Mapping the way to G-spot utopia

When in 1950 Dr. Ernst Grafenberg described finding a surprisingly sensitive spot inside the vagina near the urethra, he made the process seem so foolproof. A medical article detailed his effortless demonstrations of the existence of this "distinct erotogenic zone" -- and the not-unexpected consequences of stimulating such a zone -- in his own patients. Anyone with a vagina could surely do the same for herself.

Well, perhaps it was that easy for him. But outside his examining room, nothing about Gräfenberg’s spot:zzFw77tO16wJ:info.med.yale.edu/therarad/summers/Grafenberg.doc has proven so simple.

In the 1980s, after nabbing a catchy new name and a starring role in a bestselling book, the G spot achieved notoriety in American sex culture. For some women, its discovery and stimulation led to mind-blowing orgasms. But for others, exploring the promised land around the urethra led only to a sense of bewilderment -- sometimes enlivened by an irritating urge to urinate.

Some researchers doubted there was anything to stimulate in the first place. A scientific article in 2001 denounced the G spot as a "modern gynecologic myth."

This might seem a bit baffling. How can 21st century researchers argue about whether a palpable part of the body in fact exists?

For one thing, there's no standard definition of the G spot. Experts advise women to explore the region about one to two inches along the front vaginal wall (the side closest to the belly, not the spine). Yet scientists disagree about what they're searching for -- a separate gland, the deep-down part of the clitoris, or something else entirely?

Meanwhile, recent research points to another stumble on the road to G-spot utopia: Whatever a G spot is, not every woman may have one.

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Tissue at issue

In 2002, a team of Italian researchers making a detailed study of the pelvic regions of 14 women found surprising differences in anatomy. Only 12 of the women possessed erectile tissue -- the nerve-infused sensitive stuff that makes up clitorises and penises -- along the front inner wall of the vagina, where the G spot is said to exist.

And only nine women had Skene glands, made of tissue that would have become the prostate gland had the female embryo turned out to be a male. (Think of male nipples. It's the same idea.)