Editing Orgasm (section)

==== Clitoral and vaginal relationships ====
{{Further|G-spot#Society and culture}}
Accounts that the vagina is capable of producing orgasms continue to be subject to debate because, in addition to the vagina's low concentration of nerve endings, reports of the G-spot's location are inconsistent—it appears to be nonexistent in some women and may be an extension of another structure, such as the [[Skene's gland]] or the clitoris, which is a part of the Skene's gland.<ref name="O'Connell" /><ref name="Pappas" /><ref name="Kilchevsky" /><ref name="Balon, Segraves">{{cite book |vauthors = Balon R, Segraves RT |title = Clinical Manual of Sexual Disorders |publisher = [[American Psychiatric Association|American Psychiatric Pub]] |date = 2009 |access-date = January 24, 2014 |page = 258 |isbn = 978-1-58562-905-3 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=YuP3Hb0TMLQC&pg=PA258 |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140627021747/http://books.google.com/books?id=YuP3Hb0TMLQC&pg=PA258 |archive-date = June 27, 2014 }}</ref> In a January 2012 ''[[The Journal of Sexual Medicine]]'' review examining years of research into the existence of the G-spot, scholars state that "[r]eports in the public media would lead one to believe the G-spot is a well-characterized entity capable of providing extreme sexual stimulation, yet this is far from the truth".<ref name="Kilchevsky" />

Possible explanations for the G-spot were examined by Masters and Johnson, who were the first researchers to determine that the clitoral structures surround and extend along and within the labia. In addition to observing that the majority of their female subjects could only have clitoral orgasms, they found that both clitoral and vaginal orgasms had the same stages of physical response. On this basis, they argue that clitoral stimulation is the source of both kinds of orgasms,<ref name="Archer, Lloyd" /><ref name="Masters and Johnson" /> reasoning that the clitoris is stimulated during penetration by friction against its hood; their notion that this provides the clitoris with sufficient sexual stimulation has been criticized by researchers such as [[Elisabeth Lloyd]].<ref name="Lloyd" />

Australian [[Urology|urologist]] Helen O'Connell's 2005 research additionally indicates a connection between orgasms experienced vaginally and the clitoris, suggesting that clitoral tissue extends into the anterior wall of the vagina and that therefore clitoral and vaginal orgasms are of the same origin.<ref name="O'Connell" /> Some studies, using [[medical ultrasound]], have found physiological evidence of the G-spot in women who report having orgasms during vaginal intercourse,<ref name="Acton" /><ref name="Buss, Meston">{{cite book |vauthors = Buss DM, Meston CM |title = Why Women Have Sex: Understanding Sexual Motivations from Adventure to Revenge (and Everything in Between) |publisher = [[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan]] |date = 2009 |access-date = January 24, 2014 |pages = 35–36 |isbn = 978-1-4299-5522-5 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=slyflT85lXIC&pg=PA35 |archive-date = February 27, 2023 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230227055118/https://books.google.com/books?id=slyflT85lXIC&pg=PA35 |url-status = live }}</ref> but O'Connell suggests that the clitoris's interconnected relationship with the vagina is the physiological explanation for the conjectured G-spot. Having used [[Magnetic resonance imaging|MRI]] technology which enabled her to note a direct relationship between the legs or roots of the clitoris and the erectile tissue of the "clitoral bulbs" and corpora, and the distal [[urethra]] and vagina, she stated that the vaginal wall is the clitoris; that lifting the skin off the vagina on the side walls reveals the bulbs of the clitoris—triangular, crescental masses of erectile tissue.<ref name="O'Connell" /> O'Connell et al., who performed dissections on the female genitals of [[cadaver]]s and used photography to map the structure of nerves in the clitoris, were already aware that the clitoris is more than just its glans and asserted in 1998 that there is more erectile tissue associated with the clitoris than is generally described in anatomical textbooks.<ref name="Sloane" /><ref name="Archer, Lloyd" /> They concluded that some females have more extensive clitoral tissues and nerves than others, especially having observed this in young cadavers as compared to elderly ones,<ref name="Sloane" /><ref name="Archer, Lloyd" /> and therefore whereas the majority of females can only achieve orgasm by direct stimulation of the external parts of the clitoris, the stimulation of the more generalized tissues of the clitoris via intercourse may be sufficient for others.<ref name="O'Connell" />

French researchers Odile Buisson and Pierre Foldès report similar findings to that of O'Connell's. In 2008, they published the first complete 3D sonogram via medical [[ultrasound]] of the stimulated clitoris, and republished it in 2009 with new research, demonstrating the ways in which erectile tissue of the clitoris engorges and surrounds the vagina, arguing that women may be able to achieve vaginal orgasm via stimulation of the G-spot because the highly innervated clitoris is pulled closely to the anterior wall of the vagina when the woman is sexually aroused and during vaginal penetration. They assert that since the front wall of the vagina is inextricably linked with the internal parts of the clitoris, stimulating the vagina without activating the clitoris may be next to impossible.<ref name="Pappas" /><ref name="Acton">See here [https://books.google.com/books?id=amNcvrLCGZEC&pg=PT98] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230227055137/https://books.google.com/books?id=amNcvrLCGZEC&pg=PT98|date=February 27, 2023}} for the 2009 King's College London's findings on the G-spot and [https://books.google.com/books?id=kP9bCflZpVkC&pg=PA145 page 145] {{webarchive|url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20151028201436/https://books.google.com/books?id=kP9bCflZpVkC&pg=PA145|date=October 28, 2015}} for ultrasound/physiological material with regard to the G-spot. {{cite book |author=Ashton Acton |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=slyflT85lXIC&pg=PA35 |title=Issues in Sexuality and Sexual Behavior Research: 2011 Edition |date=2012 |publisher=[[ScholarlyEditions]] |isbn=978-1-4649-6687-3 |access-date=January 24, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230227055118/https://books.google.com/books?id=slyflT85lXIC&pg=PA35 |archive-date=February 27, 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Carroll2">{{cite book |last = Carroll |first = Janell L. |title = Discovery Series: Human Sexuality |edition = 1st |publisher = [[Cengage]] |isbn = 978-1-111-84189-8 |date = 2013<!-- NOTE: Copyright date is 2013 inside of the book. --> |page = 103 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=gU3SZSh-eXsC&pg=PT135 |access-date = October 21, 2015 |archive-date = February 27, 2023 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230227055158/https://books.google.com/books?id=gU3SZSh-eXsC&pg=PT135 |url-status = live }}</ref><ref name="Buisson and Foldès 2009">{{cite journal |last1 = Buisson |first1 = Odile |last2 = Foldès |first2 = Pierre |title = The clitoral complex: a dynamic sonographic study |journal = [[The Journal of Sexual Medicine]] |volume = 6 |issue = 5 |pages = 1223–31 |date = 2009 |pmid = 19453931 |doi = 10.1111/j.1743-6109.2009.01231.x |s2cid = 5096396 }}</ref> In their 2009 published study, the "coronal planes during [[Perineum|perineal]] contraction and finger penetration demonstrated a close relationship between the root of the clitoris and the anterior vaginal wall". Buisson and Foldès suggest "the special sensitivity of the lower anterior vaginal wall could be explained by pressure and movement of clitoris's root during a vaginal penetration and subsequent perineal contraction".<ref name="Acton" /><ref name="Buisson and Foldès 2009" />

Supporting a distinct G-spot is a study by [[Rutgers University]], published 2011, which was the first to map the female genitals onto the sensory portion of the brain;<ref name="Komisaruk 2" /> brain scans showed that the brain registered distinct feelings between stimulating the clitoris, the cervix and the vaginal wall&nbsp;– where the G-spot is reported to be&nbsp;– when several women stimulated themselves in a [[Functional magnetic resonance imaging|functional magnetic resonance]] (fMRI) machine.<ref name="Komisaruk 2" /><ref name="Pappas" /> "I think that the bulk of the evidence shows that the G-spot is not a particular thing," stated [[Barry Komisaruk]], head of the research findings. "It's not like saying, 'What is the thyroid gland?' The G-spot is more of a thing like New York City is a thing. It's a region, it's a convergence of many different structures."<ref name="Kilchevsky" /> Commenting on Komisaruk's research and other findings, [[Emmanuele&nbsp;A. Jannini]], a professor of endocrinology at the University of Aquila in Italy, acknowledges a series of essays published in March 2012 in ''[[The Journal of Sexual Medicine]]'', which document evidence that vaginal and clitoral orgasms are separate phenomena that activate different areas of the brain and possibly suggest key psychological differences between women.<ref name="Pappas" />