The H-spot

Okay, I skimmed the womb fury/ female hysteria article... pretty interesting stuff. My question is, was there an equivalent male diagnosis, male hysteria requiring the 'problem region' to be manually stimulated by a doctor?

As far as hymens go, I'm not surprised there's so much confusion and variation. Vaginas are lands of mystery: to scientists past and present, to those trying to navigate them for the first (or second or tenth) time, even to the owners of them. Me personally: did I ever have a hymen? Do I have a stretched hymen still? Did I have one that somehow tore without bleeding during my first painful, but bloodless, time having sex? I have no idea. All I do know as someone who has seen their fair share of naked ladies (I work in the adult industry) is that vaginas vary even more than breasts and hips and lower backs, and those body parts vary A LOT. So it's possible some certain author had a thick and/or especially deep hymen, and consequently one or more of her characters did, too. Or it's possible a writer's first partner had an especially small penis (because let's face it, penises come in quite a variety as well) so it may have been nearly halfway in when it encountered the hymen even the distance it crossed to get there wasn't exactly that vast.

Everyone's body, preferences, and experiences are unique, and that can be fun to read about. Personally, I think the majority of a writer's focus should be on things the character will have in common with (at least most of) the readers, though. That way, the readers can live vicariously through the character, and isn't it fun when that happens?

tl;dr

Well, I read about half, then skipped to the bold parts.

I like what this article has to say: http://www.scarleteen.com/article/b...known_as_the_hymen_the_myths_that_surround_it

Maryn said:

Maryn, who lost hers to the arm of a Danish modern chair

Click to expand...

I just know there's a story behind that.

We were one of those rare couples, even in 1965, that engaged in the quaint practice of 'saving it' for marriage. I happened that my new mate-for-life had an iron portcullis that took three days and ten or more painful (for her) assaults to breach. Before the wedding, her doctor had examined her as a matter of course and recommended nicking it, but her mother was against it.

Once in, I could find no trace of it. Therein lay a mystery. Its function completed, it had apparently vanished like a ghost.

My daughters and granddaughters were all advised by their doctors to start using tampons early to avoid the possible ordeal later.

Science isn't very good at answering 'why' questions, but a medically-informed best guess was that the hymen evolved to prevent infection during childhood. After all, the vagina is a subway tunnel leading right into the interior of the body. These days, simple sanitation practices, unknown even in the 19th Century, prevent most infections.

I'm in my 40's and can guarantee you that women of previous generations were absolutely not taught a thing about their own sexual anatomy aside from what goes on in order to successfully procreate.

I remember when I was 19, two girl friends and I were drinking some wine and talking sex. We began talking about kegel exercises and one of my friends looked completely perplexed at the idea that there were "muscles" down there.

Mind you, we all lived together in a small apartment and we all engaged in active sex lives. The girl who knew nothing about vaginal muscles, let's call her Cali, was probably the loudest in the bedroom of the three of us.

My friend Amber and I were shocked that Cali had so little knowledge of sex. We instantly knew that Cali was not orgasmic as muscle contractions were such a basic and uncontrollable function of orgasm.

Even crazier, was that Cali didn't even know she was inorgasmic. She thought arousal WAS orgasm.

Since we were teenaged girls, who also happened to be drinking, Amber and I were a little mean to Cali, calling her out on her ignorance and laughing at the absurdity of how she was the loudest in bed, yet she was getting the short end of the stick (pun intended).

Amber and I quickly apologized to Cali, and conducted a very candid, drunken heart-to-heart with her about what exactly she was missing out on. Cali didn't believe us. I even told Cali where she could find my vibrator should she like to try it out for herself, but only if she promised to clean it up real well before returning it to my underwear drawer. (in retrospect, Ew, gross!)

Cali figured it out on her own, btw. She bought her own vibe and conducted her own research.

I'm still friends with Cali, and we sometimes go to "candle" parties together. The last one we went to was by Pure Romance.

The point of this little tale is that women are clueless about their own anatomy. We aren't taught how things work between the thighs. I remember asking my 6th grade health teacher about a sex-ed class diagram that used medical terms to show the parts of the vulva. I asked what the purpose of the clitoris was, and my teacher said, "it functions to guide sexual intercourse."
I said, "Oh, so the boy knows were to put the penis?"
My teacher said, "Yes, so the semen can reach the egg."

I spent a long time thinking that my clitoris was some kind of semen sexton, helping those little swimmers reach their goal.

I'll close this post with, Thank God for the Internet! Young women today are very lucky to have such vast resources at their fingertips.

Question: What the heck is a "candle" party? Now that that's out of the way, I must say that I have never really thought about hymens until my doctor broke it or stretched it or whatever...Lol shouldn't be talking about this, but what the hell. Anyway I was saving that for Mr. right, but I guess the woman who doctors my vagina got it instead, lol...There was bleeding, it was painful ugh. Then she gives me this comment about how far mt cervix is down there...Ew... Anyway I have no real interest in reading about virgins. Sex is beautiful, but virgins? I don't want to read about anyone's first time. Then again, it all depends...Lol. If I am just reading general fiction, first times are fine. No worries though. If you have a hymen, it's probably not as far in there as you thought. If you don't...You don't. Doesn't matter. All that matters is the sex that you're having, not what may or may not be there...Unless you have one they have to chisel through. then, good luck. :-}

I think during fetal growth as the vagina is developing, the tissue is stretched. Some of us have more elastic tissue than others. so some hymens are more intact than others. And some require more force to tear than others. Just biology. Nothing spectacular. Not for any mystical reason. Just the way shit grows. Like that big hole in the top of your head that eventually closes. Or belly buttons- the whole inny/outy thing. Or a myriad of other various body parts that start off one way and either in fetal development or early childhood growth, move, close up or in other ways change. It just happens that the hymen is a remnant in a reproductive organ. And some weirdness developed with it. Of course by men.

In college, we bought the books we couldn't buy when we lived at home and had parties where we would get naked and look at out girly parts. And do other stuff, not in front of the other girls cause that would be ekk, eww. lol We also hired strippers and did a whole host of sexual stuff to learn about things. I also learned about latex sensitivity and why I might not enjoy sex with latex condoms. Talk about a eye opening experience. It isn't a latex allergy where I might die or anything. Nope, just a lot of burning, swelling and itching. Sex sucked until I learned about other types of condoms. lol And here I thought I was being all good using birth and disease control methods. Sheesh.

Hi-
I'm an RN, and I've seen a few hymens up-closer than I preferred!

It is possible, though not usual- and definitely over-represented in erotic fiction- for the hymen to be closer to the cervix than the opening of the vagina. Think about the wide variety in every other facet of human anatomy and you'll have some idea.

Most hymens are "broken", stretched, or partially perforated before first intercourse, but some can require more effort than others. Some aren't completely perforated during initial penetration, so the next two or three times may be painful, as well.

The hymen itself doesn't contain nerve endings, but it's attached to the vaginal wall, which does! Which explains why losing one's virginity is often painful.

I don't usually like non-academic sites, but for a more complete course in female (and male) sexual anatomy, this is a reliable, thorough, very good site:
http://informedaboutsex.com/IAS%20Anatomy%20and%20Physiology%20of%20the%20Sexual%20and%20Reproductive%20Systems.html

Just to complete the picture: there are occasionally very strong hymens that need to be perforated through surgery (Fenton's procedure). Like many posters, I wish girls were taught more about their bodies and that of course includes the hymen. Thank you for this thread, I think, ironically, that the hymen is even less talked about than other female body parts because virginity is such a mine field of old taboos and embarrassment.