Interview Beverly Whipple
Interview par mail
How would you define the G-spot? (an organ, a function, an anatomical trait? A nervous area? the "Feminine prostate"? the internal clitoris?)
The G spot is a sensitive area felt through the anterior wall of the vagina half way between the back of the pubic bone and the cervix. It swells when it is stimulated and some women find stimulation of the area very pleasurable.
Where would you say the G-spot is?
I just answered this above.
Do you think every woman has a G Spot?
I don't know. We found this sensitive area in all 400 women that our team examined, but I do not know if every woman has a G spot.
According to you, what link are there between the G-spot, pleasure in general, orgasms and female ejaculation?
With stimulation of the G spot, some women expel a fluid from the urethra that is chemically statically significantly different from urine, which we called "female ejaculation." Some women expel this fluid from clitoral stimulation. Some women experience orgasm from G spot stimulation that they report as feeling different from orgasm from clitoral stimulation. Some women experience female ejaculation with orgasm, some women experience female ejaculation without orgasm.
You were the first to talk about the G spot. Why a “spot”?
John Perry and I re-discovered this area and named it after Dr. Ernst Grafenberg, who wrote about it in 1950. Grafenberg was an Obstetrician/Gynecologist who developed the first IUD (intrauterine device).
On how many women did you “find” this G Spot? Which method did you use? How did the experiment happen back then (1981)?
During the late 1970's physicians and nurse practitioners on our team examined around 400 women using digital stimulation of the vagina. The stimulated each area asking how it felt. The women were lying on their backs. This is described in the book, The G spot and other Discoveries about Human Sexuality.
How much of the G-spot sensitivity is psychological, how much is physical? Is one side stronger than the other?
I don't know. Our team asked for responses to physical stimulation. The position from 11 o'clock to 1 o'clock, with the subject lying on her back, was reported by the subjects as being most sensitive to physical stimulation.
You are a sexologist: what was the status of sexology in 1981 when you published your book? What is its status today?
There are many of us who research women's sexual health. My whole research program has been devoted to validating women's reports of sensual and sexual pleasure.
Would you consider yourself a feminist? what are your links to feminism today?
I consider myself a humanist.
The Shere Hite report on sexuality, published a few years before your book, insisted on clitoridian pleasure. Were you trying to rehabilitate vaginal pleasure? What do you think of this “controversy” today (cliroridian VS vaginal pleasure)?
I was studying sexual responses in a human physiology laboratory that women reported as pleasurable. I was not trying to promote one kind of sexual response. As you know, there are many sexual responses that have been validated in laboratory studies, including orgasm from imagery alone, with no one, including the woman herself, touching her body.
Do you think there are economic interests in “defending” the G spot? Would you say you have interests? For instance, your book was a best seller. Did you really make a lot of money out of it?
No I did not make a lot of money from our books. I have co-authored 7 books and over 170 research articles and book chapter. I know of no economic interests in studying sexual responses in women. I am a researcher and I conduct research concerning women's health and women's sexual health.
Do you encourage G-spot injections?
I have seen no published double blind placebo controlled studies of the effectiveness of G shots. I do not encourage the use of this procedure. As far as I know, there is no research on this procedure.
Research could lead scientists to conceive a feminine Viagra in order to cure frigid women. What do you think about it?
I don't know what you mean by frigid women. There are no FDA approved products to enhance female sexual responses.
In spite of being a widely accepted expression, the G-spot has caused scientific debate for 30 years... Terry Hines reactivated the controversy in 2001, saying there was no vaginal innervations (scientifically confirmed in 2006 by R Pauls and Mutema).
Our studies have reported 4 nerves involved in sexual responses, the pudendal, hypogastic, pelvic and vagus nerves. We have fMRI of the brain data to support our findings.
Then, in 2010, Andrea Burri and Tim Spector said in their study that there was no genetical proof of the existence of the G Spot, showing there was no “anatomical” existence.
Would you say there is a controversy concerning the existence of the G-Spot?
Yes, there are people who say there is no G spot.
How did you react to King’s College study?
I had two responses. One, they eliminated women from the study who used digital stimulation, and this is the easiest way to stimulate the area of the G spot. In addition, they did not ask about positions of intercourse used to stimulate the area of the G spot and there are certain positions that stimulate this area. So more questions needed to be asked before a conclusion could be reached.
According to you, how is this debate going to evolve? When will it end?
Andrea Burri: “I think we should just eliminate the word “G-spot”. Every piece of research is important; it’s all part of a big picture. But we should stop linking it to the G-spot. Like Jannini's findings that the width of the vaginal wall is correlated with vaginal orgasm - Why does it have to prove something else? And if it’s just an extension of the clitoris (like Buisson says), then it’s not the G-spot. So why would you name it that way?”
Any answer? Why should we be looking for the G spot?
We shouldn't be looking for the G spot. We should validate pleasurable experiences reported by women.
What do you think of the state of scientific research today (concerning the G spot) in the US, in Europe?
I don't know who is conducting research concerning the G spot.
In France, Odile Buisson asserts that machism is responsible for the lack of interest around the G spot, encouraged by spiritual traditions such as christianism (specifically Catholicism). Would you agree with this explanation, in America (and elsewhere in the world)?
Anything you would like to add or say?
On pages 98-102 of Komisaruk, B.R., Whipple, B., Nasserzadeh, S, and Beyer-Flores, C. THE ORGASM ANSWER GUIDE (2010), Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Univeristy Press we say:
The G spot, or Grafenberg spot (named by Drs. John Perry and Beverly Whipple for researcher Ernst Grafenberg, who wrote about this area in 1950) is a sensitive area felt through the front (anterior, belly-side) wall of the vagina about half way between the level of the pubic bone and the cervix (along the course of the urethra). It's easier to feel the G spot with the woman lying on her back. if one or two fingers are inserted into the vagina, with the palm up, using a "come here" motion, the tissue that surrounds the urethra (through which urine passes from the bladder to the urethral opening) will begin to swell. When the spot is first touched, the woman may feel as if she needs to urinate, but if the touch continues for a few seconds longer, it may turn into a pleasurable feeling. Women have reported that they have difficulty locating and stimulating their G spot by themselves (except with a dildo, a G spot vibrator, or similar device), but they have no difficulty identifying the erotic sensation when the area is stimulated by a partner. To stimulate the G spot during vaginal intercourse, the best positions are the woman on top or rear entry, so the penis will hit the anterior wall of the vagina.
Some women describe experiencing orgasm from stimulation solely of the G spot. The orgasm resulting from stimulation of the G spot is felt deep inside the body, and a bearing-down sensation during the orgasm is commonly reported. Physiologically, the orgasm is different from an orgasm produced by clitoral stimulation. During orgasm from G spot stimulation, the cervix pushes down into the vagina. Many women experience a "blended orgasm" when the G spot and the clitoris are stimulated at the same time. We should note, however, that not all women like the feeling of stimulation of the G spot area.
Some women experience an expulsion of a small amount of fluid (about one teaspoonful) from the urethra with G spot orgasms (as well as with orgasm resulting from stimulation of other areas). The fluid produced by this "female ejaculation" has the appearance of watered-down fat-free milk. It's chemically similar to seminal fluid and is different from urine. Researcher Milan Zaviacic conducted hundreds of studies on autopsy specimens and concluded that the fluid is form the para-urethal glands, which recently have been named the "female prostate gland."Many men enjoy stimulation of their prostate, which can produce an orgasm that is accompanied by a bearing-down sensation similar to that described by women when they experience an orgasm from G spot stimulation.
Not all researchers have been able to locate the G spot, thus there is some controversy about it. Other researchers consider that the G spot is obvious. It may be that the researchers use different methods of stimulation (and thus obtain different restults0 in studying the G spot area or that not all women have a sensitive G spot area. One group of researchers recently studied twenty women and observed a correlation between vaginal orgasms and the thickness of the "clitoris urethra-vaginal complex also known as the G spot." So, pressure exerted against the anterior vaginal wall may be more effective if the G spot area is thicker, according to this new research. However, the careful terminology (clitoris urethra-vaginal complex) used by the researchers alerts us to the fact that there are several different orgasm in this highly complex body region. These include (1) the anterior vaginal wall, (2) the urethra, (3) the Skenes glands (also called the para-urethral glands or female prostate gland), (4) perhaps other glands in the region (Vestibular glands, Bartholinb's glands), (5) the surrounding muscle and connective tissue, and (6) perhaps even portions of the clitoris. The effect of G spot stimulation might primarily be the result of stimulation of just one structure (such as the female prostate gland) or it might be the result of stimulation of several sensitive structures that are close together.
We need to issue a word of caution here. There is a new procedure, called the "G Shot," in which a medical doctor injects collagen into the anterior vaginal wall to increase the volume of the G spot region. There are no controlled , scientific studies on this procedure as yet, and nothing about it has been published in peer-reviewed journals. Some women are spending thousands of dollars every four months for something that has not been scientifically documented as effective. We are unable to recommend this expensive procedure.
We suggest that if G spot stimulation feels good, then enjoy it, but don't feel compelled to find it. Some women have been frustrated in their search for their G spot. Regard it as one area of sensual and sexual pleasure that some women enjoy.
Echange d'email
Dear Odile and Cecile,
Thank you for sending me the interview. There are a number of errors and as you know, in the last chapter of the book, The G spot, we talk about not being goal oriented and not trying to find the Grafenberg spot or G spot or experience female ejaculation, etc., and we wrote that in 1982. I would be glad to comment on the interview or answer questions for you.
It is interesting that back in 2005 or so, when I was writing the Science of Orgasm (2006, Johns Hopkins Univ Press) Tim Spector contacted me a number of times about co-authoring a book with him. I could not do it because of my commitments to writing the Science of Orgasm.
I really believe that we are all interested in helping women to feel good about their sensual and sexual pleasure and not setting any experience up as a goal to achieve. In our 2010 book for the general public, The Orgasm Answer Guide, we talk about experiencing orgasm if they chose, not reaching or achieving orgasm. That has been my philosophy since I started conducing research with women sexual health in the 1970’s.
I will be in Europe in June and will be at the World Congress for Sexual Health in Glasgow.
(...)
Sincerely,
Beverly Whipple, PhD, RN, FAAN
Professor Emerita, Rutgers University
Past- Vice president and Secretary General/Treasurer, World Association for Sexual Health (WAS)
Past-president, Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality (SSSS)
Past-president, American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors and Therapists (AASECT)
Past- Director, International Society for the Study of Women's Sexual Health (ISSWSH)