The G spot: myth or reality ?

Exploring the Mystery of Female Pleasure

This article invites us to discover the mysteries of this enigmatic zone of female pleasure. The idea of ​​a specific point in the vagina, which would be the center of sexual ecstasy, emerged in the 1980s. However, to date, no definitive scientific evidence has confirmed its existence.

The idea of ​​a hypersensitive region in the vagina has spanned cultures and eras. In the West, it was dubbed the "G-spot" after Ernst Gräfenberg, a German physician who invented the contraceptive ring in 1930. In 1950, he described an "exciting zone, located on the anterior wall of the vagina" in the International Journal of Sexology.

The concept of the "G-spot" gained popularity in the 1980s with the publication of The G-Spot and Other Recent Discoveries about Human Sexuality (Holt Paperbacks) by three American researchers. This book popularized the idea of ​​the "G-spot" among the general public, although the notion is not supported by solid scientific evidence, aside from Ernst Gräfenberg's brief mention in 1950. Since then, many studies have been conducted, some reinforcing misconceptions.

The quest for the "G-spot" is like an uncertain exploration. Stimulating this spot could be the key to an intense orgasmic experience. But in reality, "subsequent studies, despite their impact, have been conducted on a small number of women and are based on limited evidence," explains Dr. Marie-Hélène Colson, sexologist and professor at the Faculty of Medicine of Marseille, in the journal Sexologies in 2010. A 1983 study, for example, conducted on only 11 women, found in four of them "a zone corresponding to the G-spot" through manual palpation, a method whose accuracy remains uncertain, according to Marie-Hélène Colson.

In 2006, the existence of a "G-spot" was called into question when a urogynecology study performed more than 100 biopsies of vaginal walls. "We found no distinctive structures on the anterior vaginal wall," they reported in The Journal of Sexual Medicine. "However, we also cannot say that the 'G-spot' does not exist," they added. They went on to explain, "It is possible that our search was not focused on the right area."

G-spot or G-zone? Another theory suggests that pleasure may not come from the vagina itself, but from the clitoris, which is stimulated during penetration. The "G-spot" could be the area where these two structures converge.

"This hypothesis seems to be confirmed by more recent studies using ultrasound," says Marie-Hélène Colson. In 2009, gynecologists Odile Buisson and Pierre Foldes performed vulvar ultrasounds on five women. They observed that penetration caused movement of the clitoris. "The root of the clitoris descended and came into contact with the anterior vaginal wall," they reported in The Journal of Sexual Medicine. "We speculate that this may intensify the contact between the vagina and the clitoris, a richly innervated organ. This is important because the lack of nerve endings in the vagina is often used as an argument against the existence of the 'G-spot,'" they continued. A year later, observing a couple in the middle of sexual intercourse using ultrasound, they confirmed this movement of the clitoris: "the root of the clitoris, under the effect of penetration, moved towards the anterior vaginal wall."

The "G-spot", a vague and controversial notion, according to Dr. Marie-Hélène Colson. In other words, the "G-spot" does not correspond to a distinct and unique area. "What we call "G-spot" is not an organ in its own right, but rather a richly innervated and vascularized area of ​​connective tissue, therefore more sensitive, located at the entrance of the vagina, along its anterior wall", explains the sexologist. Many parts of the body, at different times during the sexual experience, can contribute to orgasm. Indeed, all the structures involved in pleasure (vagina, clitoris, but also anus, bladder and vulva) are interconnected on the neurological and vascular levels. "Orgasm remains similar, regardless of the area stimulated, and its intensity depends on the number of structures involved (anus, vagina, clitoris, bladder, vulva), as well as the emotional dimension that accompanies it".