Full network of clitoral nerves mapped out for first time

134 points - today at 3:54 PM

Comments

wahern today at 5:37 PM

> the clitoris did not even make it into standard anatomy textbooks until the 38th edition of Gray’s Anatomy was published in 1995.

This seemed surprising, as it hews too close to an annoying meme in feminism and history generally, that people in prior eras were idiots. And it turns out to be wrong. The clitoris was in Gray's Anatomy until 1947, when it was removed by the editor Charles Goss for the 25th edition. See https://projects.huffingtonpost.com/projects/cliteracy/embed... Indeed, the clitoris had been depicted in Classical medical books.

Why it was removed--and stayed removed for nearly 50 years--would make for an interesting story about mid-century culture, if not for a cynical throwaway comment, though it seems nobody knows Goss' actual motivations.

ElijahLynn today at 4:54 PM

Ironic, from reading the article it actually takes a while to find the research...

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.03.18.712572v1

>>> PDF with the images

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.03.18.712572v1...

Shank today at 5:20 PM

Page 7 [0] of the report seems to indicate that FGM reconstruction actually seems to have negative outcomes post-surgery. I'm surprised by this. I'm also shocked to see how prolific FGM is too (230 million women?!).

[0]: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.03.18.712572v1...

Fraterkes today at 5:04 PM

Dumb question, why do “sensitive” spots on the body need more nerves? Couldn’t you just have the normal touch-sensing nerves and map signals from specific spots on the body to stronger/pleasurable qualia in the brain?

echelon_musk today at 6:59 PM

That 4chan pretends its Hacker News thread still lives in my head.

I still remember "Show HN: Clitly, my app for finding the Clitoris".

flexagoon today at 7:33 PM

https://archive.is/CEfWE

https://periscope.corsfix.com/?https://www.theguardian.com/s...

deleted today at 6:51 PM

wslh today at 6:43 PM

I remember that Matteo Realdo Colombo (1515-1559) [1] described the clitoris. There is a novel about the story [2] which was the finalist on one of the top Spanish literary prizes [3].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Realdo_Colombo

[2] https://www.amazon.com/Anatomist-Federico-Andahazi/dp/038549...

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premio_Planeta_de_Novela

deleted today at 4:51 PM

lentoutcry today at 3:59 PM

Done 30 years ago for penile nerves

casey2 today at 6:15 PM

[dead]

mock-possum today at 4:39 PM

[flagged]

codeduck today at 4:30 PM

[flagged]

luxuryballs today at 5:58 PM

“Hey Jarvis…”

metalman today at 6:44 PM

I know I have assisted in mapping out the full network of nerves of the clitorus, not that it was put quite that way, but the sentiment was there.