THE PELVIS: ANATOMY AND PLEASURE
Content warning: Non sexual nudity | medical illustrations | anatomical genital depictions
Currently writing this page
Currently writing this page
Featuring Dr. Cary Gabriel Costello and his blog The Intersex Roadshow | Hilde Atalanta art and their collective project The Vulva Gallery | The zine: Fucking Trans Women by Mira Bellwether.
Page written and illustrated by Mush
ASSUMPTIONS
When approaching bodies, we deal with a lot of assumptions. Even with other queer people we often rely on the identity descriptor of the person to assume their kind of body they have and therefore the stimulation they will like. Folks, it is a lot easier to ask: "what do you like?" Bodies varies a lot, and so the pelvis of each one! Due to natural variance of sex characteristics, or hormonal treatment, or surgery, or the passage of time. Some people don't want you even to engage with the pelvic area, while they may feel pleasure from other kind of stimulation and activities! |
PHALLOCLITORIS
As Intersex and trans activist Dr. Cary Gabriel Costello stated in his blog The Intersex Roadshow: "A phalloclitoris is a phalloclitoris, erectile and sensitive - no matter if the person possessing it is deemed male, female, or intersex." Read here the full article The Phalloclitoris: Anatomy and Ideology
To highlight the anatomical similarities between what we typically call clitoris and penis, I'm using the illustrations by Hilde Atalanta, creator of The Vulva Gallery and The Body Diversity Gallery. The tip is called glans; the body that connect the glans to the pubic bones is called cavernous body, and it ends in two bifurcated tips called crus. In the central area, between the external part of the genitalia and the anus, attached to the cavernous body (typically where is located the vaginal opening and/or the perineum), is located the spongious body and bulb (two bulbs when there is an opening, one when the opening is not present). |
Here the typical placement on the pubis (bone). You may notice that the depicted clitoris stay closer to the body due to the cavernous body placement and to the labia presence (here not depicted). The urethral opening on the penis is presented on the glans, but it can also locate down along the spongious body.
PERINEUM
The perineum is generally defined as the surface region between the pubic symphysis (pubic arch) and the coccyx (tail bone) and include the perineal body and surrounding structures. Often it is thought as only a vertical line between the vaginal opening / scrotum and the anus, rather it's a bigger diamond shaped area. It's an erogenous zone that can be stimulated with touch and pressure. |
There is this idea that pleasure only involve insertions and that it's provided by magic buttons like the G spot and the prostate, when it's more likely to involve a complex body response between organs, muscles and nerves (amplified or turned down by what we are mentally into). The area may be more sensitive due to the bulb/s (spongious body) position and size, especially if they extend more than typically illustrated. The G spot is pretty much the back of Cavernous body, and yes, prostate does stuff, and so does a full bladder and other glands. It's a play of pressure, sensations and feelings.
Putting aside what you're mentally into, it could be that you're simply built in your own way! Maybe you like more external perineum stimulation or anal due a spongious body that is more pronounced and placed lower than the vaginal opening (prostate tissue present or not). Or maybe anal is not for you if your internal organs are placed in a way that bothers you! Hormonal treatment may have changed the tissues and your response...
Here I depicted a few different perineum set ups, highlighting the structure of the phalloclitoris that we observed before. They are depicted in a semi-aroused state, to better visually convey that we often don't pay attention to a lot that is there. Those parts indeed can shrink or enlarge depending on arousal and blood flow.
Putting aside what you're mentally into, it could be that you're simply built in your own way! Maybe you like more external perineum stimulation or anal due a spongious body that is more pronounced and placed lower than the vaginal opening (prostate tissue present or not). Or maybe anal is not for you if your internal organs are placed in a way that bothers you! Hormonal treatment may have changed the tissues and your response...
Here I depicted a few different perineum set ups, highlighting the structure of the phalloclitoris that we observed before. They are depicted in a semi-aroused state, to better visually convey that we often don't pay attention to a lot that is there. Those parts indeed can shrink or enlarge depending on arousal and blood flow.
It's assumed that prostatic cells are present only in cis men, AMAB nonbinary people and trans women: perisex people with a vulva that use testosterone for gender affirming hormonal therapy, people with CAH and 46,XY present a metaplasia of cells in the internal area of the pelvis caused by the androgen. Here is study about it, made with the goal of avoiding the overdiagnosis of dysplasia. The phenomenon was also highlighted by biopsy of the tissue removed in affirmative vaginectomies in trans men and nonbinary people.
THE PUDENDAL NERVE
We commonly experience pleasure through nerves, a thick web through our bodies. They make all the physical responses possible, and their response can be amplified via regular stimulation.
We focus here on the Pudendal Nerve. It begins in the sacrum at the base of the spine and then forms three branches. One branch goes to the anal sphincter, one to the perineum, and the last branch becomes the Dorsal Nerve of the phalloclitoris (the nerve most often stimulated during sex because it generates the spasms in muscles that produce orgasms and ejaculations).
The connections of areas through nerves provide a pleasurable reaction through pressure and stimulation of areas other than the glans and shaft of the phalloclitoris. It also explains the occurrence of spontaneous erections when sitting and spread pain during menstruation (with the possible inflammation of also other nerve groups, causing in rare cases also temporary paralysis). |
[Coming soon] hormonal changes