SEXUAL MEDICINE HISTORY: The History of Female Ejaculation

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: The existence of female ejaculation and the female prostate is controversial; however, most scientists are not aware that historians of medicine and psychology described the phenomenon of female ejaculation approximately 2,000 years ago. AIM: To review historical literature in which female ejaculation is described. METHODS: A comprehensive systematic literature review. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Emission of fluid at the acme of orgasm and/or sexual pleasure in females was considered as a description of female ejaculation and therefore all documents referring to this phenomenon are included. RESULTS: Physicians, anatomists, and psychologists in both eastern and western culture have described intellectual concepts of female ejaculation during orgasm. In ancient Asia female ejaculation was very well known and mentioned in several Chinese Taoist texts starting in the 4th century. The ancient Chinese concept of female ejaculation as independent of reproduction was supported by ancient Indian writings. First mentioned in a 7th century poem, female ejaculation and the Gräfenberg spot (G-spot) are described in detail in most works of the Kāmaśāstra. In ancient Western writings the emission of female fluid is mentioned even earlier, depicted about 300 B.C. by Aristotle and in the 2nd century by Galen. Reinjier De Graaf in the 16th century provided the first scientific description of female ejaculation and was the first to refer to the periurethral glands as the female prostate. This concept was held by other scientists during the following centuries through 1952 A.D. when Ernst Gräfenberg reported on "The role of the urethra in female orgasm. Current research provides insight into the anatomy of the female prostate and describes female ejaculation as one of its functions. CONCLUSIONS: Credible evidence exists among different cultures that the female prostate and female ejaculation have been discovered, described and then forgotten over the last 2,000 years.