A diagram of the internal anatomy of the clitoris (Picture: Lovehoney)
Just 3% of Brits can successfully identify what body part this diagram represents, leaving us to wonder how many people paid attention in sex education classes.
Lovehoney launched a ‘Great British Cliteracy Test’ which surveyed 2,000 UK adults to determine how well they knew the female anatomy, and the results were telling.
Participants were shown the above diagram and hardly any knew the image depicts the internal anatomy of the clitoris, this is despite 32% of Brits claiming they would be able to recognise the internal structure of the pleasure organ.
And it wasn’t just men who couldn’t put their finger on it, just 3% of women knew what the diagram showed, compared to 2% of guys.
When it came to wrong guesses, 24% of the UK thought it was the heart, 13% said it was the vagina, and 10% of people said ovaries.
But it’s not just female internal structures we’re unfamiliar with. Nearly all Brits (90%) claimed they knew the location of the glans clitoris (the visible part), but again, less than a third (30%) accurately labelled it on a diagram.
Women performed no better than men, with 29% of men labelling theglans clitoris correctly, and 30% of ladies doing the same.
Just 30% correctly labelled A as the clitoris (Picture: Lovehoney)
Why can’t we find the clitoris?
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There are many reasons why a lot of Brits may struggle to identify the female anatomy correctly.
Firstly, the full internal anatomy of the clitoris wasn’t mapped until 1998, and the first 3D images of it weren’t produced until 2008.
And it seems like our sex education is falling short, too, with 66% reporting they were never formally educated about the clitoris, and 78% saying teachers failed to properly cover female pleasure.
Instead, 16% of women shared they taught themselves everything they know about their own anatomy, and 22% of men said they learned about female pleasure and anatomy from their partner.
For 18% of respondents they’ve turned to AI to ask specifically about clitoral stimulation. This number is higher among men (23%) than women (13%), and highest among Gen Z and millennials.
Did you know?
The clitoris is the pleasure centre of the female reproductive anatomy
It has over 10,000 nerve endings, more than double that of a penis
It’s the only human organ whose primary function is pleasure
The root of the word ‘clitoris’ is often thought to stem from Ancient Greece, ‘kleitoris’, meaning ‘Little Hill’ or ‘To Rub’
Of course, porn also played a part with 13% of men still relying on explicit content to understand the female body.
‘Sexuality education in school and university needs an urgent make-over,’ says Dr Suzanne Belton, an expert in sexual and reproductive health.
‘It appears generations of people are oblivious about their genitals or other peoples, and clearly when they are rubbing genitals the biggest losers are heterosexual women, which likely contributes to women’s lack of orgasms.’
The orgasm gap still hasn’t closed
Despite the term ‘orgasm gap’ being around since the late 1990s, sadly it’s still not closed, and men climax more frequently than women.
Female pleasure still doesn’t happen at the same frequency as men (Picture: Getty Images/Westend61)
Tellingly, 23% of men believe their female partner orgasms every time they have penetrative sex, but just 11% of women say this is the case.
Lovehoney has labelled this the ‘orgasm assumption gap’, the difference between perception of pleasure and really experiencing it.
Worryingly, just one third of men said they focused on the clitoris during sex, when this is the main way women reach climax. In fact, 13% of women say they ‘almost never’ or ‘never’ orgasm from penetrative sex alone.
‘Sexual pleasure is individual, and not everyone prioritises orgasm during self-pleasure,’ sexual health nurse, Sarah Mulindwa, explains. ‘However the clitoris contains a dense network of nerve endings and for many women is central to orgasm, if that is their goal.
‘Clitoral stimulation is not about prescribing a single method of pleasure, but about encouraging exploration and understanding.’
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