In OB/GYN textbooks and journals, they will often say, “little is known.” One textbook says something like, “Female arousal and orgasm is more difficult to study because it isn’t objective and observable.” Uh yes it is. There’s tons of stuff like that.

Female sexual function is discussed in OB/GYN textbook chapters on emotional issues and psychosocial issues. Themes are “women are complicated and emotional,” “orgasm may not be necessary,” etc. “Sexual function is normal after denervation of the glans of the clitoris.”

One thing I did was analyze the context of “sexual function” in every article containing “sexual function” over 12 years in 2 highest impact OB/GYN journals. This is a good way to do it but hard to make it quantitative in a way that presents well. Basically it usually just means psychological satisfaction and ability to be penetrated without pain.

Honestly, I started looking into it in 2008. Then I was trying to write this big paper. But it got to be too traumatic for me. So I forget a lot of what I read. There are a lot of really disturbing themes.

If you compare how vulvas are treated in surgery compared to other body parts like noses and ears, it’s really messed up. The surgical anatomy is ignored. Function isn’t really considered. It’s all about how women feel bc women are complicated and emotional and just need to be told they’re pretty.

It’s also crazy to compare the literature on male versus female sexual function. With men, there is a focus on how things work. The anatomy and physiology is covered in detail. For women, it’s mainly above the waist.

All this led to me having to explain to the biggest sexual medicine expert in the U.S. (Goldstein) how clitoral denervation, caused by cutting the dorsal nerves, can happen with a clitoral hood reduction in 2017, 7 years after I realized that’s what happened to me.

I had not consented to a clitoral hood reduction and, at the time, didn’t realize what had been done because I was barely 18 and a clueless virgin who thought the loss of sensation was my fault or necessary to be “normal.” So later when I was trying to work it out, it was very confusing.