Recently, Dr. Ju Young Lee built upon the research of Dr. Helen O’Connell and created a complete 3D mapping of the nerves of the clitoris. What they found was extraordinary. 

There are several complex tree-like branching nerves that innervate the mons pubis, clitoral hood, and skin folds of the vulva. And that’s in addition to the 10,000 nerve endings on your clitoral glans.

Historically, these nerves weren’t visible through normal dissection. The medical establishment hypothesized that there was only one nerve that gradually diminished as it reached the clitoral glans (not a huge surprise since the internal clitoris is the least studied organ on the human body and was only added to Gray’s Anatomy in 1998). 

However, using advanced X-ray technology, these women were able to prove that there are several nerves that innervate the internal clitoris that branch out over several distinct areas of your vulva. 

Here we see the 3D rendering of the internal clitoris. The green and pink areas – the corpus cavernosum and corpus spongiosum – are the erectile tissue, the areas that fill up with blood when stimulated by touch or vibration (note that we have as much erectile tissue as a penis but it’s inside the body). 

The blue area – the venous network – is the vascular system – the veins, that carry the blood to the green and pink areas (the erectile tissue). Note the shape of the internal clitoris and how the wishbone shape cascades down on both sides of the vaginal opening.

Now for the new amazing part. The yellow multi-strand area is the main nerve – the dorsal nerve – of the internal clitoris. The dorsal nerve runs up both sides (the legs and bulbs of the clitoris) and continues down your clitoral shaft and straight onto your clitoral glans. This is why your pubic mound can be sensitive and a good place to begin touching/vibrating to kick start the blood flow into your erectile tissue. I like to take my vibe on low and press into my pubic bone right above my clitoral glans as a warm up. 

And this is why most women like to stimulate their clitoral shaft – that ligament that connects the clitoral glans to the pubic bone – that lies right under your clitoral hood. By massaging and vibrating that area you’re lighting up your dorsal nerve and slowly building up to direct clitoral stimulation. 

Not only is there no diminishing point as the dorsal vein runs onto the clitoral glans, but it branches out innervating both sides with several complex tree-like branching forms.

The blue, red, pink, green, and yellow areas are distinct branches of the dorsal nerve that innervate different areas of the clitoral glans. If you look at section A, you see the complex nature of each nerve branch. Nothing peeters out; in fact, the nerve branches out and reaches more area.

This explains why direct clitoral stimulation can feel like it’s “too much” when we’re not fully aroused. Before we can touch these complex nerve branches we need to warm up with a vulva massage starting with the areas around the clitoral glans. When we touch/vibrate our pubic mound and clitoral hood/shaft, we’re lighting up the dorsal nerve and getting blood flow into our erectile tissue so we can generate our internal erection. 

That brings me to the labial nerve.

This is my favorite part of the research. These orange strands cascading down past each side of your internal clitoris (the legs and bulbs of the clitoris) innervate your inner and outer labia. They start above the clitoral glans and extend down on either side of the vaginal opening. 

This is why vulva massage and working your fingers into the folds of your labia is so important to starting your arousal. When we take our pointer and middle fingers on one hand and place them in between our inner and outer labia – then run them up the length of our vulva – up past the clitoral glans and down to our vaginal opening – we are stimulating the labial nerves. We call this stroke the “wishbone” and many women enjoy it.  

When we take both pointer fingers and place them on either side of our inner labia and “flutter” our inner labia – we are stimulating the labial nerves. If I had to pick one vulva massage stroke that most women enjoy, it would be the flutter.

This is why vulva massage is essential.  This is why we must start with indirect clitoral stimulation and end with direct clitoral stimulation. When we slow walk our arousal – touching, massaging, gradually adding low vibration to the areas around the clitoral glans – we feel more because we stimulating these nerves and generating blood flow. 

Sensation builds as we fill our erectile tissue with blood and engage the dorsal and labial nerves before we go for the clitoral glans. The sensations are small but they build and build with each wave of orgasm. I can’t touch my clitoral glans until I’ve had 2-3 orgasm waves.

Pleasure takes time but not that much time. We need 15 minutes of build up and then we’re ready to ride the orgasm waves. This week, during my self-pleasure sessions, I noticed that my vulva felt extra sensitive. I wondered whether it was hormonal or stress-related. This morning she was super sensitive again and I feel that viewing these images and knowing how complex the nerves that innervate my clitoral system are shifted something. 

Maybe the numbness we feel has nothing to do with our bodies and everything to do with the active campaign to deny the complexity of our sex organ. Ultimately, we have as much erectile tissue as a penis, several complex tree-like branching nerves (over 10,000 nerve endings just on the glans), and a wall of muscle behind it (the pelvic floor muscle).   

Thank you Dr. Ju Young Lee and Dr. Helen O’Connell for proving what Betty knew all along: women have the most sophisticated sex organ on the planet capable of endless pleasure that never ages. Women are bottomless pits of pleasure.

Carlin had the honor of working with Betty Dodson for 13 years and seeing her off the planet.

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