Editing Female ejaculation (section)

====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".