Editing Female ejaculation (section)

====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>