] | isbn = 978-0-8133-1776-2 | url = https://archive.org/details/livingwithcontra00jaggrich/page/529 }}</ref>

===Western literature===

====16th to 18th century====
In the 16th century, the Dutch physician [[Laevinius Lemnius]], referred to how a woman "draws forth the man's seed and casts her own with it".<ref>Lemnius, L. De occultis naturae miraculis 1557, Reprinted as The Secret Miracles of Nature. London 1658, p.19 cited in [https://books.google.com/books?id=6geM40gONl8C Laqueur T. Making Sex: The body and gender from the Greeks to Freud. Harvard, Cambridge 1990 vii]</ref> In the 17th century, [[François Mauriceau]] described glands at the [[female urethral meatus]] that "pour out great quantities of saline liquor during coition, which increases the heat and enjoyment of women".<ref>[[One sex two sex theory|Cited in Laqueur 1990 pp. 92–3]]</ref> This century saw an increasing understanding of female sexual anatomy and function,<ref name=blackledge>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/storyofv00cath |url-access=registration |last=Blackledge|first=Catherine|title=The Story of V: A Natural History of Female Sexuality|year=2004 |orig-year=2003 |isbn=978-0813534558 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |place=New Brunswick, N.J }}</ref> in particular the work of the [[Caspar Bartholin the Elder|Bartholin]] family in Denmark.

====De Graaf====
In the 17th century, the Dutch anatomist [[Reinier de Graaf]] wrote an influential treatise on the reproductive organs ''Concerning the Generative Organs of Women'' which is much cited in the literature on this topic. De Graaf discussed the original controversy but supported the [[Aristotle|Aristotelian]] view.<ref name="graaf">{{cite journal | author = Regnier De Graaf | title = New Treatise Concerning the Generative Organs of Women. Reprinted as: Jocelyn HD, Setchell BP: Regnier de Graaf on the human reproductive organs. An annotated translation of Tractatus de Virorum Organis Generationi Inservientibus (1668) and De Mulierum Organis Generationi Inserventibus Tractatus Novus (1962) | journal = J Reprod Fertil Suppl |date=December 1972 | volume = 17 | pages = 1–222 |pmid=4567037 | last2 = Setchell | first2 = BP}}</ref><ref>Cited in Chalker 2000, p.121</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Korda |first1=Joanna B. |last2=Goldstein |first2=Sue W. |last3=Sommer |first3=Frank |title=SEXUAL MEDICINE HISTORY: The History of Female Ejaculation |journal=[[The Journal of Sexual Medicine]] |date=2010 |volume=7 |issue=5 |pages=1965–1975 |doi=10.1111/j.1743-6109.2010.01720.x|pmid=20233286 }}</ref> He identified the source as the glandular structures and ducts surrounding the urethra.

{{blockquote|[VI:66-7] The urethra is lined 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 considerable quantities.

Between this very thin membrane and the fleshy fibres we 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 'prostatae' or 'corpus glandulosum', 'glandulous body'''...''The function of the 'prostatae' is to generate a pituito-serous juice which makes women more libidinous with its pungency and saltiness and lubricates their sexual parts in agreeable fashion during coitus.

[VII:81] The discharge from the female 'prostatae' causes as much pleasure as does that from the male 'prostatae'}}

He identified [XIII:212] the various controversies regarding the ejaculate and its origin, but stated he believed that this fluid "which rushes out with such impetus during venereal combat or libidinous imagining" was derived from a number of sources, including the vagina, urinary tract, cervix and uterus. He appears to identify [[Skene's ducts]], when he writes [XIII: 213] "those [ducts] which are visible around the orifice of the neck of the vagina and the outlet of the urinary passage receive their fluid from the female 'parastatae', or rather the thick membranous body around the urinary passage." However he appears not to distinguish between the lubrication of the perineum during arousal and an orgasmic ejaculate when he refers to liquid "which in libidinous women often rushes out at the mere sight of a handsome man." Further on [XIII:214] he refers to "liquid as usually comes from the [[pudenda]] in one gush." However, his prime purpose was to distinguish between generative fluid and pleasurable fluid, in his stand on the Aristotelian semen controversy.

===19th century===
[[Richard von Krafft-Ebing|Krafft-Ebing]]'s study of sexual perversion, ''[[Psychopathia Sexualis (Richard von Krafft-Ebing book)|Psychopathia Sexualis]]'' (1886), describes female ejaculation under the heading "Congenital Sexual Inversion in Women" as a perversion related to [[neurasthenia]] and homosexuality.<ref>von Krafft-Ebing R. ''Psychopathia Sexualis'', Klaf FS (trans.) Stein and Day, NY 1965, at 265</ref>

{{blockquote|the intersexual gratification among ...women seems to be reduced to kissing and embraces, which seems to satisfy those of weak sexual instinct, but produces in sexually neurasthenic females ejaculation}}

It is also described by [[Sigmund Freud|Freud]] in pathological terms in his study of [[Dora (case study)|Dora]] (1905), where he relates it to hysteria.<ref>Freud S. Fragments of an Analysis of a Case of Hysteria. 1905, in Strachey J (trans.) ''The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works by Sigmund Freud'', vol VII: 84</ref>

{{blockquote|The pride taken by women in the appearance of their genitals is quite a special feature of their vanity; and disorders of genitals which they think calculated to inspire feelings of repugnance or even disgust have an incredible power of humiliating them, of lowering their self-esteem, and of making them irritable, sensitive, and distrustful. An abnormal secretion of the mucous membrane of the vagina is looked upon as source of disgust.}}

However, women's writing of that time portrayed this in more positive terms. Thus we find [[Almeda Sperry]] writing to [[Emma Goldman]] in 1918, about the "rhythmic spurt of your love juices".<ref name="bell"/><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8aZ-jOTonK8C&pg=PA154 |title=''Falk C.'' Love, Anarchy and Emma Goldman. ''Holt Rinehart, NY 1984, at 175. Cited in Nestle J. ''A Restricted Country''. Cleis 2003, at 163 |access-date=2011-10-30|isbn=9781573441520 |last1=Nestle |first1=Joan |year=2003 |publisher=Cleis Press }}</ref> Anatomical knowledge was also advanced by [[Alexander Skene]]'s description of para-urethral or periurethral glands (glands around the [[urethra]]) in 1880, which have been variously claimed to be one source of the fluids in the ejaculate, and now commonly referred to as the [[Skene's glands]].<ref>{{cite journal | author = Skene AJC | title = The anatomy and pathology of two important glands of the female urethra | journal = Am. J. Obstet. Dis. Women Child. | year = 1880 | volume = 13 | pages = 265–70}}</ref>

===20th century===
====Early 20th-century understanding====
Female ejaculation is mentioned as normal in early 20th century 'marriage manuals', such as TH [[Theodoor Hendrik van de Velde|Van de Velde]]'s ''[[Ideal Marriage: Its Physiology and Technique]]'' (1926). Certainly van de Velde was well aware of the varied experiences of women.<ref>van de Velde, TH. ''Ideal Marriage: Its physiology and technique''. Random, NY 1957, pp 195–6</ref>

{{blockquote|It appears that the majority of laymen believe that something is forcibly squirted (or propelled or extruded), or expelled from the woman's body in orgasm, and should so happen normally, as in the man's case. Finally it is just as certain that such an 'ejaculation' does not take place in many women of sexually normal functions, as that it does take place in others.}}

In 1948, Huffman, an American gynaecologist, published his studies of the prostatic tissue in women together with a historical account and detailed drawings. These clearly showed the difference between the original glands identified by Skene at the urinary meatus, and the more [[Anatomical terms of location#Proximal and distal|proximal]] collections of glandular tissue emptying directly into the urethra.<ref>Huffman, J. W. The detailed anatomy of the paraurethral ducts in the adult human female" ''American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology'' 55: 86–101, 1948.</ref>

{{blockquote|The urethra might well be compared to a tree about which and growing outward from its base are numerous stunted branches, the paraurethral ducts and glands.}}

Most of the interest had focused on the substance and structure rather than function of the glands. A more definitive contemporary account of ejaculation appeared shortly after, in 1950, with the publication of an essay by [[Ernst Gräfenberg|Gräfenberg]] based on his observations of women during orgasm.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://doctorg.com/Grafenberg.htm |author=E. Grafenberg |title=The role of the urethra in female orgasm |journal=Int J Sexol |volume=3 |pages=145–8 |year=1950 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080807175157/http://doctorg.com/Grafenberg.htm |archive-date=2008-08-07 }}</ref>

{{blockquote|An erotic zone always could be demonstrated on the anterior wall of the vagina along the course of the urethra...analogous to the male urethra, the female urethra also seems to be surrounded by erectile tissues...In the course of [[sexual stimulation]], the female urethra begins to enlarge and can be felt easily. It swells out greatly at the end of orgasm...Occasionally the production of fluids is ...profuse...

If there is the opportunity to observe the orgasm of such women, one can see that large quantities of a clear transparent fluid are expelled not from the vulva, but out of the urethra in gushes. At first I thought that the bladder sphincter had 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.}}

However this paper made little impact, and was dismissed in the major sexological writings of that time, such as [[Alfred Kinsey|Kinsey]] (1953)<ref>Kinsey, A.C., Pomeroy, W.B., Martin, C.E., Gebhard, P.H. (1953). ''Sexual Behavior in the Human Female''. Philadelphia : W.B. Saunders Company</ref> and [[Masters & Johnson|Masters and Johnson]] (1966),<ref>Masters WH, Johnson VE. ''Human Sexual Response''. Little Brown, Boston 1966</ref> equating this "erroneous belief" with [[#Relation to urinary incontinence|urinary stress incontinence]]. Although clearly Kinsey was familiar with the phenomenon, commenting that (p.&nbsp;612);

{{blockquote|Muscular contractions of the vagina following orgasm may squeeze out some of the genital secretions, and in a few cases eject them with some force}}

as were Masters and Johnson ten years later, who observed (pp 79–80):

{{blockquote|Most women do not ejaculate during orgasm...we ''have'' observed several cases of women who expelled a type of fluid that was not urine}}

(emphasis in original) yet dismissed it (p.&nbsp;135) – "female ejaculation is an erroneous but widespread concept", and even twenty years later in 1982,<ref>Masters WH, Johnson VE, Kolodny RC. Masters and Johnson on ''Sex and Human Learning''. Little Brown, Boston 1982</ref> they repeated the statement that it was erroneous (p.&nbsp;69–70) and the result of "urinary stress incontinence".

====Late 20th-century awareness====
The topic did not receive serious attention again until a review by Josephine Lowndes Sevely and JW Bennett appeared in 1978.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Sevely JL, Bennett JW | title = Concerning female ejaculation and the female prostate | journal = J Sex Res | volume = 14 | pages = 1–20 | year = 1978 | doi = 10.1080/00224497809550988}}</ref> This latter paper, which traces the history of the controversies to that point, and a series of three papers in 1981 by [[Beverly Whipple]] and colleagues in the ''[[Journal of Sex Research]]'',<ref name="belzer"/><ref name="addiego"/><ref name="perry"/> became the focal point of the current debate. Whipple became aware of the phenomenon when studying urinary incontinence, with which it is often confused.<ref name=whipple-chalker>Personal communication, cited by Chalker 2000 p.125</ref> As Sevely and Bennett point out, this is "not new knowledge, but a rediscovery of lost awareness that should contribute towards reshaping our view of female sexuality". Nevertheless, the theory advanced by these authors was immediately dismissed by many other authors, such as physiologist Joseph Bohlen,<ref name="bohlen"/> for not being based on rigorous scientific procedures, and psychiatrist [[Helen Singer Kaplan]] (1983) stated:<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WCqMzcAka54C |last=Kaplan|first=H. S.|title=The Evaluation of Sexual Disorders: Psychological and Medical Aspects |publisher=Psychology Press |year=1983 |access-date=2024-05-07|isbn=9780876303290}}</ref>

{{blockquote|Female ejaculation (as distinct from female urination during orgasm) has never been scientifically substantiated and is highly questionable, to say the least.}}

Some radical feminist writers, such as [[Sheila Jeffreys]] (1985) were also dismissive, claiming it as a figment of male fantasy:<ref>Jeffreys S. The Spinster and Her Enemies: feminism and sexuality 1880–1930. Pandora Press, London 1985, at 110</ref>

{{blockquote|There are examples in the sexological literature of men's sexual fantasies about lesbian sexuality. Krafft-Ebing invented a form of ejaculation for women.}}

It required the detailed anatomical work of Helen O'Connell<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cirp.org/news/clitoris/|last1=Williamson|first1=Susan|last2=Nowak|first2=Rachel|title=The truth about women. New Scientist August 1, 1998 pp. 1–5|publisher=Cirp.org|access-date=2011-10-30|archive-date=2020-11-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111204005/http://www.cirp.org/news/clitoris/|url-status=dead}}</ref> from 1998 onwards to more properly elucidate the relationships between the different anatomical structures involved. As she observes, the female perineal urethra is embedded in the anterior vaginal wall and is surrounded by erectile tissue in all directions except posteriorly where it relates to the vaginal wall. "The distal vagina, [[clitoris]], and urethra form an integrated entity covered superficially by the vulval skin and its epithelial features. These parts have a shared vasculature and nerve supply and during sexual stimulation respond as a unit".<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=O'Connell HE, Hutson JM, Anderson CR, Plenter RJ |title=Anatomical relationship between urethra and clitoris |journal=J. Urol. |volume=159 |issue=6 |pages=1892–7 |date=June 1998 |pmid=9598482 |doi= 10.1016/S0022-5347(01)63188-4}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=O'Connell HE, Sanjeevan KV, Hutson JM |s2cid=26109805 |title=Anatomy of the clitoris |journal=J. Urol. |volume=174 |issue=4 Pt 1 |pages=1189–95 |date=October 2005 |pmid=16145367 |doi= 10.1097/01.ju.0000173639.38898.cd}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=O'Connell HE, Eizenberg N, Rahman M, Cleeve J |title=The anatomy of the distal vagina: towards unity |journal=J Sex Med |volume=5 |issue=8 |pages=1883–91 |date=August 2008 |pmid=18564153 |doi=10.1111/j.1743-6109.2008.00875.x }}</ref>

====Anthropological accounts====
Female ejaculation appears in 20th-century [[anthropology|anthropological]] works, such as [[Bronisław Malinowski|Malinowski]]'s Melanesian study, ''[[The Sexual Life of Savages in North-Western Melanesia|The Sexual Life of Savages]]'' (1929), and Gladwin and Sarason's ''Truk: Man in Paradise'' (1956). Malinowski states that in the language of the [[Trobriand Islands|Trobriand Island]] people, a single word is used to describe ejaculation in both male and female.<ref>{{cite book |last=Malinowski |first=Bronislaw |date=2002 |orig-year=1932 |title=The Sexual Life of Savages in North-Western Melanesia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OSQuvsbE5ooC |edition=3rd, reprint |publisher=Psychology Press |page=167 |isbn=9780415262484 |access-date=2011-10-30 }}</ref>

{{blockquote|Both the male and female discharge are called by the same name (''momona'' or ''momola''), and they ascribe to both the same origin in the kidneys, and the same function, which has nothing to do with generation, but is concerned with lubricating the membrane and increasing pleasure}}

In describing sexual relations amongst the [[Chuuk State|Chuukese]] [[Micronesians]], Gladwin and Sarason state that "Female orgasm is commonly signalled by urination".<ref>Gladwin T, Sarason SB. ''Truk: Man in paradise''. Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, NY 1956</ref> {{ill|Catherine Blackledge|pl}}<ref name=blackledge/> (p.&nbsp;205) provides a number of examples from other cultures, including the [[Uganda]]n [[Demographics of Uganda|Batoro]], [[Mohave people|Mohave]] Indians, [[Mangaia]]ns, and [[Pohnpei|Ponapese]]. (See also Chalker 2002 pp.&nbsp;531–2, Ladas et al. 1983 pp.&nbsp;74–5)

Historically in Rwanda, the [[kunyaza]] sexual technique has the reputation of triggering female ejaculation (kunyara). The ancient sexual practice has been exercised for over 150 years in east and central Africa. Amongst the Buganda tribe of Uganda, the sexual practice is called kachabali (spraying the wall).<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W2p9DwAAQBAJ |title=Akande H. Kunyaza: The Secret to Female Pleasure. Rabaah Publishers, London 2018, p. 26 |date=2018-12-16 |access-date=2019-02-16|isbn=9780957484566 |last1=Akande |first1=Habeeb |publisher=Rabaah Publishers }}</ref>