It is, in fact, a life-sized 3D printed model of a clitoris.
This was something I had printed by a friend for possible inclusion in an episode of QI (I think it was in my final year on the show during the 'O' Series - the Over and Ova episode perhaps?). It's a 'rough' sample rather than a finished and polished model but you can, at least, see the form.
Incredibly, the full shape and extent of the clitoris was only revealed to the world in 2005 by Australian urologist Helen O’Connell. Yes, indeed, it took 2000 years for scientists - okay, let's face it, men - to find the clitoris.
The history of sexual anatomy is also the history of sexual politics and it's not a story to be proud of. Throughout history, the clitoris has been lost, found and lost again, with male anatomists jostling one another over who deserves credit for its 'discovery.' The church hated it because it was an organ - in fact, the only human organ - that exists just for pleasure, Consequently, it was deemed to be sinful. The French physician who dissected the organ for the first time in 1545 named it membre honteux or 'the shameful member' - and declared its sole purpose to be related to urination. And in some cultures, women and girls are forced to have the clitoral hood and outer labia cut away and mutilated to 'keep them pure'. Such is the history of its stigma, it is still inadequately portrayed in most anatomy textbooks, which is utterly ridiculous and shameful.
The name clitoris comes from the Greek kleitoris, which has been translated as both 'little hill' and 'to rub', which may be a saucy ancient play on words. However, as you can see, it consists of a lot more than a 'little hill'. Around 90% of its mass lies beneath the surface like an erotic iceberg. It is a sprawling mass of nerves and blood vessels that connect to the urethra, the vagina and the labia. The plump wishbone shape encircles the vagina, with arms that flare out up to nine centimetres into the pelvis. And all of the parts beneath the surface are made of erectile tissue, meaning they swell with blood when aroused and get even bigger.
We should all know this.
We should have all been taught this in school. The only thing shameful about the clitoris is that it's taken so long for its purpose and form to become common knowledge. But, thankfully, things are starting to improve. And the arrival of important ventures like London's Vagina Museum - founded and directed by the wonderful Florence Schechter, one of my ex-colleagues at QI, coincidentally - are doing brilliant work in busting myths and dismissing ridiculous taboos about female sexuality, sexual anatomy and such subjects as menstruation and orgasm.
And, interestingly, it sits on a shelf in my study next to several figures that, in other cultures, are or were objects of veneration. That seems singularly appropriate to me.
(From L to R: Seated figure of Tara, a fertility god of the Canary Islands, a Malaysian mythical Sea Dragon (possibly a Makara), and a 3D printed copy of the Willendorf Venus figure from Austria.)
It's only taken 2000 years but, at last, the truth is out there now.
And it's never going to be lost again.
No comments:
Post a Comment