Scientists claimed it was the mysterious key to sexual fulfilment. Now they say the G-spot doesn't exist. Oh well, at least we enjoyed searching for

By Linda Kelsey

Great fun: For many couples, the importance of finding the G-spot was far less than having fun trying to find it


Has the G-spot finally been laid to rest? Or merely gone into hiding? As a research team from King's College London reports in the Journal Of Sexual Medicine that their study of 1,800 women found no proof of the G-spot's existence, many women will be breathing a sigh of relief that they can finally give up the fruitless search for this sexual Holy Grail.

Others will continue to swear that finding their G-spot has infinitely improved their sex lives. And the silent majority, I suspect, will be wondering what all the fuss was about, having never much bothered - or maybe dared - to get to grips with this elusive erogenous zone.

I feel I have my own place in G-spot history - or perhaps mythology would be a more appropriate word. It was 1982 and I was deputy editor on Cosmopolitan Magazine.

There was a frisson of excitement in the air as we sat around the features conference table. We'd just heard news from the U.S. of a ground-breaking discovery.

One that could potentially have a significant role to play in women's understanding of sexual pleasure.

A trigger point had been identified inside the vagina which, when firmly pressed, caused a whole new kind of orgasm. Back in the early Eighties, a new erogenous zone was a rather more thrilling prospect than it might be today, when many women seem more interested in a designer handbag bought half-price in the sale.

I recall how we looked at one another goggle-eyed. Was this G-spot some kind of practical joke? How were we to take seriously the 'findings' of someone known as Beverly Whipple? Did she and this so-called G-spot really exist? Why hadn't anyone mentioned it before? Had we Cosmo girls been holding out on one another?


The woman who started the frenzy: Beverly Whipple, who released a book about the G-spot in 1982


Personal sexual confession was our daily bread, the inspiration for nearly all our features, but no one had said a word about this little piece of tissue, which has been described as starting out the size of a pea and extending on arousal to that of a 2p piece, as a special place of pleasure.

Such was the enthusiasm in the Cosmo office that day that one hardworking assistant requested the rest of the day off in order to embark on her own research at home.

At the magazine, we relished the prospect of a new sexual carrot to dangle before our ever-eager readers (actually, it wasn't new - but it was to us and our readers).

For a while, it felt like another beacon on the path to sexual empowerment, a welcome signal that we were on the road to equality and fulfilment. We embraced the G-spot with gusto.

Meanwhile, Beverly Whipple, now Professor Emeritus at Rutgers University, wrote a book called The G-Spot, which went on to sell 600,000 copies and spawned a new sexual revolution. Or, depending on your point of view, a new sexual neurosis.

So were we at Cosmo guilty of perpetrating sexual myths by heralding the G-spot on the cover? I don't think so. The research seemed pretty convincing at the time and we saw no reason not to share it. In fact, we felt a responsibility to share it.

Cosmo was the first magazine to talk openly about sex to young women, the first mainstream magazine to embrace a brand of feminism that allowed women to liberate themselves without losing their femininity or missing out on men.

Of course, we didn't always get it right. Some readers wrote to say they were delighted to make this new discovery, others were frustrated by their inability to nail the spot.

Andrea Burri, one of the co-authors of this week's report claiming the G-spot is a subjective idea rather than a physical reality, has rightly expressed concern that women who feared they lacked a G-spot might feel inadequate.

'It's rather irresponsible to claim the existence of an entity that has never been proven and pressure women and men, too,' she said yesterday.

But I've yet to meet a woman whose sex life has been ruined by hopelessly seeking her G-spot, and I know quite a few who've happily found theirs. The important issue raised by all this speculation about the G-spot's existence is whether focusing on the clinical aspects of sex encourages an over-emphasis on mechanical function rather than sensual, erotic, intimate pleasure, thereby reducing sexual experience to a series of expert moves, with orgasm as the essential finale.


This is an attitude likely to encourage promiscuity by promoting cheap sexual thrills at the expense of loving relationships. But while the last thing I'd advocate is loveless, mechanistic sex, in my experience it's a lack of knowledge, rather than an awareness of how your body functions, that leads to the greater unhappiness.

As a young woman in the Seventies, Cosmopolitan was my personal sex manual, rescuing me from sexual ignorance and inhibition and a real sense of being a sexual lost cause. I know I wasn't the only one who felt that way.

Before the G-spot came to prominence in the Eighties, the Hite Report, in the late Seventies, found that most women were orgasmic, but not necessarily through intercourse.

And those who were unable to achieve orgasm through intercourse felt guilty about it. That was how I felt, too, before I learned what made me tick sexually. Not many young women today would feel guilty for not having the right kind of orgasm because they so much better understand how their bodies function. And we have feminism to thank for that.

I've recently been catching up on episodes of the TV series Mad Men - set in the early Sixties - and even though I was growing up in that era myself I'm shocked, looking back, at just how badly young women were treated sexually before they started to take control of their own bodies and their own lives.

If anything has got lost along the path to sexual knowledge it is the understanding that great sex is as much in the head as it is in the body. Mechanistic sex results in a pleasure that lasts only as long as the orgasm itself, whereas sex that embraces all the senses, resulting in orgasm or not, can leave you with a glow, a sense of well-being that lasts for days, reinforcing long-term relationships as well as cementing new ones.

For me, the G-spot is neither here nor there. Or, as a friend of mine, married for 20 years, put it succinctly: 'I've never found mine, but I've had a helluva lot of fun with my husband looking for it.'

I'm still a believer (and if you're not, maybe you should blame your man)By FLIC EVERETT

Most so-called 'sex experts', including me, have a few key phrases in their armoury of advice. 'Spice it up' is one. 'Invest in some sexy underwear' is another. But the most useful orgasm-enhancing suggestion has long been: 'Find your G-spot.'

Admittedly, few of us are doctors, and even fewer have engaged in lengthy studies of the female orgasm. But, until now, we've trusted the scientists who have.

Which is why it comes as something of a surprise that new research suggests the G-spot - which these scientists insisted was the key to sexual pleasure - may in fact be as much of a myth as the unicorn.


Keep at it: It may or may not be there... but it can't hurt to try and try again


The elusive spot was 'discovered' in 1944, by gynaecologist Ernst Grafenberg, and is named in his honour. He concluded that the G-spot was a bundle of ultra-sensitive nerve endings located between one and two inches up, on the front interior wall of the vagina, and that when stimulated correctly, it can produce sensations entirely separate from a standard orgasm.

His claims sent sex researchers into a frenzy that has not abated nearly 70 years on. Entire books have been penned on the G-spot - recent publications include Understanding The G Spot by Donald L. Hicks, and The G-Spot PlayGuide: 7 Simple Steps To G-Spot Heaven! by Kim Switnicki.

These supposed experts are fully convinced that a world of ecstasy awaits, just as soon as you can find the portal. (Even though most of their tortuous directions are about as accurate as the early sat-navs).


Even I, in my book Sex Tips For Girls a few years ago, offered tentative advice on locating this erotic El Dorado - though I did admit that perhaps not everyone has one.

Which is the key problem with most of the research. Without undertaking a global survey of every woman, it's always appeared impossible to determine whether some women are born lucky; whether we all are, but only some of us meet a partner who can unlock this sexual treasure, or whether every female who claims to have a G-spot is just a fantasist.

An Italian study, published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine in 2008, may provide an explanation. Dr Emmanuele Jannini of the University of L'Aquila used ultrasound to scan nine women who claimed they could experience vaginal orgasm, and 11 who could not.

All those who could showed evidence of a thicker wall of tissue between the urethra and vagina, at the point where the G-spot would sit. Without the extra nerve endings contained in this tissue, Jannini explained, women would be physically unable to experience this elusive orgasm.

Clearly, there is no comprehensive agreement on whether the G-spot exists at all - although one would think that the millions of women who believe they have one can't all be wrong.

And as an agony aunt who receives sackloads of mail regarding the inadequacy of young men's sexual performance, I have to assume that some women have a G-spot, but few are with men who can find it.

Whatever the truth, there's an entire industry devoted to the G-spot. On the internet there are instructional videos, explaining how to track it down with the accompaniment of flute music and flickering tea-lights.

More alarmingly, fresh from the U.S., there's even G-spot enhancement surgery, whereby for around £800, a 'qualified cosmetic surgeon' will inject collagen into your vagina to make it more sensitive. How this helps if you don't have one in the first place is not explained.

If it does exist, however, it's useful way beyond its orgasmic potential. Because according to renowned sexologist Beverly Whipple, author of The G-Spot And Other Discoveries About Human Sexuality published in 1982, a series of experiments on lab rats demonstrated that an orgasm has a more powerful pain-blocking effect than morphine.

Further studies on human volunteers found that when pressure was applied to the G-spot area, women's pain threshold rose by 47 per cent. Even Whipple admits, however, that: 'It may be that not all women have this distinct area, or the lack of universality may be due to the different criteria for identifying this area.'

In short, much like all the other research, the upshot seems to be, 'Er - we don't really know.'

For those who assume they don't have one, though, this latest study may prove reassuring.

Perhaps I and my fellow sexperts have been a little too gung-ho in the assumption that all it takes is a free evening and a thoughtful partner to experience G-force thrills.

Nobody wants to feel as if the rest of the world is shrieking with joy, while they're glumly wondering what all the fuss is about.

So after all these years, the answer to the million-dollar question: 'Does the G-spot exist?' is finally revealed. And it's a resounding... maybe.

source: dailymail