Female Ejaculation and the G-Spot (8 page)

The discussion entered popular culture in 1982 with the publication of the bestselling
The G Spot and Other Recent
Discoveries About Human Sexuality
,
by Ladas,
Whipple
, and Perry.
59
The book discussed female ejaculation and brought the issue back into discussions of women's sexuality both in the medical community and among the general public.
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This was a popular account of three papers by the authors, the previous year, at the suggestion of
Alice
Khan Ladas
.
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Rebecca Chalker notes that this book was largely met with scorn, skepticism and disbelief.
10
The chapter on 'Female Ejaculation' is largely based on anecdotal testimony, and illustrates another issue in the debate, the weight placed on anecdotes and small numbers of observations rather than biomedical investigation or clinical trials.

Importantly, a number of the women stated that they had been diagnosed with urinary incontinence. The book advances another feminist theory: that because women's pleasure in their sexuality has been historically excluded, the pleasure of ejaculation has been either discounted or appropriated by health professionals as a physiological phenomenon.
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Whipple continued to publicise her discoveries, including a 9 min video made in 1981
Orgasmic
Expulsions of Fluid in the Sexually Stimulated Female
. The
Journal of Sex Research
described the debate as 'heated' in

1. Josephine Sevely then followed up her 1978 study by publishing "Eve's Secrets: A new theory of female sexuality" in 1987, emphasising an integrated rather than fragmented approach to understanding
   female sexuality
   , with the clitoris, vagina and urethra depicted as a single sexual organ.
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   This not only challenged the traditional fragmentation of female sexuality into clitoral vs. vaginal sensation, but also sexualised the urethra.
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   Bell further questions why feminists have not been more outspoken in defense of women's control over female ejaculation, pointing out that the literature frames the discussion in only five separate ways; procreation, sexual pleasure, deviance, pathology, and a scientific mystery.
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   The continuing debate is further illustrated in the angry exchange of letters between the author and researchers in the
   American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
   in 2002 following the publication of 'The G-spot: A modern gynecological myth' by Terrence Hines.
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   As of 2007,
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   and 2008
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   the existence of a female prostate and of ejaculation are a matter of debate, and articles and book chapters continue to appear with subtitles such as "Fact or Fantasy".
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   Much of the problem in arriving at a consensus relates to a failure to adopt generally agreed-on definitions
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   or research methodology. Research has used highly selected individuals, case studies, or very small numbers of subjects, making generalization difficult. For instance, much of the research into the nature of the fluid focuses on determining whether it is or contains urine. There are also problems involved in the collection of specimens and issues of contamination. Since the area of interest is para-urethral glands, it is impossible to completely separate the secretions from urine, especially considering that there may be retrograde ejaculation into the urethra towards the bladder. The best current data comes from studies where women have abstained from coitus, and where their own urine is used as a control both pre and post-orgasm. Research has attempted to use chemicals that are excreted in the urine so that any urinary contamination can be detected. Further methodological issues include the fact that the composition of the fluid appears to vary with the
   

   

   

   

   menstrual cycle,
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   and that the biochemical profile of the para-urethral tissues varies with age.
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   Other issues relate to the sensitivity and specificity of the markers chosen. The key questions are the source of the fluid produced, and its composition.
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   Some relevant findings have been presented in conferences but never published in peer review journals, and many others are in difficult to access resources.
   

   Relation to urinary incontinence
   

   

   Towards the later part of the last century, there was significant confusion between female ejaculation and
   urinary
   incontinence
   . In 1982, Bohlen explained the accepted wisdom;
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   The previously accepted notion that all fluid expelled during a woman's orgasm is urine is now being challenged...sexologists must take care not to assume now that any fluid produced at orgasm is "female ejaculate".