The clitoris: the whole organ — what your body already knows

The clitoris is one of the most overlooked organs in the human body.

Yet all little girls discover it very early — sometimes even before birth, during intra-uterine life.

It is a hidden organ, long taboo, rarely discussed. Once silenced and shameful, it is fortunately gaining ground in public discourse.

It is time to give it its due.

An organ present before birth

The female foetus begins developing its clitoris as early as the eighth week of pregnancy. Observational studies have shown that some female foetuses spontaneously stimulate themselves in utero.

This is not insignificant.

It means the female body has known this organ long before medicine deigned to take an interest in it — and long before society decided it was something to be ashamed of.

The clitoris is not a modern discovery. Medicine is the one that fell behind.

What anatomy kept from you

For centuries, the clitoris was depicted as a simple dot — a small visible bump on the outside, whose purpose no one quite knew what to make of.

What we know today changes everything.

The clitoris is in fact an internal organ, vast and complex. What we see — the clitoral glans — is merely the tip of an iceberg.

The complete organ includes:

— the glans (the external, visible part)

— the clitoral body (which extends inward)

— two vestibular bulbs (on either side of the vagina)

— two crura (anchored to the pubic bones)

— the suspensory ligament

Together they form a vast network of erectile tissue, fascia, muscles and nerves — deeply embedded in the pelvis.

While anatomical descriptions of the clitoris existed well before — notably the remarkable work of anatomist Georg Ludwig Kobelt in 1844 — Australian urologist Helen O'Connell had to, in 1998, reestablish them using modern imaging techniques. Decades of medical silence had erased what science already knew.

8,000 to 10,000 nerve endings

The clitoris has between 8,000 and 10,000 nerve endings — two to two-and-a-half times more than the penis (Pascali-Bonaro, Frontiers in Global Women's Health, 2025).

It is the most innervated organ in the human body, across all categories.

All this nerve density serves a purpose — and it goes far beyond pleasure.

At the heart of this network: the pudendal nerve. Once called the "nerve of shame" — the Latin word pudendum means shame. This is how medicine referred to female genitalia for centuries.

They named the nerve of female pleasure: shame.

This is not linguistics. It is politics.

This nerve innervates the entire pelvic floor. It connects the clitoris to the uterus, pelvic muscles, and sphincters. Everything is connected.

It is through this nerve that clitoral stimulation triggers the release of beta-endorphins — the body's natural painkillers — and lowers cortisol levels, the stress hormone.

What women secretly know

Many women already know intuitively about the powers of this zone.

Who hasn't, on an evening of painful periods or insomnia, simply stroked or stimulated this area to find relief?

This is not coincidence. It is physiology.

Yet many women do not allow themselves to explore this area alone — because they were taught it was reserved for sexual sharing with a partner. Because it is not done. Because it is taboo.

And many others simply do not know their own body — nor the extraordinary potential of this zone, whether for pleasure or for relieving pain.

This, in my view, is one of the great injustices done to women.

When medicine erased an organ

Martin Winckler — doctor and author of "Le choeur des femmes" — was one of the first in France to name what many women already knew: French medicine exerts systemic violence on female bodies.

This violence begins with ignorance. And sometimes, it begins with silence.

Ignoring an organ. Not teaching it in medical schools. Removing the clitoris from anatomical diagrams — which happened in some 20th-century medical textbooks. Not taking seriously the pain that relates to it.

Dr Gerard Leleu, French sexologist and doctor, author of "La caresse de Venus" and the Traite des caresses (over one million copies sold), devoted his life to rehabilitating female pleasure as a dimension of health in its own right.

Rina Nissim, in "Mamamélis — Manuel de gynécologie naturopathique à l'usage des femmes", poses the same fundamental question: what if women took back their bodies, their gynaecological health, their natural tools?

Alexandra Hubin and Caroline Michel, in "Entre mis labios, mi clitoris" (Éditions Urano), methodically dismantle the myths surrounding this organ and restore its real place in female sexuality and health.

It is no coincidence that all these works converge on the same point: the female body has been erased. It is coming back.

What I hear in consultations

As a naturopath, I support women who have gynaecological pain of all kinds.

Pain in the clitoris, itching of the labia, dryness, tingling, burning, infections, thrush, unusual discharge.

For each of these symptoms, the first step is to rule out any pathology or STI. Then — and this is where naturopathy comes in — we look for root causes, holistically.

Is it an inflammation problem? Dysbiosis? Tissue and fascial adhesions? An osteo-articular origin? Were there painful or violent sexual encounters, irritation from hygiene products, cosmetics, lubricants, allergies?

It is not systematic. Every woman is different. Every terrain is unique.

I also see many women who suffer from unexplained pain in the pudendal nerve area — and who face a real obstacle course to be heard.

Their pain is minimised. It is belittled. Sometimes it is implied to be imaginary.

Medical ignorance. Gynaecological violence. Medical wandering, from one test to the next, without a reliable answer.

These women exist. Their pain is real. And natural tools exist to support them.

An organ that deserves to be known

The clitoris is not merely an organ of pleasure.

It is a major neurological organ. A pain regulator. A zone of connection between the physical body, the emotional state, and the nervous system.

Ancient traditions — from Tantrism to Ayurvedic medicine, to South American shamanic practices — have always integrated female sexuality as a fully therapeutic dimension, without obligation, without performance, in respect of each woman's rhythm.

This is no coincidence. Women have often known, long before science measured it.

What naturopathy proposes is simply to give every woman the keys to her own body — with gentleness, with respect, and without judgement.

Through many natural tools, used in the right way, well selected and tested, we gradually find methods that each woman will adapt and make her own for greater wellbeing.

In this series:

→ The clitoris: the whole organ — what your body already knows

→ What if the clitoris also helped relieve pain?

To go further

This article is part of a series on the clitoris and women's health.

If you would like to explore these topics with me, I offer personalised naturopathy consultations, in person in Aljezur (Portugal) and remotely for the entire Francophone world.

Book an appointment →

Naturo Women Training — from September 2026!

10 workshops to understand your female body, ease your pain, and take your health back into your hands. A naturopathic hygienic and holistic approach.

Discover the training → fannynaturo.com/ateliers-en-ligne