Wednesday, January 06, 2010

My Z-Spot. And Other Astonishing Research Findings.



Are women who can't have vaginal orgasms immature and in denial of their essential feminine and passive nature? Freud thought so. Then we learned that clitoris is where the game's at. Then the G-spot which is sorta right behind the clitoris, on the inside of the vagina. If you didn't have one you didn't search hard enough! And the orgasm coming from that bit is earth-shaking. Yeah.

I cannot write seriously about any of this, but I shall try very hard. A new study using twins argues that there is no such thing as a biological G-spot:

Researchers at King's College London in the United Kingdom have brought the elusive G-spot to the forefront with a study of more than 1,800 female twins. The study suggests that there is no genetic basis for the G-spot and that environmental or psychological factors may contribute to whether a woman believes that she has a G-spot. The new study is published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine.

But the lead study author, clinical psychologist Andrea Burri, isn't sure that the question was asked in a way that accurately got the information the researchers were seeking, as reflected in the study's discussion section.

Her team did not physically examine the women for the presence of G-spots but instead gave participants a survey asking whether they believed that they had a "so called G-spot, a small area the size of a 20p coin on the front wall of your vagina that is sensitive to deep pressure?" (A 20p coin is about the size of an American nickel.)

They found that 56 percent of respondents answered "yes" and that there was no genetic correlation. But only about 30 percent said they were able to achieve orgasm during intercourse, which may indicate that women were confused by the G-spot question because stimulation of the G-spot is supposed to induce orgasm, she said.

If you have ever waded through my statistics primer you may have noticed that the question there is a little leading and that asking people of the existence of G-spots doesn't actually tell us if they exist. Using twins is a good idea if you are looking for something that might be genetic but it's not enough on its own, especially when one is studying something where the way one has sex might affect the findings and using nothing but self-evaluations in the answers.

I'm actually all for more sex research as long as it makes sex better for people, including us girly types. But so much of this research is difficult to carry out well and the conclusions tend to get a weight they should not.

And my Z-spot? I have a spot for every letter of the alphabet. That one makes me fall asleep.