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Throughout time there
have been reports of the expulsion of fluid from the vagina by women
during sexual arousal and/or orgasm. There were references to this
by historic scientific figures such as Aristotle and Galen, discussing
and identifying vaginal expulsions which did not seem to have the
appearance or smell of urine and did not stain bed sheets.
There were
also many references to vaginal expulsions in classical literature.
However, it is impossible to determine whether these passages are
simple reporting of what the writer actually saw or a dramatization
of popular male sexual fantasies of the times.8
The first
modern description both of female genitalia and the question of
vaginal expulsions came from the 17th century Dutch physician, Regnier
De Graaf. He stated: "The urethra is lined internally by a thin
membrane. In the lower part, near the outlet of the urinary passage,
this membrane is pierced by large ducts, or lacunae, through which
pituito-serous matter occasionally discharges in considerable quantities.
Between this very thin membrane and the fleshy fibres we have just
described there is, along the whole duct of the urethra, a whitish,
membranous substance about one finger-breadth thick which completely
surrounds the urethral canal . . . the substance could be called
quite aptly the female prostatae or corpus glandulosum,
'glandulous body."9
De Graaf's
description of the "prostate" in women in reference to the glands
surrounding the female urethra represented conventional medical
thought for almost 200 years. In 1880, Dr. Alexander Skene, professor
of gynecology in the Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn, New
York, wrote a paper describing and diagramming various glands and
ducts surrounding the female urethra. Modern science then began
to refer to them as Skene's glands, a term that is still in use
today.
In 1953,
Dr. Samuel Berkow, a urologist, came to the conclusion that the
tissue of Skene's glands was erectile when stimulated. However,
Berkow's primary interest was in urination and he believed that
the function of the "erectile tissue" was to pinch off the urethra
in order to control urination. He never explored the question of
whether it could become erect during sexual activity.10
In 1950,
the German obstetrician, Ernst Gräfenberg, wrote of observing the
expulsion of fluid from the urethra during sexual arousal. "If there
is the opportunity to observe the orgasm of such women, one can
see that large quantities of a clear, transparent fluid (that) are
expelled not from the vulva, but out of the urethra in gushes. At
first, I thought that the bladder sphincter has become defective
by the intensity of the orgasm. Involuntary expulsion of urine is
reported in sex literature. In the cases observed by us, the fluid
was examined and it had no urinary character. I am inclined to believe
that 'urine' reported to be expelled during female orgasm is not
urine, but only secretions of the intraurethral glands correlated
with the erotogenic zone along the urethra in the anterior vaginal
wall. Moreover, the profuse secretions coming out with the orgasm
have no lubricating significance, otherwise they would be produced
at the beginning of intercourse and not at the peak of orgasm."11

At the same
time, the medical and scientific establishment was highly resistant
to considering evidence of a cause for female ejaculation other
than urinary stress incontinence. Again, they (and presumably their
female patients) tended to consider ejaculation as an undesirable
bodily dysfunction, generally resulting in the women experiencing
guilt and shame. There have also been frequent reports of disapproval
and recriminations from sexual partners of women who "ejaculate"
that have often led to painful relationship issues and even dissolution
of marriages.
At this point, it should
be noted that doctors, who may be very knowledgeable in the areas
of urology and reproductive biology, have had little training or
experience in human sexuality. If a woman patient were to have evidence
of an expulsion of fluid during sensual/sexual activity, a doctor
would be unlikely to check for sensitivity through the anterior
wall of the vagina. Even if the physician were to suspect a possible
expulsion from Skene's glands, ethics would prevent most doctors
from engaging in an Ob/Gyn exam in which the patients was sexually
aroused so as to duplicate the conditions of the expulsions.
In the early 1980's,
there were several studies that concluded that what had been called
Skene's glands and/or paraurethral ducts and glands were, in fact,
not a vestigial homologue of the male prostate but, instead, a "small,
functional organ that produces female prostatic secretion and possesses
cells with neuroendocrine function, comparable to the male prostate."12
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