The sodal construction of female : a cross-cultural study

Alissa Levine Department of Sodology, McGill University, Montreal

December 2001

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfiUment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

© Alissa Levine 2001

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Canada For Julia, of course Abstract

This study presents cross-cultural research into women's sexuality, and orgasm in particular. Qualitative interviews of women who have undergone excision of the and women who have not form the core of my data. My analysis indicates that female orgasm in diverse societies is problematized and controlled, causing me to postulate nurnerous similarities between women despite cultural and physical differences. One of the most significant findings is that similar attitudes toward the clitoris rnight be invoked to explain both its rernoval, ln excising societies, and clitoral-vaginal theoretical bifurcations in non-excising ones.

The originality of my theoretical approach is to examme vanous types of social constructionism. 1 dernonstrate its pertinence to an understanding of the literaI construction of the body through social practices or social imperatives which deterrnine physical reality. My Llse of the term constructionism as anti-essentialism also enables me to identify cornmon components of drive theory in diverse cultures, and to demonstrate their lack of correlation with sexual behavior. Finally, constructionism is a crucial element to my analysis of subjective beliefs concerning female orgasm. Interpretation of physiological response supports a belief in clitoral-vaginal opposition in defiance of the interdependence of these two organs, thereby reflecting the constructionist insistence upon reality as socially defined.

ID The originality of this research lies in Hs comparative perspective and resulting emphasis on similarities in culturally diverse groups. Female sexuality and orgasm are filtered through social existence. A physiological response can thus be denied or substantiated by social means.

•

iv Résumé

Dans cette étude, il est question de recherches interculturelles sur la sexualité et, plus particulièrement, l'orgasme de la femme. Les données proviennent principalement d'entrevues qualitatives auprès de femmes ayant subi l'excision du clitoris ainsi qu'auprès de femmes n'ayant subi aucune intervention. L'analyse de ces données indique que l'orgasme de la femme, dans diverses sociétés, est perçu comme étant problématique et qu'il est par conséquent contrôlé; cela m'amène à postuler de nombreuses similitudes entre femmes en dépit de leurs différences culturelles et physiques. Découverte particulièrement significative: on peut invoquer des attitudes anti­ clitoridiennes pour tenir compte à la fois de l'enlèvement du clitoris, en sociétés excisantes, tout comme de la bifurcation théorique entre clitoris et vagin en sociétés non-excisantes.

Mon approche théorique se distingue par un examen de diverses formes de construction sociale. L'approche implique la construction littérale du corps à travers des pratiques ou des impératifs sociaux qui déterminent la réalité physique, bien entendu. Mais la construction sociale sous-entend aussi une approche anti­ essentialiste, me permettant d'identifier les éléments de la théorie des pulsions sexuelles que partagent de multiples sociétés, et de démontrer à quel point ces éléments ne correspondent pas au comportement sexuel. Enfin, la théorie de la construction sociale s'avère indispensable à l'étude des croyances concernant l'orgasme • féminin. L'interprétation d'une réponse foncièrement physiologique

v soutient une opposition entre clitoris et vagin qui obscurcit l'interdépendance des deux organes, insistant plutôt sur la définition subjective de la réalité.

Je fais preuve d'originalité en menant cette étude comparative qui met l'accent sur les similitudes entre des groupes qui sont culturellement divers. La sexualité et l'orgasme de la femme sont aperçus à travers un filtre social. Il est ainsi possible de nier l'existence d'une réponse physiologique, tout comme il est possible de la réifer par des moyens SOCIaux.

vi Acknowledgments

1 want first of aIl to thank Suzanne Staggenborg, my dissertation supervisor, for her insightful readings and critique. She constantly emphasized the need for an articulation of the interconnections between the data and underlying theory. In struggling to answer her questions, 1 developed and strengthened my argument immensely.

1 also want to thank my other readers, in particular Prue Rains, who read several chapters and made extremely helpful suggestions on them; and Martine Lévesque, whose enthusiastic reading of the final draft was a source of inestimable encouragement in the last months of the project.

1 was able to devote myself to the interview and research process thanks to fellowships from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, a McGill Major fellowship, and through my work as a research assistant on a study at the Université de Montréal funded by Health Canada (PNRDS R0005900): Traditional Practices Affecting the Physical and Mental Health of Women: Excision and infibulation--the current situation and perspectives for the future.

1 am grateful to the principal researcher of the Université de Montréal study, Bilkis Vissandjée, for bringing me on board and supporting my research interests. My subsequent analysis of the interviews was in large part possible thanks to the work of fellow

vu assistants Lretitia Aït'Hachimi and Mireille Kantiebo, who collaborated in the Traditional Practices study. The work of numerous interviewers and collaborators provided me with a wealth of data for my thesis. 1 am also grateful to the many women who participated in the interviews, whose interests and concerns helped shape this thesis.

Finally, 1 must express my heartfelt appreciation to everyone who supported me on a more personal level. My family and friends encouraged me to pursue my studies. And numerous caregivers have made it possible for me to reach my goal since the birth of my daughter, Julia, last year. 1 want to thank those in the Thifault clan who helped care for Julia, especially Marraine Michèle.

Dominique, your love and support have pulled me through. Thank­ you.

Vlll TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT Hi RÉsUMÉ v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS vii

Chapter 1: Introduction 1 1.0 Social Constructionism 5 2.0 M ethodology 9 3.0 Organization of the Chapters 1 4

Chapter 2: Gender into Sex 1 9 1.0 Definitions 21 1.1 Sex into gender, or sexed gender 2 1 1.2 Gender into Sex, or gendered sex 23 2.0 Problems with the separate spheres approach: sex as beyond the scope of social critique 2 7 3.0 Gendered sex and genital representation 3 1 3.1 Excision 3 1 3.2 A shift away from excision as natural completion 3 6 3.3 Becoming female 37 3.4 Transsexuality 4 1 4.0 Gendered sexual response: the masculine clitoris 45 4.1 Excision and sexual response 45 4.2 The intact and sexual response 48 Conclusion 5 1

Chapter 3: Virginities 55 1.0 Virginity as a Prerequisite for 56 1.1 Comparing excised with infibulated women on marriageability 57 2.0 New conjugal concerns 6 1 3.0 Honor and virginity 62 3.1 On a new perception of excision as shameful 6 3 4.0 Constructions of Virginity 64 4.1 On bodily signs of and activity 67 4.2 reconstruction 72 4.3 Virginity in the West 7 4 4.4 PerpetuaI Virginity 77 4.5 Renewal of the infibulation, or reinfibulation 7 8 4.6 Analogous procedures among infibulating and intact women 81 4.7 Episiotomy repau and vaginal tightness 85 Conclusion 8 7

Chapter 4: Sexual Activity and Sexual Control 91 1.0 The Sex Drive 92 1.1 Sexual activity or intercourse among the excised 93 1.2 stemming from sensitivity 94 1.3 The Problem of Desire 96 1.4 Sensitivity and Desire 97 1.5 Sexual activity due to lack of control 101 1.6 Control through excision 102 1.7 Incidence of sexual intercourse despite excision 104 1.8 Why do Canadian women have sex? 106 1.9 Sex despite lack of orgasm or pleasure within a monogamous relationship 107 1.10 Sex to keep/please the man 108 1.11 Sex despite pain 109 1.12 Sex despite lack of orgasm or pleasure within a casual relationship 110 1.13 Control of the Canadian-born 113 1.14 Against drive theory 115 2.0 Contextual considerations 116 2.1 Sexual intercourse as 116 2.2 Relational and recreational sex 120 2.3 Love and Sex 125 Conclusion 127

Chapter 5: The Social Construction of Clitoral Orgasm 1 3 1 1.0 Popular discourse on the clitoris 133 1.1 The nameless organ, or the clitoris as taboo 1 3 6 2.0 Medical (mis}understandings 143 2.1 Continuing controversy about the role of the clitoris ln the medical literature 147 3. a Excised informants on orgasmic impairment 149 3.1 The literature on ritual excision and sexual response 1 5 2 4. a A postmodern appropriation of the clitoris 157 4.1 The cHtoral-vaginal proximity hypothesis 159 4.2 A discourse of difference 162 4.3 Implicit compansons 164 Conclusion 169

Chapter 6: The Social Construction of Vaginal Orgasm 172 1.0 Freudian clitoral-vaginal transfer 174 1.1 CHtoral-vaginal proximity surgery 177 1.2 Current distinctions 17 9 2.0 Vaginal orgasm as orgasm during intercourse 180 2.1 Coital anorgasmia 184 2.2 on 187 2.3 Pleasure as Orgasm 188 2.4 The role of the clitoris in coital orgasm 1 90 3.0 Vaginal orgasm as a distinct yet undefined entity 193 3.1 Intact and excised informants' perceptions of undefined vaginal orgasm 194 4.0 Vaginal orgasm as a distinct and defined entity 199 4.1 The G-spot 200 4.2 Intact and excised informants' perceptions of the G-spot204 4.3 On the lack of evidence for the G-spot 204 4.4 Female 206 4.5 Intact informants' perceptions of 207 4.6 Ejaculation and female sexual inadequacy 210 4.7 On the impossibility of deconstructing the G-spot and female ejaculation 212 Conclusion 213

Chapter 7: Conclusion 215 Directions for future research 225 Concerning the practice of excision 225 Historical work on either the excised or the intact 227 Comparative work on the excised and intact 228 Continuing cHtoral-vaginal cleavages 228 Concluding remarks 231

REFERENCES 233

APPENDICES 265 Chapter 1

Introduction

My research began with a simple curiosity about women's experience of their own sexuality: in what ways might sexual response, and orgasm in particular, be socially influenced? My curiosity had been sparked by two ostensibly separate issues. The first was the practice of the removal of the clitoris, or excision.! The second was the perceived persistence of clitoral-vaginal dichotomization in the West. How might these two issues be compared? 1 postulated that they both involved an effacement of the clitoris. In order to investigate this daim, 1 would need to discover how women who had undergone genital surgery, as well as those who had not, thought about orgasm and related issues.

Of course, my preconceptions were to influence the overall choice of informant pools and the framing of questions. In previous research on immigrants from Africa (Levine 1999), 1 had focused on rhual genital interventions involving the removal of the clitoris and vaginal lips. My research was largely policy-oriented, aimed

1 Excision involves the removal of part or aU of the clitoris, and sometimes also the small vaginal lips. Infibulation almost always involves excision foUowed by cutting and sewing or pasting together of the large vaginal lips to severely reduce the size of the vaginal opening. My reference to the excised generally includes those who have undergone either excision alone or excision foUowed by infibulation. When specification of type of surgery is pertinent, 1 refer to the excised and infibulated separately. at discovering how best to deal with the issue in immigrant populations as weIl as educating Canadians about the practices.

1 soon discovered that there was no shortage of activist material on the subject, sorne policy suggestions, and sorne ethnographie research, but virtually no sustained attempts at situating the Issue of excision within a broader comparative framework. My interviews of immigrants and visiting students had convinced me that excised women and their partners were concerned about the effects of the operations on women's orgasmic capacity and conjugal relations.

1 became convinced of the opportunity to conduct original comparative research into women' s orgasm. 1 wanted to learn what women with impaired response due to excision had to say about sex and whether any of it might intersect with what unoperated women experienced. Focusing my research on two groups of women with presumably disparate sexual experiences, 1 set out to study the one issue assumed to divide them more than any other: orgasm and its inhibition.

1 suspected that attitudes toward the clitoris might be invoked to explain both its removal, in excising societies, and the clitoral­ vaginal theoretical bifurcation in non-excising ones. In other words, 1 was interested in exploring similar constructions of female sexual response in diverse societies. Any similarities among them would be aH the more remarkable by virtue of

2 women' s obvious differences in terms of genital structure. Indeed, even the excised women interviewed were from a variety of ethnie groups whose genital procedures varied greatly. This was due to the interests of the larger research project 1 worked on, which 1 will discuss below. Yet it also provided the opportunity to survey a heterogeneous sample: theoretical generalizations would be aIl the more compelling due to their apparent applicability to such diverse excising and non-excising groups.

Concerning the clitoral-vaginal binary, a few of my interviews with Western health care professionals had revealed a belief that excised women could nonetheless have vaginal . Numerous conversations with friends and acquaintances had provided me with impressionistic evidence of a popular belief ln a vaginal as distinct from clitoral orgasm. Those convinced that distinct cHtoral and vaginal orgasms exist generally assumed that such an understanding was common knowledge. Gthers were convinced that aIl orgasms are clitorally linked, but also that this awareness permeates the general population. In brief, female sexual response was unproblematic because most people presumed to know and think the same thing. There were also several agnostics, curious to know whether there was more than one kind of female orgasm, skeptical about the evidence.

Beliefs about orgasm provide fertile ground for sociological inquiry, since they a represent a phenomenon about which many people have pondered, and consider themselves to have sorne

3 practical experience m. And, of course, they reveal competing conceptions, whose physiological reality is fashioned into social being. And yet, sexual response has not been the focus of much social scientific research. Sociologists Janet Rolland and colleagues (1994, 20) attribute this apparent lack of interest in the body to "a tendency to associate any sense of bodies as material with a nalve biological essentialism. This has pushed feminist theorists away from thinking about sex as both a gendered and an embodied experience." Anthropologist Carol Vance (1999, 46) similarly argues that we persist in perceiving sexuality through an essentialist lens which has only recently begun to be questioned by sorne. Other anthropologists (Broch-due 1993, 57; Broch-due and Rudie 1993, 27) have been compelled to theorize beyond "the anatomical border of the body" and criticize others for their avoidance of theorization and research on the body, an avoidance once again attributed to simplistic equations of the body with essentialism.

Sociologist Darlaine Gardetto (1993) recognizes the feminist contribution to the clitoral-vaginal debate in the late sixties and early seventies, as weIl as its insistence on the connection between excision and vaginal orgasm; arguably, both suppress clitoral response, albeit in very different ways. Thus more than thirty years ago, an important cross-cultural analogy was made, suggesting the importance of comparative research into excising and non-excising societies. Subsequent researchers, both African and Western, working in Africa, have suggested similarities

4 between excision and Western customs without exploring the issue further. My thesis represents just such an attempt at delving into the issue of female orgasm and closely related themes among excising and non-excising groups.

But even if it lS feasible to study the body without foundering in an essentialist perspective, is it possible to study sexual response without doing so? Throughout what follows, 1 will avoid essentialism through constant efforts at differentiation of physiological from social reality. 1 am interested in the tension between what is and what is believed to be. Such a stance clearly sets up a distinction between reality and beliefs about that reality, a fundamentally objectivist position.

1.0 Social Constructionism Sociological and anthropological research into sexuality typically adopts a constructionist paradigm (White, Bondurant, and Brown Travis 2000, 11-33). Usually, this simply means that "sexualities cannot be understood outside the context of cultural analysis" (Mackie 1987; Suggs and Miracle 1999; Weinberg, Ganz Swensson and Kiefer Hammersmith 1983; Welsh, Rostosky and Kawaguchi 2000, 119). Thus the term social constructionism is frequently used to label sociological sex theory and research, perhaps because research on the body is perceived as potentially essentialist; designating one' s work as social constructionist serves to emphasize an anti-essentialist stance (Money 1997, 47). My use

5 of the term situates my work within the anti-essentialist tradition and vocabulary of other sociological sex research. Most of this anti-essentialist research has very little in common with the second definition of constructionism, used to signal a commitment to subjectivism as opposed to objectivism m scientific research? But 1 do also selectively borrow from this second constructionist approach, which 1 will briefly oudine below.

Strict constructionists are interested only in studying alleged conditions, with no regard to whether the conditions exist outside of a belief in their existence. They consider that a condition exists because the people studied daim it exists, and must "suspend both commonsense commitments about what social problems are...and their own scientific judgments about which daims and definitions about these putative conditions are true" (Schneider 1985, 224). Strict social constructionism therefore concerns itself with arguments, and evidence, about how social beliefs create social realities. The latter are not necessarily distinguishable from other realities; the line between concrete object and intellectual creation is thus purportedly blurred.

1 borrow from this strain of social problems theory to the extent that 1 am interested in identifying conditions that are constructed by belief. 1 do not tread out onto the tip of the constructionist

2 But for a discussion of social research as concurrently espousing both objective and subjective components, see the article "Toward a Unified model for Social Problems Theory" by sociologists Brian Jones, Joseph McFalls and Bernard Gallagher (1989).

6 limb to daim that matter and thought are identical; 1 argue rather that concrete matter can be distinguished from belief. For instance, orgasm theoretically belongs to the bio-physiological sex side of the sex/gender equation. But an investigation of alternate belief systems about this physical occurrence constitutes a resolutely sociological problematic.

Moderate constructionists, whom Best (1995) refers to as "contextual constructionists", are also principally concerned with beliefs about alleged conditions, but permit assessment of these alleged conditions in terms of an outside reality. They are constructionists because of a dedication to the process of daimsmaking about putative conditions with a merely peripheral interest in an outside reality (Best 1995, 350).

Constant reference in my thesis to an objective reality, and my use of constructionism to designate false beliefs about this reality, disqualify me from the ranks of even the more moderate, contextual designation. 1 retain constructionist theory for its contribution to an understanding of subjective beliefs. It is, ln my estimation, valuable because it emphasizes the significance of social beliefs. Essentially, 1 am arguing that interpretation of bodies and physiological response have led to subjective definitions and have circumscribed sexual possibilities. Social constructionism is also typically used in this way in other

7 saciological studies of sexuality (see, for instance, Daniel and Parker 1993; Sayers 1982).3

The early constructionist Herbert Blumer (1971, 305) recognized the value of objectivist social problems research "as a corrective for ignorance or misinformation." I am simply proposing that when such erroneous beliefs circulate, they may constitute social constructions. It is not, then, unreasonable to link objectivist research with social constructions which are the result of mistaken beliefs.

Yet, smce I am not prepared to treat unfounded beliefs on a level field with actual things, I align myself with less orthodox constructionists, for whom the term social construction is used to refer to the substantiation of things, be they objects or phenomena, that objective scientific analysis has failed to confirm. Yet to label something as socially constructed is not to argue that it does not exist in any sense. It rather emphasizes that it is treated as if it exists--and may have far-ranging effects in terms of beliefs and related actions, as the Thomas theorem points out: "if [people] define situations as real, they are real in their consequences" (1966 [1931], 301). In this sense, a social construction, though not objectively tangible, can be argued to exist. Also, it may yet be shown to objectively exist. The scientific

3 Sociologists Arlene Stein and Ken Plummer (1994) point out that other social scientific and humanities researchers and philosophers have also adopted this form of constructionism, which is a central tenet of what is referred to as queer theory.

8 method never rules out this possibility. My task in this thesis is therefore to examine how certain beliefs are effectively constructed despite a lack of scientific evidence for their existence.4

Social constructionism can thus be used to refer to mistaken beliefs about orgasm. But 1 also use the term to discuss social practices which determine physical reality. Such is the case with sexual surgeries, or with restrictions on sexual activity, arguably variants on the inhibition of sexual response. 1 retain social constructionism's recognition of the potency of made realities-­ most intriguing in the case of the modification of physiological response--without adopting a relativist, anti-positivist stance. Renee 1 argue that the cumulative advanees of science do not necessarily enjoy progressive or inevitable social acceptance: constructionism is a good way of accounting for popular beliefs, which can then be assessed using objective scientific methods.

2.0 Methodology

Qualitative, open-ended interviews of both intact and genitally­ impaired5 women form the core of my data: 1 personally

4 l resist the temptation to introduce the term "social substantiation" to distinguish my brand of constructionism from strict or moderate constructionism because, in so doing, 1 would distance myself from the use of the term linked to anti-essentialism; my work is thus constructionist because it ties in with other sociological research opposing essentialism and because it shares with strict and moderate constructionists an emphasis on the significance of the social definition of reality. 5 1 refer to the first group of informants as the "Canadian-born" or as intact, signifying genitaHy intact; those who no longer have a clitoris are referred to alternately as the "African-born", genitally impaired, or

9 conducted 19 interviews (15 of intact and 4 of excised women) and oversaw 162 others of men and women from excising and infibulating countries as a research assistant for a Canada-wide study on excision and infibulation.6 96 of the 162 African-born informants were women, and of these, not aU had undergone excision or infibulation. 1 narrowed my analysis to those who had themselves undergone either excision or infibulation, concentrating on the 39 excised and 18 infibulated women? Generally lasting from forty-five minutes to two hours, the interviews took place in the home of the informant or another suitable site, and were tape recorded and transcribed for analysis.

Interviews of the immigrant group were mainly conducted by other interviewers in the context of the above-mentioned research project entitled Traditional Practices Affecting the Physical and Mental Health of Women: Excision and Infibulation-­ The Current Situation and Perspectives for the Future. Conducted from 1997 to 1999, the Université de Montréal study was concerned with immigrants from excising and infibulating excised. Clitoridectomy, female circumCISlOn and female genital mutilation (FGM) are also used in the literature. 6 For demographic information concerning the intact, excised, and infibulated women, see Appendix A. See Appendix B for more information about the Traditional Practices study. 7 Thus, as weIl as leaving aside the analysis of the men's interviews, 1 chose not to concentrate on the data from intact women from excising groups, intact women from non-excising groups, and those for whom it was unclear if any procedure had been performed, since their experiences are very different from those having undergone a procedure. 1 do include a few of their opinions in the general analysis of sex and gender in Chapter 2, however. Analysis of these categories--particularly of men's opinions and women who were not subjected to these normative procedures---should prove invaluable to future research.

10 countdes and their knowledge and expenence of, and beliefs about, excision and infibulation.

The highly sensitive, taboo issues of eXCISIOn and infibulation required equally sensitive methods of inquiry. Snowball sampling, considered a valuable technique for sampling rare populations (Sudman and Kalton 1986, 413), was used. Of course, the information gathered with this scientifically unrepresentative method is not generalizable to a population beyond the sample itself. However, it is theoretically generalizable; Robert Yin (1984) emphasizes that non-probabilistic research nonetheless enables us to advance and refine our theoretical perspectives, and thus allows for "analytic" or "theoretical generalization." David Snow and Leon Anderson (1991, 166) further underline the importance of theoretical generalization for the study of marginal groups, including ethnie minorities, since they are often best studied using non-quantifiable techniques.

My involvement in the development of the questionnaire guide allowed me to include two questions directly related to my own research: question 23(d) asks "Does reinfibulation affect intimacy?" and question 27 states: ["term established by the informant to refer to excision or infibulation"] involves the removal of intimate body parts. Does this have an effect on the woman's sexuality?" While 1 did not conduct these initial interviews, a colleague and 1 were responsible for training interviewers and overseeing the interview process.

11 It was initially expected that informants would be reluctant to answer the sexually explicit questions. It turned out, however, that they were not only willing to respond to the sex questions, but that the entire interview often turned into a forum for discussing sex! Asked about the medical implications of excision, for instance, respondents discussed the sexual impairment of women. Asked about tradition and the cultural meaning of the practice, they discussed the sexual control of girls and women. Because of these and other unexpectedly frank--and sexually charged--interpretations, the initial questionnaire provided an unexpected wealth of data. 1 subsequently did a few more interviews of these women III order to clarify concepts and obtain elaboration on several points. These interviews of Montreal informants--who shall be referred to by the pseudonyms Alyan, Balim, Caryl and Daras --also followed the format of my own, more sexually explicit interview guide.

The second interview schedule for these African-born immigrants was thus quite similar to the one 1 used with the Canadian-born

8 1 use pseudonyms only for the women 1 interviewed myself. Admittedly, the codes used to identify the other interviews have a depersonalizing effect, but they also serve to distinguish those interviews conducted by others from those conducted by me. In addition, 1 felt that giving names to women 1 had never met might give a false sense of familiarity. The codes themselves do have the advantage of providing complementary information, including the city in which the interview was conducted and the type of genital operation undergone. Finally, the codes should permit comparison with other analyses conducted using the same data base, since they reflect the standardized codes used for the PNRDS project.

12 women 1 subsequently interviewed.9 General questions about sexuality were followed by more specifie inquiries into female sexual response, clitoral and vaginal differentiation, the role of the clitoris, and various other of the respondent' s past and present perceptions of, and attitudes toward, female sexuality. Questions about infibulation and reinfibulation, and their effects on sexuality, were addressed only to immigrants from practicing countries. But both recent immigrants and European-origin (Canadian-born) informants were nonetheless asked to comment on genital surgeries and their outcomes.

Convenience sampling from a multiplicity of initial contacts was the method of choiee for my interviews on female sexuality in non-excising cultures. 1 interviewed 15 white, Canadian-born women who were neither friends nor acquaintances. They will be referred to by their pseudonyms--Emily, Fabienne, Gillian, Hélène, Irene, Jane, Karen, Lisette, Marie, Nathalie, Olive, Phoebe, Quilène, Ruth and Sandrine. The qualitative approach of course limits the number of interviews any one researcher is able to conduct and analyze. Yet it was essential to developing a riehly textured understanding of the issues of interest. By posing open-ended questions, 1 was able to elicit the nuanced answers necessary to an exploratory study of female orgasm.

9 The Canadian-born informants were interviewed from March to December 1999. AH of the interviews took place in the Montreal area. See Appendix C for a copy of the interview schedule.

13 Complementary sources indude my prevlOus interviews with health care professionals, immigrants and visiting students from excising countries (see also Levine 1999)/° and a questionnaire on orgasm which 1 distributed to Canadian-born women in the context of an earlier research project,ll The literature studied reflects the interdisciplinary focus of research into the social implications of a medical issue, requiring me to examine the medical and psychological, as weIl as anthropological, sociological and gender studies literature. An interest in familiar interpretations of orgasm also led me to survey popular magazines, and recent books on sexual response aimed at a mass audience. This aIlowed me to both identify the concepts which continue to be circulated in the medical and popular literature, and assess the daims being made about female orgasm.

3.0 Organization of the Chapters It is, of course, possible to inhibit sexual response by social means, a point to be explored in Chapters 2, 3 and 4. But interwoven with the latter point is the suggestion that a physiological response is highly malleable, setting the stage for my ultimate daim, in Chapters 5 and 6, that an inteIlectual construction can take precedence over basic biological reality. How can a physiologie reaction be sociaIly dependent? The answer is manifold, and is addressed from various angles in each of the chapters.

10 1 interviewed 4 doctors (and consulted 3 others), 4 nurses, and 15 immigrants or visiting students from excising or infibulating groups. 11 See Appendix D for a copy of the questionnaire.

14 Throughout, comparative research with excised, infibulated, and intact women will be invaluable to an understanding of orgasm and how it is perceived. The interviews with these women suggest variants on the theme of female orgasm.

In Chapter 2, entitled Gender into Sex, the connections between the concepts of sex and gender are explored for their direct and indirect links to sexual response. In the case of the excised, physical interventions determine the modification of the sex organs. Sex and gender are thus not so neatly divisible in excising cultures. But the difficulty of distinguishing the two in Western culture IS also discussed. To an extent, my argument about sex and gender IS a variation on my argument about concrete objects versus socially constructed ones; the sex organs constitute reality, gender signifies how that reality is interpreted and is allowed to express itself.

Chapter 3, Virginities, was inspired by the excised and infibulated women' s focus on this issue in relation to genital surgery. The importance of virginity and its link to sexual control will thus be explored. Comparable notions among the Canadian-born informants provide a cross-cultural perspective. Finally, vanous procedures, including vaginal tightening of the infibulated as weIl as Western women, and "renewed virginities", will be examined as evidence of the plasticity of the virginity concept. The genital interventions of diverse societies suggest that it is possible to physically and socially (re)construct virginity.

15 The term social constructionism in these two chapters serves mainly to emphasize the representation of physical bodies and the modification or reconfiguration of the female genitalia. Association of actual bodily interventions with social constructionism suggests a highly literaI use of the concept of constructionism: it refers to the effect of social imperatives on physical "construction" of the body. More nuanced definitions of constructionism will be explored in the subsequent chapters.

Chapter 4, Sexual Activity and Control, deals with the social control of supposedly natural urges. Theories of desire and control are explored, including the hypothetical link between sexual activity and desire, and sensitivity and desire. Sensitivity and desire are inferred from sexual intercourse and are, especially for the excising groups, considered powerful sexual forces. The empirical data are most illuminating on these issues, as they cast doubt on the popular assumptions about the links between sensitivity, desire, and sexual intercourse, and offer explanations for the inefficacy of efforts at controlling them.

Use of the term social constructionism III this chapter most closely resembles its use in other sociological sex research as that representing the social theory opposing essentialist drive them'y. The originality of my approach is to undertake an analysis of what 1 identify as the components of drive theory in diverse cultures,

16 and to demonstrate a lack of correlation of these factors with actual sexual behavior.

Chapters 5 and 6 detail how orgasm is socially defined to minimize the role of the clitoris and overemphasize that of the . The resulting denial of the clitoris is reflected in myriad ways: its absence from discussions of female sexual response ln , medical manuals, and the popular media is remarkable; the Canadian-born respondents were often unsure as ta how crucial a role it plays in orgasm. Against this confusion, the vaginal orgasm and related concepts, like the G-spot, are constructed. Women's belief in their existence provides important clues to the impermeability of social beliefs to science, and the power and maintenance of a socially constituted belief in a sexual response that exists because it is said to exist, independent of one's own experience.

Social constructionism in these two chapters involves the analysis of popular beliefs/claims about orgasm, and in this way reflects the constructionist insistence upon reality as socially defined. My further analysis of these claims against a second level of objective reality nonetheless differentiates my approach from that of strict and even moderate constructionists, who are interested mainly ln the claims themselves instead of their constant evaluation.

Wamen's orgasm is effectively problematized in different ways by different cultures. The similarities and variants therein constitute

17 the empirical evidence for my argument that female orgasm is filtered through social existence, and even owes its existence to variously socially constructed dictates. In other words, a physiological response can be denied or substantiated by social means. Indeed, my subject is sociologically significant because it 1S about the power of the social to control physiology and shape perceptions and ideas about it. My thesis is thus a testament to the power of the social over even those domains usually considered out of the realm of the social.

18 Chapter 2

Gender into Sex

Trespassing onto the sex side of the sex/gender divide signaIs a certain disregard for the divide itself. Mine is, 1 will argue, a necessary intrusion, given the rich social implications of certain elements of sex and the body which have been overlooked, perhaps in part due to their affiliation with sex as opposed to gender. Situating my thesis within the theoretical literature on sex and gender, 1 will underline an undesirable effect of the distinction between the two: to set apart the sex side of the equation posits it as essential and thus impermeable to social critique.

This, unfortunately, "relegates sex to the realm of the 'natural' and therefore the untheorizable in feminist terms" (Hausman 1995, lX; see also Oudshoorn 1994, 3). As a component of the sex half of the sex/gender split, "[s]exual behavior has been seen in the past, and it continues to be seen, as solely determined by biology" (Kaplan and Rogers 1990, 217). Because of this perception, sexual behavior in general and sexual response ln particular have, 1 would argue, been undertheorized and underexamined by social scientists.

Using empirical evidence to question the sex/gender theoretical divide, both in the West and in excising societies, my research and interview data will reveal difficulties in applying the distinction. An ultimate, partial acceptance of the binary will elucidate its connection to social constructionist them-y. Both the sex/gender distinction and social constructionism attempt to deal with the split between reality and hs interpretation. By combining the general theory of social constructionism with the more specific sex/gender theoretical split, 1 will establish the theoretical foundations for the arguments to follow in the rest of the thesis, and provide justification for my sociological study of the sex side of the sex/gender divide.

1 will begin by exammmg definitions of sex and gender before providing a nuance between two approaches to research which makes use of these concepts, which 1 refer to as sexed gender and gendered sex. Focusing on the latter concept, 1 will deal principally here with how practice informs theory, the reality of bodies challenging and resituating theoretical distinctions between sex and gender, since it is readings on biased science, and my interviews of excised and intact women, which first attuned me to the problematic treatment of sex in theory and practice.

1 will consider the most straightforward instances of gendered sex: sex whhout social interaction as exemplified by the behavior of sex chromosomes and the early embryo. 1 will then take on cases of sex/gender interaction, including excision, transsexuality, and definitions of womanhood provided by informants, excised and intact alike, as good examples of the gendered body, or gendered sex. Finally 1 will argue that both excision and Western clitoral-vaginal distinctions

20 represent significant examples of gendered sex ln the form of gendered sexual response.

1.0 Definitions The now conventional distinction between sex and gender admittedly guides theoretical interpretation away from an earlier constraining, sex­ is-all model, to a more nuanced consideration, enabling a shift in focus from sex as an undifferentiated term to sex as the biological basis for social interpretation, gender. As Joan Scott (1999 [1986], 66) emphasizes, gender is "based on perceived differences between the sexes." Gender is the subjective treatment of sex. This is how sex and gender have been generally understood at least since the 1970s. But from the perspective of social analysis, sex qua sex seems, according to the conceptual division, to designate that which is not social and to subsequently merit no more than peripheral regard by social scientists.

Of course, sociological research into sexual behavior partially bridges the gap. Yet it typically concentrates on behavior per se as opposed to the ways in which bodily structure and function are socially circumscribed. Whereas a sociologist of sexuality might focus on the circumstances of sexual interaction, 1 focus on the effect of circumstances on the physical body and physiology.

1.1 Sex into gender, or sexed gender The main contribution of sociological and feminist theory to the sex/gender paradigm has been to establish and examine what 1 will

21 term sexed gender, or a consideration of gender in the foreground with sex, at best, looming in the background. Growing use of the term gender since the mid 19508 (Money 1985; Oakley 1972; Stoller 1968) probably helped us to move away from a worldview in which the term sex exhausted the conceptual horizon,! and suggested that social differences between the sexes were due to innate biological differences. That is, the foundations of much of what were once thought to be grounded in sex differences (and thus unchangeable) could be at least questioned, and even exposed as ideological, instead.2

Much feminist and gender theory focuses on how gender is sexed (sexed gender); this has been how the sex/gender divide has been operationalized, and provides a part of the theoretical basis for situating the empirical data 1 have collected. 1 will not elaborate on these points for the moment, since gender is a well-established subject for sociological study which is not in need of explanation nor justification. 1 will more thoroughly examine gender issues, particularly the subordination of women in sexual matters, in the next two chapters, on virginities (Chapter 3) and sexual activity and control (Chapter 4).

1 Gardetto (1993, 196) traces the roots of the sex/gender distinction back even further, to the late 1800s: "The sexologist's focus on the individual and on variation opened the way for a new way to think about sex--sexuality as an experience distinct from ." 2 The existence of the term gender was not enough to stimulate a binary distinction, though; gender served merely as a synonym for sex from the fourteenth to the nineteenth century (Hausman 1995, 7).

22 1.2 Gender into Sex, or gendered sex3 The sex/gender distinction often appears to relegate to separate spheres what might better be conceived of as conjoining spheres, resulting in a lack of reflection across sex/gender Hnes. In terms of sociological analysis, this has implied an underexamination of the sex side of the binary, or what 1 term gendered sex in an effort to underline the influence of gender upon the body. The semantic shift--from sexed gender to gendered sex--is intended to refocus sex in the foreground, questioning the social implications of the body.

But what of the body--the biological facts themselves? Since their examination is dependent upon analysis through a social lens, sociological analysis of the sex side of the divide is warranted. While a lack of sociological research on specifically sexual issues has been remarked upon, particularly in the past decade,4 it has more rarely been taken up as a subject of analysis. Nevertheless, theorists of sex and gender do point out the recent introduction of competing conceptions of sex and gender. The "social construct" (gender) versus "biological given" (sex) view is not shared by aIl: it has been remarked that, in practice, sex melds with gender, due to inevitable reflexivity.

Judith Butler (1993, 5), for instance, argues that "gender consists of the social meanings that sex assumes" and that sex therefore "is replaced by

3 The phrase "gender into sex" was inspired by Hausman (1995), who employs the inverse, sex into gender. The terms sexed gender and gendered sex are my own.

23 the social meanings it takes on; sex is relinquished in the course of that assumption, and gender emerges... as the term which absorbs and displaces 'sex' (emphasis in original)." She then suggests that the sex/ must be reworked to reflect the interdependence of its constitutive elements: gender, as "the social construction of sex" renders access to sex impossible other than through itself, or what 1 would call a gendered lens. As a result, sex is wholly dependent on gender, and even imaginary.

1 would counter that the fusion of sex into gender is avoidable by emphasizing the concept of differing levels of reality, a concept already established in my reading of social constructionism: sex is admittedly apprehended through interpretation--gender--and this interpretation represents one level of reality. This level is the one we can see, the one we create, and the one vulnerable to false constructions. A belief in the independence of c1itoral and vaginal sexual response is an example of a false construction which will be outlined in the present chapter, and examined more fully in Chapters 5 and 6.

Yet there is necessarily a second assumed level, admittedly inaccessible directly since interpretation, and thus a social component (gender), is always necessary. This is the pre-social level which is at the root of our theoretical conception of sex as embodied reality. As a philosophical distinction between the body and its interpretation, then, the sex/gender system is pan-historie and cross-cultural.

4 See, for instance, Moira Gatens (1992), as well as the authors cited in the introductory paragraph: Hausman (1995); Oudshoorn (1994); Kaplan and Rogers (1990).

24 Yet sex and gender are beginning to be used somewhat synonymously in relation to cross-cultural theorization, too, since sex may be considered "a culturally specifie set of ideas with little translatability across cultures" (Baden and Goetz 1997, 16). 1 agree that the female body is modified differently in different cultures; notably, sexual response is socially controlled in different ways. But the recognition that sex is subject to social influences does not preclude cross-cultural companson. Instead, similar conceptions of sex in diverse cultures-- such as the problematization of the clitoris--may suggest a certain amount of cross-cultural unity.

Bernice Hausman (1995, 179), a theorist of transsexuality and gender,5 suggests that it would be useful "to attack the category 'sex', to investigate how it operated as a concept before the current articulations of 'gender', and to reconceive the scientifie discourses that mandate its unitary nature." This is what 1 am attempting in my thesis: the study of Western notions of sexual response delves into the social side to physiological response, thus attacking the category of sex, while the study of the practiee of excision is, in addition, a way of examining pre­ gender concepts of sex. 6

Ultimately, although the definition of gender as "based on perceived differences between the sexes" (Scott 1999, 66)

5 Hausman, a professor of English, combines historical and semantic analysis in her book, Transsexualism, Technology, and the Idea of Gender. 6 But, of course, even if practitioners of excision do not themselves theorize about the sex/gender dynamic they are nonetheless subject to it.

25 problematizes gender, if doesn't emphasize that sex might be an equally troublesome concept. An examination of the sex side of the binary, or gendered sex, involves the questioning of the very category of "the sexes" as they have been perceived. As noted above, many theorists have concluded that sex and gender are operationaHy indistinguishable and therefore should be considered synonymous. Yet "to challenge biological sex glVenness altogether, one would have to resist the notion that there is any biologically given basis to sexuality at aH" (Friedman 1996, 88), a position which denies or ignores the reality of the sexed body (Norton 1997).

1 differ from theorists who reject the sex/gender distinction by insisting that there is a way to differentiate sex from gender, by accepting the theoretical a priori that sex is a non-social (pre­ social) fact whereas gender is not. In other words, sex itself is based on perceived differences; if is the result of the impression of differences as well as presumed actual differences. And these presumed actual differences are what set sex apart from gender.

With sociologist Robert Wilmott (1996, 740), 1 therefore consider that "the biological and the social are constitutive levels of a duality, where analytical dualism...can be invoked to examine their interplay" (emphasis in original).? Anthropologist Gayle

7 Wilmott's 1996 article, "Resisting sex/gender conflation: a rejoinder to John Hood-Williams" was published in The Sociological Review in response, as its title indicates, to John Hood-Williams' 1996 article in the same journal, "Goodbye to sex and gender." These articles were pivotaI to my own analysis of sex and gender. My position closely reflects Wilmott's argument.

26 Rubin similarly revised her initial (1975) position on sex and gender as inseparable: "1 am now arguing that it is essential to separate gender and sexuality analytically" (1999 [1984], 170; see also Plumwood 1989).

Throughout this chapter, 1 will suggest that the sex/gender distinction IS both misleading and conceptually necessary, "imperfect" and yet "the best conceptual device currently available to label biological versus sociological maleness and femaleness" as sociologist MarIene Mackie (1987, 5) argues. The reason why it is so important to take on the joint sex/gender paradigm is because it is imperative to reappropriate sex from the sex/gender couple as social.

This does not mean that 1 question the theoretical usefulness of incorporating a dual terminology, only that 1 believe that a lot more of sex is socially constructed than we are led to believe by the sex/gender binary. The sex/gender divide is problematic only when it is used to interpret sex as never socially constructed. The remainder of this chapter is devoted to illustrating just how it is.

2.0 Problems with the separate spheres approach: sex as beyond the scope of social critique 1 am against a separate spheres approach where sex and gender are posited as mutually exclusive, or where the former serves as the foundation for the latter (gender always as a result of sex) because this

Wilmott's critique was followed by a second article by Hood-Williams in 1997, "Real sex/fake gender: a reply to Robert Wilmott."

27 constrains our thinking and is not a realistic account of how sex and gender operate: just as sex affects gender, gendered ideas can also affect sex. Placing sex at the foundation thus results in theoretical and practical problems, with the study of sex erroneously considered outside of the realm of the social. To accept that biology, or sex, should not be subject to social scrutiny is to assume that scientists operate outside of the social world, or that their research and findings are not socially influenced.

In fact, sorne commonly accepted biological beliefs are rooted ln socially biased sex research. For instance, due to a lack of awareness of the gender bias that informed sex research, it was commonly accepted knowledge that human conception results from active seeking out a passive . It was also agreed that an undifferentiated embryo becomes male by an active surge of testosterone, but becomes female because "lacking" testosterone, that is, through the "absence" of male (Beach 1977, 6).

Critics have contended that these explanations are rooted in social definitions of male and female behavior, and that scientists molded their social views to biological phenomena. Such explanations went uncontested because they matched social expectations. Recently, the passive egg theory has been contested: the egg is apparently not passive, but actively implicates itself ln fertilization by physical and chemical means (Martin 1999 [1991]). Medical anthropologist Emily Martin has been largely

28 responsible for emphasizing this finding and pointing out persistent male bias in interpretations of it and other sex research. Thus, while progress in scientific methods has permitted a better view of biological events, that view may nonetheless be distorted by gendered interpretations.

Similarly, researchers have discovered that the female embryo probably does not develop female genitalia passively, because of a lack of male hormones, but actively synthesizes hormones crucial to genital development just as the male embryo does (Bleier 1984, 85-90; Fausto-Sterling 2000, 346-349; Lawrence and Bendixen 1992, 932). Apparently, "theories of sexual difference help to determine what scientists see and know" (Laqueur 1990, 142).

These accounts are excellent examples of what 1 have termed gendered sex, or of how sex becomes gendered. That sex is interpreted through a gendered lens indicates the interdependence of sex and gender and the corresponding necessity of applying gendered analysis to sex. Even before female and male fuse, we attribute strikingly gender concordant behavior to them. Once they have fused, accounts of how the initially undifferentiated genital tubercle becomes male or female are just as gender biased.

These twin examples represent the social construction of sex (Friedman 1996) in its most uncomplicated form, since they deal mainly with the social interpretation of biological facts. They are nonetheless pertinent to my research because they are at the chronological root of social

29 maleness and femaleness,8 and male and female differentiated genitalia, and because they are poignant examples of how sex becomes gendered through "the biologist's social construction of reality" (Kaplan and Rogers 1990, 205). Hence, one danger of adopting sex and gender as separate spheres is that scientists who are more concerned with sex will not engage ln theory about its social component, and that scientists concerned with gender will not feel qualified to scrutinize "prescientific ideas"--those that shape thinking and research (Oudshoorn 1994, 11)-­ and the evidence of a domain to which they feel they do not belong.

The result has been an unquestioning acceptance, even among social scientists, of biased descriptions. The interpretation of becoming female through lack of "male" hormones, for instance, has been so persuasive as to permeate even basic sociological accounts. In the chapter on sex and gender in their introductory sociology text, Macionis, Benoit, and Jansson (1999, 230) unwittingly ascribe to the sexist ideology, informing us that "[i]n the absence of testosterone, the embryo develops female genitals."

I am not proposing that social scientists start engagmg in embryological research, but we should be attentive to the reporting of the results of any research upon which we rely. Femaleness as the absence of elements leading to maleness is such a pervasive stereotype that it deserves to be questioned, given the important interplay of sex and gender in all domains.

8 1 refer to social maleness and femaleness instead of masculinity and to underline the link between social factors and biological ones.

30 In fact, these examples help us to see the similarities between social and "natural" scientists; the latter are just as prone, perhaps even more so, to gender bias. Scientists do not limit themselves to "describing a world that exists, they are 'creating it' with their rhetorical practices" insists sociologist and social constructionist, Ronald Troyer (1993: 121). Yet largue that it is possible to objectively analyze the world that exists, to discover, for instance, that are not passive and that females do not become female through lack of the male element, in brief, that these perceptions are based on gender bias.

3.0 Gendered sex and genital representation Genital surgeries and female sexual response are more complex instances of gendered sex, and the social construction of sexual response, since they represent a physiologieal reaction inevitably caught up in a web of social forces.

3.1 Excision In many societies, as discussed in Chapter 1, female sexuality is physicaUy altered through genital operations which usually involve partial or complete removal of the clitoris, and sometimes the further removal and/or sewing of the vaginal lips. How do such "gender­ identity practices" (Shweder 2000, 226) challenge the sex-gender distinction?

31 Rubin (1975, 178) insists that gender is created by "exacerbat[ing] biological differences." But 1 argue that biological differences themselves are influenced and exacerbated--even altered--by gendered beliefs. Such is the case with genital surgery, in which "biology itself, in fact, is partly 'constructed'" (Talle 1993, 84). Indeed, the fusion of sex and gender, that is, a lack of physical differentiation of the body from its social interpretation, is realized through excision. This procedure takes the sex/gender distinction to a new level in practical terms, and makes transparent the social definition of sexual response and, thus, sex.

Yet Morris (1995, 578) wonders, "[w]hat is the implicit status of gender that certain [genital] rites can only produce what already exists? Ras the dissolution between the categories of sex and gender permitted gender to simply replace biology as destiny?" To a certain extent, 1 would argue that this is the case. But the first part of Morris' formulation 1S problematic: how can excision "produce what already exists" if the very act of excision is what brings the female into existence? It is here that the social constructionist concept of dual levels of reality becomes analytically useful: pre-operative existence--the initial, untamed body-­ can be countered with normative, post-operative existence--the modified body.

The implicit goal of excision in many exc1smg societies is, moreover, to modify the body in order to complete nature's work, left unfinished with the birth of the intact body. To cite one excised informant, "in

32 order for her to be a complete woman, it [the clitoris] must be removed" (Caryl; FWPG014intact/excising group held a similar view).9

Genital surgery appears to contribute to self-identity by assisting nature: "As long as it hasn't been done...you don't feel like yourself' explained one informant (FMTLOOlintact/excising group). Ironically, it is through removal of parts of the genitalia that the child can begin to feel complete. This testimony coincides with anthropological accounts of rationalizations for excision: the clitoris is seen as a small and therefore a vestige of maleness; the prepuce of the pems IS seen as a vaginal fold and therefore a vestige of femaleness. Excision and infibulation entail removal of the male element, "the hard parts" (Talle 1993, 84) just as male cireumcision does away with the female element (the foreskin) (Dening 1996, 25-26).

From the creation myth of bisexuality, society must forge unambiguous male and female beings. In this way, fragmentary, bisexual existence becomes unified. Indeed, ln many excising and infibulating societies the unoperated are considered to be androgynous/o an attitude that may even be reflected in the language used to describe the intact child

9 In this chapter, 1 include the data from interviews with the other women in the Traditional Practices study who did not themselves undergo excision, since these outsiders from within offer a unique perspective on the importance and meaning attributed to excision. When the informant cited is intact, but from an excising group, she is coded as "intact/excising group"; when it is unclear if she was excised despite her affiliation with an excising group, the informant is coded as "unclear/excising group." Intact African-born women who are not from excising groups are coded as "intact." 10 For a good series of ethnographie accounts of genital surgery as resolving androgyny, see the articles by Broch-due, Talle, Strathern, and BIeie in the volume edited by Vigdis Broch-due, Ingrid Rudie and Tone BIeie (1993) Carved Flesh/Cast Selves: Gendered Symbols and Social Practices.

33 (Broch-due 1993, 56; Talle 1993, 86). Female genital eXClSlOn does appear to appropdate the body, to sex it, through social as well as physical means. Gender is confened through sexual surgery.

The operation itself appears to prodaim the importance of social definition over that of the natural forces of birth. In this sense, l would argue that excision and infibulation represent the desire to define and name through social means. In short, the goal is at least partially to consciously create the body, thereby confeuing social status and belonging. In this perspective, excision rites are arguably an indication of a society's strict organization around gender roles (Schlegel and Barry 1980).

But does this mean that sex and gender are the same thing? 1 would argue that excision provides evidence that they are perceived as conflatable. The infringement of social customs upon physical bodies effectively blurs sex and gender in practice, for once the body has been modified, it carries forever the signs of its confounded social and physical state. In this way, intervention perhaps ensures social completion of the body.

A complementary notion to excision as conferring completion is that of naturalness, normalcy. A few of the operated women ascribed to a belief in excision as natural or normal. At a loss for words, one informant could only communicate her approbation by repeating throughout her interview: "When we say it's natural, it's natural" (FMTL015excised). Another excised woman agreed, insisting, "[i]t's a

34 normal thing. 1 don't think there are disadvantages [to excision]. 1 believe ifs normal" (FMTL043excised).11

Ironically, the body needs assistance in attaining this natural state: "To leave a girl 'uncut' is held to be disgusting and 'unnatural'" emphasizes anthropologist Aud Talle (1993, 91), in an ethnographie account of Somali infibulation. An informant elaborated in similar fashion: "This means that between her legs, it isn't right [correct]. It hasn't been fixed

[réglé] (FMTL03gexcised). These perceptions of the uneut are strikingly similar to those regarding plastic surgery in the West:

When cosmetic surgeons argue that the technological elimination of 'deformities' will enhance a woman's 'natura!' beauty, we encounter one of the more persistent contradictions within the discourse of cosmetic sm'gery: namely the use of technology to augment 'nature.'" (Balsamo 1998, 231)

The equation of surgical removal with normalcy suggests a conception of the female body as problematic (in excising societies), or at least potentially so (in the West). Just as significantly, it reveals the perception of the social as merely facilitating the natura!. Nature makes mistakes which can be discerned and corrected; paradoxically, social intervention renders the body more natura!.

Il The above quotation is presented in context in Appendix E.

35 3.2 A shift away from eXClswn as natural completion While the literature on excision largely neglects shifting attitudes toward body image, 1 found that the above-mentioned notion that completion of the body requires removal of body parts was closely scrutinized by excised and infibulated informants, who concluded that they have lost a part of themselves through genital surgery.12 Relatedly, most informants who spoke in terms of naturalness and normalcy held the view that excision goes against nature, or the normal order of things. Discussing her lack of sexual feeling due to excision, an informant stressed, "that's not good, that's not normal, you know (FWPG016excised; also FMTL028excised; FHALOOlinfibulated; FTOR009infibulated).

One woman from an excising group who was left intact (FMTL018) spoke emphatically about normalcy. Recalling the taunting she suffered as a child from excised girls in her community, this informant claimed that she defended herself by insisting that she was normal.

Significantly, concerning intact women, she countered: "What IS it they are missing compared to those who undergo [excision]?" It is interesting that the intact woman is construed by the excised as missing something. That something, 1 would argue, is a social definition of herself, a legitimacy which cornes to be seen as more tangible than an absent body part, but which has come to be contested by her, and by several of the operated women themselves.

12 This sense of 10ss, or of remova1 of an integra1 part of oneself, was expressed by FMTL020excised; FMTL02gexcised; FMTL03gexcised; FMTL045excised; FHALOOlinfibu1ated; FOTT003infibu1ated.

36 Moreover, it was African-born intact women rather than the Canadian­ born intact, who were most categorical in their pronouncements on normalcy, a few going so far as to assert that the excised are not women:

If you can't even think of yourself as a woman...

1 think that when a part of YOUI body is missing, especially the clitoris...one is no longer a complete woman. (FMTL004intact; also FWPG005intact; implied by FWPGOOlintact)

3.3 Becoming female Genital excision and infibulation challenge the sex/gender distinction by ostensibly disregarding it altogether: Sex and gender are often seen as one. Thus, it is impossible to categorize individuals as male or female before they have been socially ordained into one or the other category through sexual surgery. As one informant related, as long as a mother hadn't excised her daughter, "you were not considered to even have a daughter" (FMTL007intact/excising group). It is thus clear that, in social terms, excision and infibulation may confer essential femaleness and girlhood or womanhood. The power of surgery to define femaleness and adult status is a compelling demonstration of the sex/gender fusion in excising cultures:

And when you emerge [from the initiation], you emerge matured, you have become a woman.

37 (FMTLOOlintact/excising group)

Sex and gender are fused, in practice: the initial genitalia have undeniably been altered. Sex has been altered by social intervention. Any analysis of the social modification of sex therefore implicitly recognizes it as (a) initially distinct, and (b) in practical terms, no longer distinct from gender. It is, moreover, interesting to note the conferral of both female and adult status which are in some cases contiguous with the operations. Often, though, since the operations are performed on young girls, they are seen as conferring future status as women and viable adult members of the society.

The anthropologieal literature concurs: Anke Van der Kwaak (1992, 777) notes that "the act of infibulation determines the gender identity of women." John Kennedy (1970) reports that among the chants sung during Egyptian infibulation, can be heard, "Come, you are now a woman," a belief mirrored in numerous other excising societies (see, for instance, Nelson 1987, 221).

Moreover, the prepubertal timing of most of these operations qualifies them as rites de passage, initially defined as ceremonies emphasizing the importance of social over biological definition (Ericksen-Paige and Paige 1981, 20-21). Failure to operate is considered to hinder sex/gender development, preventing maturation (Talle 1993).13 The opposite belief is also held: excision may stimulate a growth spurt, as

13 Similarly, Williamson (1983, 18) describes a tribe whose boys can only mature into men through penile blood letting imitative of (although girls' maturation does not require human intervention).

38 was noted by one of the informants (FMTL027excised). A few allusions to other hindrances were made by the informants, especially regarding a woman's ability to conceive, as 1 will discuss below.

Ann Cloudsley (1983, 127) a nurse and ethnographer who worked in the Sudan for many years, relates, "1 have known women on whom infibulation has been performed to laugh at me for not being circumcised. They consider 1 am not a 'real woman'." While eXClSlOn or infibulation may confer womanhood, this state or status is sometimes also dependent upon first sex: "The Somalis seem to believe that women have to be 'created' as females and as gendered persons" through genital surgery and, significantly, the opening of the genital scar, be it through intercourse or surgical means (Talle 1993, 101-104).

Arguably, though, the case of female genital surgery merely emphasizes what is elsewhere less obvious, that "in any culture, the categories and meanings of 'women' and 'men' are cultural or symbolic constructions rather than reflections of biological 'givens'" (Bleier 1984, 72; see also Kessler and McKenna 1978; Grtner and Whitehead 1981). Discussing virginity and the importance of hymenal blood for Moroccan women, who are not excised, Combs-Schilling (1989, 215) argues that the definition of a woman is "written on and through her own body." While the importance of sexual interaction to the definition of both males and females is elsewhere discussed (Lindisfarne 1994, 91; Sl2Srum 1993, 121; Talle 1993, 103), men's role is often to confer womanhood. Kirsten Hastrup (1978) notes that, for the Tewa Indians, a girl becomes a complete woman only through sex with a man.

39 Menstruation is of course associated with womanhood in vanous societies. Among my Canadian-born informants, Karen' s mother told her that her period meant that she was a woman, and Marie's mother was devastated to learn that her daughter had asked her father instead of her about menstruation, since she felt she should have been the one to enlighten Marie on this "woman's issue".14 But first sex is also symbolized as bestowing womanly status, especially among teenagers themselves, 1 would argue. Olive claimed this was a common perception among her friends who thought that "once you've had your first [sexual] relation, you are an adult." After her first sexual relation at age thirteen, a friend informed Olive and her cohort that she was now a woman and would no longer associate with them.

Sexual relations signal an interactive component to the status of womanhood. It is through sexual relations with a male that the female becomes a woman. This interpretation min-ors that reported by women and researchers in many excising societies. As weIl, it is significant that first sex, not first orgasm, signaIs womanhood. It is what is done to the female that seems to confer womanly status. Perhaps, vicariously, male orgasm makes the woman.

14 It is also interesting that Marie's mother thought that the most important issue was who first discussed menstruation, as though such an introductory discussion had exhausted the subject, and there was nothing more to be said. According to my informants, parents' approach to discussions of sex followed a similar pattern; the sex talk was a one time thing, when it did occur, and was considered exhaustive (and perhaps mortifying for the parent?). It may also be so difficult to broach that parents, relieved at having dispensed with their duty, convince themselves that a single global discussion is all that was needed.

40 Recognition of the symbolism of excision and Western notions of femaleness does not preclude other, more practical, explanations for sexual inhibition. Below, and ln the following chapters, l will examine the main purpose of excision as well as the outcome of sexual control and definition of appropriate female sexual response in the West-­ sexual inhibition.

3.4 Transsexuality Gender concerns are intimately tied to genital surgery in the West: historically, gender concepts grew out of a need for theory to ground treatment of hermaphroditism (the existence of dual primary or secondary bodily sex characteristics) and, subsequently, transsexualism (the wish to have a female body if one is male and a male body if female).15 The initial use of sex reassignment surgery for hermaphrodite or sex-ambiguous cases suggests a link with excision: the sexually mixed individual must be transformed into a single sex.

Significant to theorization about sex is the fact that scientists have not reached agreement on the biological definition of male and female: sometimes procedures carried out on hermaphrodites and partial hermaphrodites seek to make genitalia match gender; at other times, a

15 Bernice Hausman (1995) provides an excellent history of the development of the concept of gender as il was developed to bolster and guide sexual surgery in the West.

41 match between genitalia and chromosomal composition is sought (though this may be contrary to genital indications) (Fausto-Sterling 2000, 45-77; Hood-Williams 1996, 11). John Hood-Williams points out the tautology inherent to the process of sex identification: "How did the scientists know that the XX subjects were males? .. both the assignment to a sexed category and the definition of unusualness are based on other criteria" (Hood-Williams 1996, 10-11; also Kessler 1990). These other criteria are, of course, social rather than biological.

Hood-Williams, like Judith Lorber (1996), contends that the categories of sex and gender are themselves constraining our thinking. Since there are more similarities than differences between male and female bodies, according to Hood-Williams, we should abolish the sex/gender distinction altogether. Indeed, Kaplan and Rogers (1990, 214) emphasize that the "rigid either/or assignment of the sexes is only a convenient social construct, not a biological reality."

As a result, transsexual sm"gery has been defined by feminists as "the deployment of sex as gender" (Hausman 1995, 10; emphasis in original). That is, sex--the body--has become a socially malleable entity. But the rationale for transsexual surgery suggests even more similarities with eXClSlOn; as 1 showed above, in excising societies the initial body is seen as problematic, even unnatural, because bisexual and in need of genital modification as a form of corrective surgery.

Transsexualism and hermaphroditism are concerned with what are perceived as aberrant bodies: remedies come in the form of sex

42 assignment (hermaphroditism) or reassignment (transsexualism), "mutilating surgery" (King 1987, 359), and personal or group acceptance of the modified body. Transsexualism and hermaphroditism thus often result in various forms of surgical intervention akin to excision. Renee, sm-gery in aU of these cases is predicated on the conviction that the body is in contradiction with itself or with social expectations. Indeed, transsexuals argue that their sex does not reflect their true gender. With both excision and transsexuality, social beliefs affect the personal (transsexual) or group (excising) imperative for genital surgery. It is gender that determines sex, and sexual surgeries that provide incontrovertible evidence of how sex and gender are, not analytically, but "materiaIly linked."16

Sociologist Dave King notes that "the social roots of transsexualism" point up "aIl personal identities as sociaHy fashioned" (1987, 361; see also Rausman 1995) thereby recognizing the close interplay between the body (conventionally, sex) and gender. The body is thus the starting point for social acceptance of male as male and female as female. Sm-gery interferes with an element of the sex category which is usually thought of as immutable, including the genitalia, to create females with an appropriate sexual response, or lack thereof, among the excising, and females or males out of transsexuals.17

16 Hausman (1995, 196) makes this point concerning sex change surgery; the analogy with excision is my own. 17 The goal of transsexual surgery is, however, to maintain sexual response despite radical reconfiguration of the genitalia.

43 1 would argue that transsexuals, like hermaphrodites, may carry very little subversive weight if they are systematicaUy perceived as the exceptions which confirm the rule: After aU, transsexuals merely want to switch from one sexed body to the (only) other. Radical feminist theorists Kitzinger and Wilkinson (1994) argue that the motivation, and message, of transsexuals is less subversive than it is conformist: the body is viewed by the transsexual as conferring identity; the transsexual has therefore not accepted the queer theory that sex and gender are social constructs.18

Indeed, "[g]ender must seem a fragile and arbitrary construct if it depends upon plastic surgery" (Bleier 1984, lOl)o But, then again, the operations also emphasize the plasticity of sex. It seems to me that one reason why the sexual surgeries of other cultures are so significant to our conception of sex is their widespread prevalence: no one can dismiss excision as an individual act of deviance or defiance. Rather, it is the norm in many cultures, effectively accomplishing "the social definition of a child's sex" (Boddy 1982, 688) through inhibition of sexual response.

18 Candace West and Don Zimmerman (1991, 32) similarly argue that "physical reconstruction of sex...pays ultimate tribute to the 'essentialness' of our sexual natures--as women or as men." However, it has been argued that more recent transsexuals now subvert the two-gender order, since their and personal characteristics defy simplistic categorization. For instance, many male-to-female transsexuals are heterosexual; by becoming women they also become . Clearly, then, they are creating, not resolving, dissonance between societal definitions and norms and their own (Bolin 1994, 485).

44 4.0 Gendered sexual response: the masculine clitoris Sex includes not only the body and its differentiated sex organs, but also their functioning, both physiological and social. The case of sexual response is significant because it has been problematized lU both excising and non-excising societies, although in different ways. Excision itself is of course an especially good example of the social construction of sexual response and, thus, of sex. l also argue that orgasm in the West is problematized in ways that render it partially analogous to excision. By emphasizing that social beliefs affect sexual response, l connect excising with non­ excising groups, and suggest that, III both, gender acts upon sex instead of solely the inverse.

4.1 Excision and sexual response Among sorne excising groups, intact women may be referred to by a pejorative term signifying "uncircumcised man-woman." The belief system underlying the epithet is a powerful social force. Explains one excised informant: "Girls my age are an excised, because men say that women who are not excised are men" (FMTL008excised). And one informant who managed to avoid excision for herself reports that her younger sister insisted on being operated, for if left intact she believed "she would be like a man" (FMTL018intact/excising group).

But what seems crucial about an acts of excision is a view of the clitoris as not essential ta the female body. Moreover, it is a despised male entity which must be eradicated ta attain femaleness. Woman's orgasm

45 1S implicitly problematized, here. In what follows, its degradation becomes even more explicit.

Through an analogy with the pems, the clitoris is considered a barrier to coitus, procreation, and childbirth (FMTL043excised; FWPG008excised; FHALOOlinfibulated; FMTL013intact/excising group; FWPGOI0 unclear/excising group; FHAL002unclear; FWPG012intact). It is thus necessary to correct for female imperfection. Once again, as with the argument that excision makes a girl feel more like herself, we have the suggestion that human intervention is necessary to allow nature to follow hs course.

The clitoris as a barrier to coitus 1S also perhaps the most blatant indication of male fear of female sexuality:

Sorne say that if you have that part [the clitoris], your husband can't have proper access to you, you see...you would be called inaccessible [une personnne inaccessible] ...because the clitoris perhaps blocks the man's access. (FMTL007intact/excising group)

At the time of sexual relations, if the clitoris is uncut, it gets a bit erect. So the woman is compared to a man because the penis is in and also the clitoris so, il's two men, you see...Men and women...there has to be a difference. WeIl, when the woman keeps her clitoris, it is as if she had a penis. So il's two men having [sexual]

46 relations together. (FMTL005excised; also FHAL002unclear)

It is interesting to note that the opposite is true, physiologically; the stimulated clitoris actually retracts into its hood, ultimately becoming less prominent than prior to excitation, although the do swell (Masters and Johnson 1966, 51-52, 152). The assumption appears to be based on too close a presumed parallelism between the male and female erectile response. But the assurnption rernains in sorne societies, including our own, as 1 will discuss in Chapter 5. One infibulated rnother who decided not to have her daughter operated faced staunch community opposition; proponents of infibulation tried to convince her that her daughter's clitoris would grow long if left unchecked (FOTT003infibulated). Other excising and infibulating groups share this fear of clitoral growth. 19

Historian Sarah Dening (1996, 25) relates a creation myth in which the clitoris is indeed presented as blocking the entrance to the vagina. The Dogon god cuts down the clitoris (symbolized as a termite hill) in order to penetrate the vagina (an anthill). The question remains, though, whether the rnyth created the practice, or was devised to justify it. In any case, the rationale for continuation of genital surgery has shifted; it is today principally motivated by concerns with controlling sexual response and its presurned corollary, sexual desire.

19 Solutions range from excision to an apparently new innovation intended to replace excision but which also seeks to inhibit clitoral prominence and growth (among some Nigerian groups), to inspection years after the clitoris has been removed to ensure that it hasn't grown back (among some Ethiopians). The concern appears to be to ensure that the clitoris will not grow to resemble a penis, or that, "when it's too big, it will hurt her" [FWPGO 1Ounclear/excising group].

47 Indeed, the preceding consideration of the symbolic representation of the clitoris as masculine/male and the discussion of excision in this chapter in general should not be taken to suggest that the main intent of the alteration of female bodies through excision is to bring the body into line with aesthetic or symbolic representation. My main criticism of many of the anthropological accounts of excision is their misleading focus on just such explanations.2o This tends to obscure the fact that many informants themselves argue that physical impairment of sexual response is in fact the main motivating factor behind excision. 1 will discuss various facets of the sexual inhibition of women's sexual response in the following chapters; but 1 note the symbolism here for its contribution to an understanding of how symbolic concerns may serve to reinforce a less symbolic preoccupation with women' s sexuality21.

4.2 The intact and sexual response It also occurs to me that femaleness is constructed through the inhibition of sexual response. This would imply that excision contributes to the definition of the female by virtue of its very physical consequences. Evidence from the intact seems to share in this metonymic conception of the genitals and their response as representing, and conferring, maleness or femaleness.

20 See, for example, Janice Boddy's (1989) fascinating ethnography of infibulation in the Sudan. 21 Indeed, "[e]ven in cultures where the stated purpose of clitoridectomy is to remove that which is 'male' from the female body or to prevent the clitoris from becoming a penis, controlling female desire and socializing her are stiU primarily at issue" (Drybread 1996, 53note4).

48 While 1 will unravel this argument more in Chapters 5 and 6, 1 introduce here the argument that sexual response, and orgasm in particular, has also been problematized in non-excising societies by albeit less direct means. In Western societies, the social context affects response: a lack of orgasm, difficulty in having orgasm due to constraining sexual practices, or devaluation of clitoral in favor of vaginal response are all examples of actual differences nonetheless caused by social factors. For instance, in the 1940s, doctors Lena Levine and Abraham Stone, involved in marriage counseling,

linked the clitoris and female orgasm to gender by implying that the clitoris was an organ that threatened 'real womanhood' ...although a little clitorai stimulation was good, too much couid lead to gender disanay. In this way Levine and Stone were constructing gender as inextricably linked to organs--in this case, the vagina. (Gardetto 1993, 3)

Such reasoning echoes with Freudian dogma. But given the evidence from excising societies, it must also be recognized that anti-clitorai practices clearly predate Freud by centuries, if not millennia, and suggest similar V1eWS about the clitoris in diverse societies which are not tied to any one theorist. Sociologist Darlaine Gardetto (1993, 213, 236) even argues that, while Freud rendered the clitoris problematic, labeling it as masculine, he also

49 enabled theorization of sex as separate from gender, and as socially constructed.

Negative characterizations of the clitoris are not a thing of the pasto My interviews of the Canadian-born suggest a continuing devaluation of the clitoris and a perception of it as masculine. Fabienne describes her clitoral orgasm as "masculine" because it involves a "peak"; she defends her use of the term masculine to describe what she feels because she has spoken with other women who have never experienced orgasm, or a peak, in their sexual response. She has also experienced less intense pleasure through vaginal penetration, and likens this sensation to what her girlfriends who do not have "peak" orgasms might experience. Fabienne's terminology reveals a perception of female orgasm as curiously "masculine" when it involves the clitoris, echoing the Freudian stance.

Beliefs about appropriate female sexual response in the West also result in physiological inhibition. Nathalie' s former boyfriend was categorical in his views about appropriate female response:

He said that 1 was made wrong; that nature should have made it so that when the man penetrates the woman, she should have an orgasm at the same time as he, and that if it didn't work that way, well, 1 had problems, and 1 should get [professional] help.22

22 The above quotation is presented in context in Appendix E.

50 The woman as imperfectly molded, unnatural, recalls the depietion of her in my discussion of normalcy and nature, above. Here, we see the extension of the belief beyond anatomie traits to their physiologie consequences. The problem was not a lack of awareness on the man' s part of how he might participate in the woman's orgasm--Nathalie's boyfriend knew that she was able to reach orgasm through clitoral stimulation. Instead, the woman's orgasm itself became problematized because of its clitoral link.

Sandrine similarly thought that a woman should have an orgasm during penetration. Pursuing her c1aim, 1 asked if she thought it was "not normal" for things to be otherwise. She responded that she found the inability to have an orgasm during penetration "not normal." While she recognized that the clitoris is stimulated during penetration, orgasm during intercourse was deemed the expected response.

Conclusion Social definition and influence reach even into the body, changing its form and regimenting physiologieal responses?3 Indeed,

debate about the clitoris has served as a code with which to discuss gender. In other words, underlying

23 Chemist Marion Lowe (1983) discusses the interplay between sex and gender in her article, "The Dialectic of Biology and Culture" speculating, for instance, that a social preference for smaUer females may have led to the evolution of females as smaUer than males (p. 46).

51 the surface of the debate about the clitoris has been a 'long enduring' discourse addressing the questions: what is Woman, and, what is her proper relation to Man? (Gardetto 1993, 313)

The beliefs and practiees examined in this chapter share a common thread: they either problematize the genitalia or downgrade clitoral response, thus emphasizing the social dimension to the sex side of the sex/gender equation. Val Plumwood (1989, 5) recognizes "a conceptual feedback of gender structures into sexual ones." ln this way, gender sometimes dietates sexual structures such as genitalia: in such cases, the body is made to match gender, and not the other way around.

My specifie contribution to sex/gender theory involves a refinement of the definition of sex: sex, like gender might be viewed as our vision of bodies based on perceptions of difference. But sex may also result from the social imposition of difference. Gendered practiees therefore determine sex. Sex assignment and transsexual surgery signal the imposition of difference, and are crucial to theorizing on sex and constructionism. 1 also argue that excision is a vivid example of the social imposition of sexual difference. Sex is nonetheless distinct from gender, since the former signifies both constructed and pre-social differences.

1 also make transparent the social factor to the perception and interpretation of sex by introducing the notion of gendered sex (sex in the foreground). Finally, 1 add to the evidence of how the sex/gender

52 distinction constitutes an operationalization of the weak strain of constructionism: while constructionism contrasts objects with beliefs about them, the sex/gender binary recognizes the (initial) body as well as its transformation through social beliefs and even surgical intervention. Indeed, the distinction allows us to identify the perceived realities (social constructions) of various cultures, and to engage in comparisons across societies.

Even white admitting that, in practice, it is difficult to determine the influence of sex as distinct from gender--and that this distinction becomes functionally confounded through excision and other genital surgeries--the distinction itself cannot be abandoned because it lies at the very heart of the social scientific enterprise. Sex (the body, nature, object, reality) is not the same thing as gender (beliefs about the bodylreality and impositions on it, a social construct). The importance of the sex/gender conceptual model is therefore apparent: without it, we would have no way of differentiating initial physical bodies from their social definitions. Thus, sex and gender "constitute distinct, irreducible levels of reality" and, as a result "the body is ontologically distinct from.. -its socio-cultural entanglement" (Wilmott 1996, 732, 737).

That a physiological response can be effectively sanctioned is an important indication of the social control of sexual response. That is to say, it is a good indicator of gendered sex. Sex is affected differently by different social forces. Excision results from the curbing of sexual response in an effort to attain an appropriate

53 female entity; treatment of the clitoris in the West, through discourse and practice privileging the vagina as the principal for women, may achieve similar results. My dissertation is thus concerned with the cross-cultural implications of the muting of clitoral response.

The case of sexual response contributes to an understanding of sex among the non-excising as biological, social, or both in terms of function, depending on the focus. In other words, research into sexual response need not emphasize its social aspects, but it may. However, among the excising, the relationship is in a way even more complex, because more socially determined: sex is intimately linked to gender through genital intervention, and this social factor must always be considered in studies of "sex" in these groups. In other words, since sm"gery delimits the sexual response in females, the body must be permanently defined in terms other than those of its initial ungendered state.

My investigation of the practical workings of sex as a social construct indicate that it is possible to both discover and make reality, just as it is possible to learn as well as to create new knowledge. It is possible to gender sex--to make differences where none might otherwise be--and thus to continuously create reality (West and Zimmerman 1991, 23-24), to more tacitly submit to societal gender dictates, and to respond to the physical realities of having a sexed body.

54 Chapter 3

Virginities ln the present chapter, 1 will offer an analysis of the social structures attempting to control women' s initiation into sexual activity, both directly and indirectly, in addition to examining societal and women's own perceptions of virginity and related concepts. To do so, 1 make two theoretical claims. The first is that the importance of virginity is a reflection of other societal concerns: for the excised, the overriding preoccupation with marriageability underlies efforts at preserving virginity. My second claim is that virginity, like sex (as discussed in Chapter 2), is a variable social construct; eXClSlOn is described by informants as ensuring, even conferring, virginity. Comparable constructions and values in non-excising cultures also attest to the social construction of virginity, and may even include surgical procedures whose aim is at least the appearance of physical restitution of virginity.

Recent anthropological analyses have examined one or more of these practices from a constructionist perspective, but cross­ cultural examinations of partially analogous genital procedures have received only brief mention in the literature until now. 1 aim to demonstrate that virginity and related concepts in diverse societies can be manipulated; bodies are re-invested with virginal properties and status.

The restrictions placed on sexual activity are worth considering in terms of their implications for the inhibition of female orgasm. For the African-born, concerns with virginity have led to invasive genital interventions; it is within the context of virginity and sexual restraint that excision may be inscribed. This chapter thus gives voice to the concerns raised by the excised women themselves. For the Canadian-born, virginity signifies abstinence from the sexual response experienced in intercourse. And since heterosexual initiation constitutes the onset of sexual exploration for a large number of women, women's orgasmic responst1 may be linked to their relational status.

1.0 Virginity as a Prerequisite for Marriage Virginity has always been a non-issue in sorne societies (Tschopik 1951). And the virginity prerequisite has plummeted in the West; rates of virginity at marriage in the dropped to about 20% for women born in the second half of the twentieth century (Laumann et al. 1994, 503). Yet this was a major theme to emerge from the interviews of the African-born. One goal of eXClSlOn is therefore not purity or abstinence in its own right, but strategic sexual reserve in view of marriage:

56 when she marnes she is a vugm. Ifs mainly for that reason that it is done. Because you can control yourself even if you are around boys, in order to wait until you get married to have sexual relations. (FMTL00gexcised)1

Excision is often perceived as guaranteeing virginity until marnage by lessening desire for sexual intercourse, a point emphasized by the informants themselves, and to be discussed fmther in the next chapter. Thus it is apparent that excision and infibulation serve as a sort of guarantee of virginity in the minds of families and marriage prospects. The foUowing explanation was typical of both excised and infibulated women's thoughts on the operations: "It is believed from a long time ago that this will prevent the girls from having any sexual activities before they are married" (FTOR005infibulated).

1.1 Comparing excised with infibulated women on marriageability Virginity was clearly more often a goal for the infibulated--or for their kin--than for the excised, a concem reflected, 1 would argue, in the more severe intervention they underwent; the operations are intended to ensure or at least encourage sexual abstinence. It is thus not surprising that, while 50% of the excised informants said that aU men from their community would marry women who

1 This same explanation was proferred in almost identical terms by several of the informants [FMTL030excised; FMTL031excised; FWPG007excised; FWPG023excised; FMTL003infibulated; FMTL034infibulated; FHAL004infibulated; FTOROOlinfibulated; FTOR003infibulated; FTOR007infibulated].

57 were not excised, less than 25% of the infibulated informants perceived this to be the case. About 80% of the excised and infibulated women claimed that either all or sorne men from their community would marry unoperated women.

My initial impression that attitudes toward excision and infibulation are changing is supported by an empirical analysis of the women's response to the marriage question put to them. While they were not probed for it, many nonetheless explicitly stated that the excision or infibulation prerequisite for marriage is on the wane. In analyzing the interviews of the excised and infibulated, 1 was struck by how often the women stressed changing norms, particularly concerning the marriageability of women who were left unexcised.

Reference to change is especially significant in that it was offered spontaneously by respondents in their effort to elucidate on a simple inquiry: systematically, our interviewers asked, "WouId the men of your community agree to marry an uncircumcised woman/woman who was not excised/infibulated?"

Now it is done. Before...people didn't want to [marry an intact woman]. But now, everything has changed...Whether you have had it or not makes no difference now. (FMTL012excised?

2 Several others mirrored this opmlOn (FMTL016excised; FMTL026excised; FHAL004infibulated; FTOR006infibulated; FTOR007infibulated). In a similar vein, the change was attributed in a general sense to "evolution"

58 Significantly, 38% of the excised and 50% of the infibulated answering that men would marry unoperated women also spontaneously alluded to changes to account for the acceptance of unoperated brides. They are thus aware that their communities are in transition. Moreover, it was perhaps to be expected that change would be mentioned most often by those who recognize that men do not present a united front on this issue: 2/3 of the excised and infibulated who answered that sorne men will, sorne won't marry unoperated women pointed this out. This division implies conflicting values and may thus signify that the community is in transition; a previous insistence on excision or infibulation as a prerequisite for marriage appears to he progressively losing ground.

Another indication of change becomes apparent when we look at the marriage question by age category. While no clear pattern emerges for the infibulated women (whose numbers per any given category are at any rate extremely small, rendering comparative analysis virtually impossible), for the excised, 1 found sorne interesting differences among the different age categories. It is perhaps significant that none of those under age 30 said that no men in their community would marry an intact woman whereas 5115 In the 30-39 age group and 114 in the 40­ 49 group made this claim. While the above-cited informants

(FMTL034infibulated), that is, the fact that the world is evolving (FMTL025excised).

59 suggested that things have changed, a few others more clearly articulated the generational divide:

1 can answer no and yes...some of those men won't agree to marry a non-excised girl but others, like the younger generation...they can marry without being excised. (FOTT003infibulated; also FMTL02gexcised; FTORO13infibulated)

Age considerations are clearly related to a host of other factors signaling societal changes and the differing realities in which the cohorts have evolved. But that marriageability is recognized by many of the women from aIl age categories as crucial is evident from their readiness to speak on the issue and their clear opinions on the role of excision and infibulation in securing marriage. Since, as mentioned above, the informants clearly associate genital impairment with impaired desire, the chances of a woman remaining a virgin or avoiding are at least better if she is excised than if she is not. 1 will look more closely at the equation of sexual desire with sexual activity in the next chapter. Here, it is important to recognize that excising and infibulating groups expect sexual impairment sm"gery to ensure virgins for marriage, and sexually subdued wives who will neither demand sex from their husbands nor from any other man.

60 2.0 New conjugal concerns Without entering into the anthropologieal debate about the relative influences of patriarchal and patrilocal structures, brideprice, economics and other factors on the practice of excision, 1 will venture to summarize one general point upon which most anthropologists would agree. Genital impairment surgery reflects kin concerns with women's sexuality and a corresponding attempt at lessening or eliminating female pleasure. Clearly, the shift away from group living arrangements to neolocality--the couple movmg out on their own--represents a certain amount of conjugal independence from the larger family group.3 1 would venture to predict that more individualized interests, representing the concerns of the couple over those of the extended family, will probably prevail.

There are indications from the interviews of the African-born of just such new, conjugally oriented concerns. A preoccupation with the negative effects of excision on women's sexual response was repeatedly mentioned by the operated women interviewed. In addition, concerns were raised by many of them about the effects of excision on sexual relations with their husbands, or the sexual expectations of men from their communities in general. The focus appears to be shifting away from excision as a sign of desirability

3Neolocality is correlated with the economic structure, emerging with the introduction of money as a means of exchange. This occurs whether or not any other signs of modernization, such as industrialization, are present (Pasternak, Ember and Ember 1997, 228).

61 sought by the larger kin network, and toward the devastating effects it exacts on the sexual life of the couple.

3.0 Honor and virginity The interviews also suggest that symbolic concerns connected with excision and infibulation, notably the notions of purity and honor, are changing drastically. The literature emphasizes that honor, purity and virginity are opposed to shame, dirtiness and sexual activity throughout the countries bordering the Mediterranean.4 Anthropologists and sociologists argue that this preoccupation with the twin concepts of virginity and honor constitute a common cultural thread among otherwise diverse Mediterranean countries (Hastrup 1978; Mernissi 1996, 34; Ortner 1978, 26; Schneider 1971).

Of course, the notion of honor is problematic; where is the honor in not seeking out sexual activity when one has supposedly been deprived of the desire for it? Such a question recalls a contemporary Western conception of virginity and sexual restraint which, 1 argue, contrasts to a certain extent with that of other cultures. In the circum- Mediterranean and numerous other African and Middle Eastern countries, notions of honor, including virginity, and control, as it relates to sexual behavior, signify principally honor accruing to the virgin's family as a result of successful control of girls and women. This

4 See, for instance, the ethnographie accounts of Greek (Hirschon 1978), Italian (Goddard 1987), and Somali (Talle 1993) honor and their connection to women' s virginity.

62 elucidates the apparent double sexual standard in the discourse on the importance of women's honor in matters of sexual interaction. Control amounts to control from without. This contrasts with the concept of honor and virtue as an individual responsibility and source of personal pride that Western cultures espouse, a point also made by anthropologist Ellen Gruenbaum (2001). In non-excising cultures, virginity may be characterized as reflecting the chaste mind--as well as body--of its possessor.

3.1 On a new perception of eXClSwn as shameful It would appear that the concept of honor and shame, purity and uncleanness is evolving. A surprising finding, not yet duplicated in the literature, emerged from the interviews of the African-born: sorne of our informants described excision itself as shameful. This IS m stark contrast to past perceptions of the intact as unclean and shameful.

1 suspect that our findings concernmg excision as shameful/dirty reflect recent shifting norms. The shift is perhaps due to the confrontation of cultural practices. The African-born women interviewed all reside in Canada; they are faced with new VISIOns of the female body when they settle in the West. It would be interesting to survey women in Africa to discover if excision is now associated with shame there as weIl.

63 4.0 Constructions of Virginity Despite differing ideals about when sex should start, virginity was an operative concept for everyone interviewed. Indeed, there were enough variations in definition to justify a plural nomenclature, virginities, as virginity signifies different things to different groups. Not always linked to the hymen (Goldhill 1995; Sissa 1990; Talle 1993, 96), nor to sexual activity or even coitus, virginity has been a variable concept among cultures and even within a culture over lime (Berger and Wenger 1973, 666, 675).5

Moreover, there may be simultaneous, competing concepts of virginity within cultures. For instance, Berger and Wenger (1973, 672) surveyed over 300 university students on what constituted "loss of virginity." Intriguingly, a female has lost her virginity if "her hymen is ruptured (32.7% of respondents); "a male brings her to climax" (21.7% of respondents); or, most significantly, if "she brings herself to climax" (40.9%).6 Thus, woman's orgasm was seen by many as synonymous with sex/loss of virginity.

5 For example, "the Greek word parthenos does not unambiguously signify the integrity implicit in our word virgin" ; it could have initially referred to a woman who was autonomous but sexually active, and may have given fise to misinterpretations in Christianity over the "virgin birth" and what it meant to be a virgin (Sissa 1990, 76, 78). Thus within cultures over time there may have occurred a "historicization" of the concept of virginity, with the Virgin Mary becoming increasingly virginal in the currently accepted sense of bodily integrity before, during, and after birth (Ranke-Heinemann 1991, 31; Bugge 1975, 142, 145).

6 In comparison, no one in the Berger and Wenger study (1973, 672) claimed that a male's wet dream constituted loss of virginity, and only 1.8% said that a male has lost his virginity if he masturbates to ejaculation.

64 Attitudes toward virginity have likely evolved since the Berger and Wenger study was conducted in the early 1970s. In a more recent American study (Hétu 2001), loss of virginity is equated solely with coitus by about a third of 18-19 year olds. Oral and did not, in their opinion, constitute virginity loss. The continued existence of technical virginity as a concept and practice

1S further evidence that many women attach a certain importance to the act of coitus, in North American culture (Darling and Davidson 1987) as elsewhere (Lambek 1983, 272).

However, one point continued to be made by sorne of the African­ and Canadian-born informants: sexual pleasure and orgasm are unknown by many women prior to coitus. Sex researchers and therapists Helen Singer Kaplan and Erica Sucher (1982, 13) found that 40% of women begin to masturbate only after having experienced orgasm or at least "intense arousal" with a partner. While 1 did not always inquire into first orgasmic experiences in my own interviews, sorne of the informants indicated that they had not had an orgasm before engaging in intercourse. Sexual exploration such as "heavy petting" is apparently not common prior to intercourse.

Indeed, Sharon Thompson (1990) interviewed 400 teenage girls

7 from 1978 to 1986 , and found that for three quarters of them

7 Thompson personally interviewed these American adolescent girls. Her book, Going AU the Way: Teenage Girls' Tales of Sex, , and Pregancy is based more specifically on a subsample of 100 interviews of informants who embraced the in-depth interview format (Thompson 1995, 11-12; 292, footnote 15).

65 sexual responsiveness coincided with first intercourse. Thus virginity represents absence of sexual response for those women who relate response to heterosexual relations. This appears to reflect the social script on sexual initiation wherein women' s sexuality is awakened by intercourse (Long Laws and Schwartz 1977). 1 therefore suspect that viewing 10ss of virginity as contiguous with orgasm (as in the Berger and Wenger study) IS also partially due to the belief that women are introduced to their own sexual response by a man. In addition, the fact that sex introduces sorne women to orgasm is an important indication of how women's sexual response is socially constructed as interactive.

Yet the vast majority of women also admit that they did not climax during first intercourse (Weis 1985, 433); the young women interviewed by Luker "describe their first sexual intercourse as an experience remarkably devoid of pleasure" (1996, 139). It is nonetheless clear that sexual intercourse preceded orgasm for those women who did not masturbate. At any rate, pleasure is not a motivating factor for first sexual intercourse. Sociologist Edward Laumann and his colleagues (1994, 329), in their study on sex with a representative sample of Americans, found that only 3% of women reported physical pleasure as the principal motivating factor for losing their virginity. In his review of the literature on female orgasm and pleasure, physiologist R. Levin (1981, 128) ponders, "if the first coitus is so often a very disappointing experience in terms of

66 sexual pleasure gained, especially for the girl and even for the boy, the question arises why adolescents continue ta undertake coital activity."

The revelation that sex IS not necessarily engaged in for pleasure has major ramifications for sexual response theory in both excising and non-excising cultures. Indeed, it suggests that the excised and intact share the experience of non-pleasurable sex, and therefore perhaps have sex for similar reasons. 1 will explore this contention in great detail in the next chapter dealing with controls on sexual activity. Here, it is useful to keep in mind in relation to women's virginity since it suggests, for instance, that eliminating the clitoris will not be an effective means of discouraging initiation into sexual activity. Indeed, the additional controls placed on both excised and infibulated women tacitly attest to this, and suggest that excising and infibulating groups recognize the limited efficacy of genital impairment surgery.

4.1 On bodily signs of sexual abstinence and activity Most societies that value virginity also appear to value lack of sexual responsiveness in virgins.8 Virginity is typically constructed as a non-sexual state. Excision and infibulation were sometimes perceived as synonymous with, and essential to, virginity. In this way, surgery aimed at impairing sexual response

8 An ethnographie report of a southwest Pacifie society (Davenport 1966) constitutes a notable exception to the mIe; in that society, is encouraged as an acceptable, perhaps necessary, preventive measure against premarital intercourse.

67 lS also assumed to quell sexual activity. Moreover, potential for sexual response turns into assumption of sexual intercourse. An unoperated girl or woman would often be considered as a de facto non-vupn:

Especially back there [in Africa], men back there want [excision], since most men want intact women for maniage. (FMTL036excised)

[1: Would the men of your community agree to marry a non­ infibulated woman?] No. They say that woman is not a virgin even if she is. (FTOR003infibulated)

if she is not cut, they [men] thought [sic] that she is not a virgin, but they don't want...unvirgin girl so, they thought if there is a cut girl she is a virgin. (FWPG023excised)

These passages demonstrate that virginity can be constructed through an operation, thus becoming a physical state imposed on the body rather than a designation for mere abstinence. The operation becomes a sign, and this sign may be read as virginity. Perhaps the surgery also signaIs that controIs of various sorts, physical and social, have been placed upon the girl or woman. If this were the case, then excision might be interpreted as evidence that strict surveillance of every kind has been imposed. In the absence of the sign, the girl or woman is simply assumed not to be a virgin. Such a belief system emphasizes the above-mentioned

68 difference between virginity in excising and non-excising societies: in excising ones, virginity is not so much a virtue for the virgin herself as a verifiable state.

Other informants claimed not that the interventions guaranteed or proved virginity, but that they helped a girl or woman in her struggle to remain a virgin. And sorne informants pointed to the phenomenon of among the unmarried excised and infibulated to emphasize that genital impairment surgery does not necessarily serve its intended pm'pose. But all agreed on what that purpose was: virginity in anticipation of marriage; sexual fidelity within marriage.

Other signs of virginity were also mentioned by a few of the operated women including virginity tests, certificates of virginity, and especially blood at first intercourse. For many of the women, loss of virginity is signaled solely by loss of blood. Dara described in detail the defloration ceremony, with a group of eIder women waiting in the wings to inspect the white cloth placed under the bride. 1 asked her what happens if there is no blood, to which Dara responded matter of factly, "You are not a virgin." It is surprising that blood should be considered a sign of virginity, since not aIl virgins bleed.

Moreover, that it should be a s1gn of virginity even for infibulated women 1S perplexing, since the infibulation wound will always bleed at first penetration, even if the infibulation of a sexuaIly

69 active woman has been renewed by surgical means, as 1 will discuss presently. Nonetheless,

people await [confirmation of] a girl' s virginity. There is your groom's mother, there is your groom's aunt who waits for you, there is the white sheet stretched across the bed to see: that proves that this girl was a virgin. (FOTT003infibulated)

Other methods of verification were mentioned:

The lady who is expert in this...she has to put that object in her vagina to find out whether she is a virgin or not. (FHAL001infibulated)

Cloudsley (1983, 61) similarly alludes to the breaking of the hymen of an infibulated woman by a qualified midwife, in cases where the bride's reputation is in question. One of our informants relates the dilemma of girls who are so tightly infibulated that their menstrual periods are unbearable; they may either marry earlier to open the orifice legitimately, or undergo a medical re­ opening:

And sorne people get cut...A lot of people have to know, and sorne people say, "Okay, give me a receipt or something like that. 1 have to have something because you cut me...Not an actual receipt, but people have to know

70 she got cut because of that. [Interviewer: She doesn' t want to go home and make people think that it's because she...] yes, that she was fooling around or something. (FHAL004infibulated)

Infibulation does have the advantage of ensuring blood and, therefore, the appearance of virginity at first coitus. Many females are born without , or with minimal hymens (Rathus, Nevid and Fichner-Rathus 1997, 69). Infibulation may serve to remedy this. Also, excision involving removal of the labia often restricts the elasticity of the vaginal introitus. Thus, even excision without complete infibulation might ensure blood at first intercourse. While I argue that this may have been a founding reason for these surgeries, it is also intriguing to note that sorne groups which perform genital surgery today are not aware of the existence of the hymen (Talle 1993, 96). It is as though the intervention has usurped the natural sign and even recognition of its existence.

A Montreal obstetrician-gynecologist I interviewed described the procedure she and a colleague undertook on an unmarried, infibulated woman: "We incised the skin to perform an , and then resewed it back together to the original [infibulated] state, as per the patient's request, because they have to go through marriage without previous sexual activity." Of course, what she meant was that infibulated women must present no evidence of previous sexual activity, but the doctor's choice of words points up the socially constructed component to genital

71 surgery. The procedure described here is actually termed reinfibulation, since it is concerned with resewing the infibulated tissue. But the result is similar or identical, demonstrating that a woman will go to extreme lengths to maintain the appearance of virginity, even despite seemingly insurmountable indications to the contrary.

Of course the practice of resewing, or reinfibulating, women so that they may feign virginity attests to the inefficacy of the procedure in keeping women virginal according to a modern Western definition of the term. But it also attests to the literaI construction of virginity. For instance, l had a great deal of difficulty communicating with an African-born informant, Alyan, about virginity because of her literaI understanding of the term; l was interested in learning whether she thought there was any connection between excision and virginity. She thought my knowledge of anatomy must be deficient since, as she took great pains to explain, "excision is not the same thing [as virginity]; il' s a part of you, of the woman, that is cut. Virginity, on the other hand, is a membrane...the place that is cut and the place where the hymen is are completely different."

4.2 Hymen reconstruction Comparing ethnographies of the Mediterranean and Middle East, Nancy Lindisfarne (1994) argues that hymen repair is similar to reinfibulation, implying that virginity is essential and coveted, obviously, but also that it may be perceived as a physical, and

72 therefore reparable, state. This suggests a link between infibulating, non-Western societies and non-infibulating ones on the issue of corporeal inscriptions of virginity. Both interventions point up "the relation between notions of virginity and the masculinities they construct" (Lindisfarne 1994, 89) since they are attempts at reconstituting or re-enacting astate valued--indeed, required--by men. Is it possible that virginity is a more malleable concept in numerous societies? l do not wish to misrepresent the beliefs of the excised and infibulated women nor of those from cultures who stress hymenal intactness; they clearly perceive initial virginity as representing not only a physical state but also a sexually uninitiated one. Hymen or infibulation repair of unmarried women is intended to conceal sexual experience. But it can also be interpreted by the women themselves as restituting virginity. Commenting on hymen reconstruction in Aigeria, obstetrician Mustafa Maaoui (personal communication)9 remarked that women who have undergone the procedure consider themselves immune to the sequelae of sexually transmitted diseases. It is as though resurrecting the hymen confers immunity against previously contracted gynecological problems. Maaoui thus argues that the women themselves take the artifice literally: they believe that they have re-becorne vugms.

9 Maaoui presented papers at the 1998 International Conference on the Pelvic Hoor, held in Montreal.

73 1 would add that the emphasis upon virginity as a membrane, or a bodily state established through surgery, perhaps allows for its restitution in more than one sense of the word, supporting my previous distinction between cultures in which virginity is principally a physical state from those where the emphasis is on virginity as a symbol of innocence, a kind of state of mind in harmony with, if also a reflection of, continuous bodily integrity.lO A Western girl or woman irretrievably loses her virginity when she concedes on these points, particularly the latter. And while there is a strong religious tradition implicating The Virgin, who can paradoxically conceive and give birth while maintaining her untouched state, popular constructions of female sexuality do not allow for such felicity in the common woman, at least not in the West.

4.3 Virginity in the West That virginity in the West has, within a generation or two, gone from premarital imperative to adolescent stigma is stunning in itself: "Rather than fearing the loss of one' s virginity, now individuals, especially young women, may feel guilty and inadequate if they do not participate in sexual activity" (Darling and Davidson 1987, 28). Luker cites a teenager who intimated that her girlfriends " 'looked at a virgin as being something shameful' " (1996, 138). This shift in attitudes toward virginity IS

10 Nothwithstanding the belief among sorne that virginity is resolutely linked to the intact hymen, as evidenced by Berger and Wenger'8 (1973) result8 concerning virginity 10s8, cited above.

74 similar to perceptions among sorne of the African-born that excision is now shameful.

For my Canadian-born informants, virginity was still a desirable state at sorne point during adolescence, with the attendant good girl/virgin label as a positive trait. But the timeline dictating when it is appropriate to be a virgin and when it is a stigma to be one appears to have shifted somewhat from earlier generations. The women 1 interviewed were an under fortY years of age. They argued that, among their cohort, virginity became a stigma by about age 17. Sorne of the women in their twenties further explained that early loss of virginity was also socially stigmatizing; adolescents should wait until age 14 or 15 to avoid being considered a slut.

Laumann and colleagues (1994, 332), in their representative sex study of the American population, found that, for half of the youngest cohort surveyed, first intercourse took place between 15 and 17 years of age. Statistics for Quebec indicate that first sex occurs today at 14.9 years of age, down from 18 years in 1990 (Massicotte 2000; Pratte 2000). These figures mirrored a large­ scale survey of 27 countries (France-Presse 2000).

Another informant referred to first sex as a chance to shed the stigmatizing virginity epithet:

75 .. ,it was more like, you know, get it over with so that 1 don't have this label, you know, this.. .in my head. And yet it wasn't something 1 would ever talk to anybody about. But it's this kind of expectation, or something. (Irene)

The women also recognized the double standard whereby the above good girl image was countered with the jock/stud image of adolescent males. Thus, while loss of virginity is certainly an issue for both young men and women, the timing and circumstances of the loss appear to be crucial to how the Canadian-born women are perceived. Canadian- and African-born informants alike pointed out this curious opposition of female virginity with male virility.ll Anthropologists Janice Boddy (1989) and Anke van der Kwaak (1992, 783) note that the virginity/virility expectation is especially strong in excising and infibulating societies.

Luker (1996, 146) underlines the notion of sexual intercourse as loss especially for the woman, as "giving away" one's virginity to a man. Of course, the significance for the woman of losing her virginity and the vocabulary that surrounds it, including the notion of loss, also suggests its relational significance: it furthers the discussion in the previous chapter on the construction of a woman through sexual intercourse. If loss of virginity signaIs the female' s entrance into adulthood, then

Il Among the excised women 1 interviewed, Alyan and Dara clearly argued this. The issue was not raised in the interviews of the African-born not conducted by me. Among the Canadian-born, 1 began probing for a comparison between attitudes toward men and women's sexual initiation with Gillian. She, as weH as Jane, Karen, Lisette, Marie, Olive, Phoebe, and Quilène aH remarked upon this double standard.

76 sexual interaction with a man "can make her exist" (Mernissi 1996, 39) as a woman.

4.4 Perpetual Virginity As noted in Chapter 2, genital impairment surgery doesn't just construct a female; it constructs the proper kind of female. Of course, clitoral suppression is thought, in excising societies, to curb sexual desire and therefore sexual activity. And the severe tightening of the vaginal opening through infibulation is an additional restriction. In these two ways, inhibition of desire and physical restriction, genital impairment surgeries are also intended to construct virgins.

Both operations are sometimes viewed as synonymous with virginity. lutent and outcome thus become confused, as l demonstrated above in discussing marriageability: often, the operated are marriageable because presumed virginal. But they are perhaps also virginal in another, more invasive sense. Their bodies have been modeled into virginity. This is particularly noted for infibulation:

to be infibulated, they are going to make a vugm. Not the one God made...but the one they made...the man made. (FTOR003infibulated)

The anthropological literature concurs: "After infibulation the girls acquire a new identity: they have become virgins" (Van der

77 Kwaak 1992, 777; also Oldfield Hayes 1975, 622). The goal is lack of sexual activity as a result of the reduction in desire presumed to result from clitoral excision combined, in the case of the infibulation, with a physical barrier to coitus through almost complete closure of the vaginal opening.

But there lS another sense in which virginity is artificially obtained, and concerns pseudo-virginity for a previously sexually active woman. This concept deserves special attention for two reasons: first, it is crucial to an understanding of the renewal of the infibulation, and supports my argument that virginity is a culturally variable concept; second, it resembles an operation performed on women from non-infibulating cultures.

4.5 Renewal of the infibulation, or reinfibulation One type of genital operation in particular can be argued to demonstrate that virginity lS perceived differently in different cultures. That operation is known as reinfibulation, and involves the retightening of the vaginal opening of previously infibulated women. While sorne amount of sewing of infibulated women lS required following childbirth, and might be likened to an extensive episitiomy repair, this additional, more drastic, procedure, involving the tight resewing of the vaginal opening, closely or exactly resembles the initial infibulation. It is the procedure alluded to by the Montreal doctor cited earlier who managed to conceal the sexual experience of her infibulated patient.

78 A physician who carried out a representative study of genital surgery in the Sudan, Asma El Dareer (1982) lists various times at which reinfibulation was reported to be performed. Of course, it 1S resorted to by unmarried women to conceal sexual activity. An operation in these cases can be likened to hymen repair. Such procedures demonstrate the intersection of the definition of virginity in diverse cultures to signify lack of previous penetrative sexual activity. But El Dareer also lists other times when reinfibulation may be performed, including following delivery, even by Cesarean section, for widowed or divorced women before remarrying, and for married women, at intervals, even if no pregnancy has occurred.

Indeed, divorced and widowed women "may undergo reinfibulation in anticipation of remarriage, thus renewing, like the recently delivered mother, her 'virginal status'" (Boddy 1982, 687; also Sa'dawi 1980, 40). Anthropologist Rose Oldfield Hayes (1975, 622) even more emphatically defines renewal of virginity­ -social virginity that is--through reinfibulation: "in order to marry again, she [the infibulated woman] must be remade a virgin."

In accounting for why reinfibulation 1S performed,12 one informant explained that, "they [men] feel like ifs the first time or

12 There are other explanations for reinfibulation. One of the more interesting ones is that technology itself may have fueHed the introduction of this type of surgery. This is similar to Hausman's (1995) argument that technology istself created a demand for sex change surgery.

79 something." And she insisted that reinfibulation is done for the same reason that infibulation is done: "they [men] need a virgin for the first time to marry just to feel satisfaction or something like that" (FHAL004infibulated). Here we see the cu1turally variable definition of virginity mentioned at the start of this section; reinfibulation makes sex seem like the "first time" again by creating a pseudo-virgin of a formerly sexually active woman. It is significant to me that the operation seems to occur in preparation for another marriage (Lightfoot-Klein 1989b, 388­ 390), rather than following a divorce, for example. In other words, reinfibulation may be less about hindering sexual activity than about re-creating a virgin.

Reinfibulation is often considered to enhance sexual pleasure, at least for the man, or to signal renewed youth or becoming "a virgin again" (Cloudsley 1983, 117, 123). Another infibulated woman similarly explained that it is "for man's pleasure because each time [that the woman is reinfibulated] she becomes a very young women like when she was 13 or 14 years old" (FOTT003infibulated). The woman literally recovers her adolescent body. Clearly, although it cannot be dissociated from the discourse on pleasure ln the above passages, the remaking of virginity and the renewal of a youthful body are distinct possibilities.

1 have already argued that sex and gender become fused among the excised and infibulated due to the imposition of social

80 engineering of the body. l would extend the argument to include virginity; the corporeal signs of virginity vary culturally, and may be signaled by excision without infibulation, or infibulation, and even renewed infibulation. In this way virginity takes on an additional meaning in excising and infibulating cultures and may even, in the latter, be restituted in practice.

4.6 Analogous procedures among infibulating and intact women While these operations are usuaUy perceived as completely foreign to contemporary Western women, Cloudsley (1983, 120) takes the bold step of referring to perineoplasty, as "a form of infibulation currently advocated in the United States to reduce the vaginal opening in multiparae women." Although this procedure, while sometimes assimilated with reinfibulation (El Dareer 1982, 59-63), is not usuaUy explicitly referred to by the same term, it is remarkably similar in terms of intent and even the cutting involved.

One obstetrician l interviewed also drew the companson, noting that Western women as well as women from other societies, who have not been infibulated, sometimes request the procedure known as perineoplasty. She described it as follows:

l think ifs not an uncommon practice ln many countries for women to request what we caU perineoplasty, after they've given birth, that they want everything to be sewn tighter so

81 that, you know, the opening is not as flaccid. And we don't happen to caU that refibulation! We just caU it perineoplasty. and l've seen a lot of that. A lot.

Ifs mmor surgery. It's the equivalent of opening an infibulation. It means an incision into the bottom of the vagina and some suturing. You could probably do it as day surgery. Ifs about like having an episiotomy.

The companson of perineoplasty with reinfibulation is perhaps the best example of cultural similarities in genital surgery. While reinfibulation admittedly involves much tighter resewing than perineoplasty typicaUy would, it may be that the standard of a tight vaginal opening is common to diverse cultures, and is thus imposed, or requested, by diverse groups of women, thereby suggesting cross-cultural attitudes and practices regarding appropriate vaginal size and response.

The practices may also enhance coital pleasure for one or both partners. Discussing reinfibulation, an infibulated informant interviewed by sex researcher Hanny Lightfoot-Klein (l989a, 120/3 explained that

13 Cloudsley (1983, 123) similarly relates the explanation for infibulation and reinfibulation offered by one of her informants, who reportedly "enjoyed intercourse more as a result of artificial narrowing of the vagina. "

82 women accept the pain [of reinfibulation surgery] because the result will bring them more pleasure...AIl you have left is a hole, and this hole at a certain degree of tightness gives pleasure to a woman by her husband's penis rubbing against the sensitive area inside. He gets pleasure from the tightness. With use, this tightness of damaged tissue begins to give.

A reinfibulated woman whom l interviewed agreed with this assessment. Reinfibulation may remedy the problem of inelastic vaginal tissue due to previous genital impairment. Other researchers emphasize the association of reinfibulation mainly with male sexual pleasure (El Dareer 1982, 91). Van der Kwaak (1992, 782) and Cloudsley (1983, 116-117; 120) even suggest that the initial infibulation procedure as weIl as its renewal through reinfibulation are performed to enhance male pleasure.14

My Canadian-born informants discussed the issue of the size of the vaginal opening, and its surgical retightening, in response to questions about episiotomy repair or perineoplasty. Many of the women commented upon what they had heard about the latter and its connection to male pleasure. Emily, Hélène, Jane, Nathalie, Ruth and Sandrine an suggest that any tightening procedure is probably done for male pleasure. Jane and Ruth further speculate whether it might be performed for female gratification as weIl.

14 Van der Kwaak argues that this is one among several rationales for the procedures.

83 But despite these parallels, eXCISIon and infibulation are generalized phenomena in the groups that practice them, whereas perineoplasty is a more isolated practice in non-excising groups.15 Indeed, none of the women 1 interviewed had themselves undergone the procedure. In subsequent research, 1 hope to specifically target women who have had perineoplasty ln order to better understand the rationale behind it.

Lisette makes the connection between vaginal retightening and other forms of plastic surgery: "we want to hide everything, put everything back the way it was, as if there had been no pregnancy, as if time stopped ten years ago...." And while she hadn't previously heard of perineoplasty, Gillian has an idea of why it would be done:

Maybe it's the idea of sort of a newness, you know, somebody who hasn't had a lot of sex, or somebody who hasn't--even like the idea of the virgin, 1 guess. Or someone who hasn't given birth yet. Someone who isn't a mother, who's still sort of.... 1 don't know; it sort of suggests young, it suggests inexperienced, and those are aU things that have been valued.

15 Subcultures may, however, more uniformly practice certain surgeries. Emily, for instance, had overheard various family friends discussing perineoplasty, and Lisette knew several women who had insisted on Cesarean-sections in order to ensure that their vaginal opening did fiot become overly large.

84 4.7 Episiotomy replûr and vaginal tightness Sociologist Ian Graham (1994, 68) cites proponents of episiotomy who daim that it enables the obstetrician to ensure the return of the vaginal opening to "[v]irginal conditions." Other researchers have condemned the systematic practice of episiotomy on the grounds that it is motivated by sexist male obstetricians who wish ta impose their Ideal of a virginal body image on their patients and even to increase male pleasure by narrowing the vaginal opening (Coquatrix 1985 and 1987, 94), motivations which render tight episiotomy repair highly analogous to infibulation and reinfibulation.

But episiotomy is no longer routinely imposed. When it is practiced nowadays it is arguably out of necessity, although the results of resewing may resemble perineoplasty. Sorne recently delivered informants had either been victims of tight episiotomy repair, or knew women who had.

Phoebe attributed the pam she experienced during sex for SIX months following parturition to her episiotomy repair. Irene had had discussions about vaginal size with friends who had given birth, and considered herself lucky in the sense that she had had a Cesarean-section and therefore had maintained her "vaginal tone." She nonetheless perceived her small opening as an impediment: "WeIl, I actually thought it would be kind of nice to have a little, to be just a little bigger, because l'm quite smaIl and I find sex sometimes hurts." Irene further intimated that penetration was

85 not a particularly enjoyable part of sexual relations for her. Despite this, the societal standard of--or perceived male preference for--a tight vaginal opening apparently remams a source of pride for her, taking precedence over personal pleasure.

Renewed virginity and the quest for lost adolescent corporeality were thus important subthemes. Related to this is the issue of "secondary virginity", advocated by the Right-to-Life movement for previously sexually active, unmarried men and women (Thompson 1990, 349) and even in American sex education curricula of the 1990s (Thomspon 1995, 43, 297, note 16). Another practice is temporary abstinence, usually lasting a few months, which some couples engage in, voluntarily reclaiming abstinence in anticipation of marriage. While they had not practiced prenuptial abstinence themselves, Olive, Ruth and

Sandrine knew of others who had done SO.16 Ruth's girlfriend explained to her that "if you're not with the person for two or three months, then on your wedding night, you know ifs going to be glamorous, maybe as if ifs the first time."

It is as though at least the semblance of virginity can be reclaimed, an appearance complicated by the obvious artifice. If the former prerequisite of virginity before marriage can be reenacted in the weeks and months leading up to marriage, this

16 1 began specifically inqiring into the practice of prenuptial abstinence with my interview of Olive. (Olive, Phoebe, Quilène, Ruth and Sandrine were thus asked about it.)

86 lends credence to the premlse that virginity can be socially constructed through its reliance upon an elaborate belief system.

Thus women in supposedly disparate cultures--those where infibulation is the rule, where excision is, or where no initial genital surgery is performed--share concerns and practices centered on the genitalia and their integrity. Virginities might be redefined, re-enacted, remade.

Conclusion 1 have shown how a preoccupation with virginity has resulted in various interpretations of the virginity question, ranging from norms regulating when it is appropriate to have sex for the first time to efforts at restoring and reconstructing lost virginities.

For the exclsmg groups, abstinence and honor, when still valued, were not perceived as virtues in and of themselves, but as signs of sexual reserve in anticipation of marriage. An important intended outcome of sexual impairment surgery is thus imposition of virginity for marriage. That excision is often perceived as synonymous with virginity is an indication of how the surgery constructs not only a female, but the proper kind of female, a

VUglll.

A shift in focus onto the conjugal couple and neolocality greatly affects how excision is perceived and valued. The couple IS

87 confronted with the devastating effects of eXCISiOn on their sex life. This possibly accounts for a negative view of excision in general, among the women interviewed, and a shift to viewing eXCISiOn as shameful.

A focus on the interactive component of sex was also apparent among the Canadian-born. Indeed, the fact that sexual intercourse introduces sorne women to sexual response is an important indication that women's sexual response is socially constructed as interactive, a theme to be addressed more fully in the next chapter.

Another revelation about interactive sex is also critical for sexual response theory in excising and non-excising cultures. Since women do not generally engage in sex--especially first sex--for pleasure, then eliminating the clitoris will not be an effective means of discouraging initiation into sexual activity. Related to an understanding of the growing importance of interactive sex is a shift in perceptions of virginity among Western women: the shame now associated with virginity used to be associated with women's sexual activity. This complete shift in the perception of shame is comparable to that felt by the immigrant excised regarding genital impairment as shameful.

One important difference between perceptions of virginity in excising and non-excising societies emerges: in excising ones, virginity is not so much a virtue as a verifiable, physical state; ln

88 most non-excising ones, it is characterized as reflecting at once both a state of mind and bodily integrity. Arguable exceptions are non-excising societies where the resurrection of the hymen is interpreted to signify re-becoming virginal in a physical sense. These societies appear to share a definition of virginity with those where genital impairment sm-gery is performed, and provide evidence in favor of my argument that virginity is defined by both of the latter societies as a membrane or bodily state established or re-established through surgery_

Similarities may prevail despite differing constructions of what constitutes the corporeal sign of virginity: for the excised, it may be removal of the clitoris; for the infibulated, severe tightening of the vaginal opening. The lack of awareness among sorne of these groups of the existence of the hymen suggests, intriguingly, that human intervention has invented its own sign of virginity, potentially effacing both the natural sign and recognition of it. Further support for my contention that virginity is a culturally variable concept cornes from the renewal of the infibulation, interpreted as renewed virginity. The timing of such reinfibulation also supports my argument; reinfibulation appears to aim less at hindering sexual activity than at re-creating a virgin at various intervals.

One important similarity in genital surgenes of diverse societies IS perhaps related to notions of appropriate vaginal Slze. Perineoplasty and reinfibulation can be compared on the basis of

89 what they involve, and perhaps even the reasons behind them. Apparently, cross-cultural attitudes and practices concermng vaginal size and response are quite similar. Of course, future comparative interviews of women having undergone these procedures will be crucial to furthering this analogy.

While intact women's link to virginity is no longer always or, for sorne, at all apparent, 1 will argue in the next chapter that the present discussion of virginities has not been far surpassed by those Canadian- and Ab-kan-born women no longer preoccupied with il. AlI are still partIy mired in it, but are arguably more influenced by related controls on sexual activity in general.

90 Chapter 4

Sexual Activity andSexual Control

1 propose a conceptual continuum linking sexual intercourse in general to virginity. Clearly, there is a logical and straightforward justification for such a link: 10ss of virginity as it is defined in the West is synonymous with sexual intercourse. First sex is simply a first instance of sex. Those who value virginity are also concerned with sexual activity in general. And even those no longer as preoccupied with virginity, whether among the African- or Canadian-born, nevertheless concern themselves with placing limits on subsequent sex. 1 will explore this concern with control as it is informed by two popular ideas about sex: sex drive theory, and the context of sex.

Sex drive theory is a popular concept that influences how many people think about sex. The theory views sex as an ineluctable inner force. A naturalistic or essentialist perspective thus attributes sexual activity to biological explanations. My empirical data serve more to question this theory of innate sex drive than to support il. 1 examine drive theory's circular logic through synonymous use of the concepts of sexual desire, response, and activity as well as informants' experiences, including reasons for engaging in intercourse not linked to physical pleasure. The social constructionist perspective provides a refutation of drive theory.

91 Relational sex is, 1 will argue, a second concept crucial to understanding sexual activity today. For many, sex IS nominally acceptable only if engaged in within the context of a cornmitted relationship, as confirmed by the informants' own assessments. The research literature provides similar findings. My argument is that this ideal is not necessarily realized in practice. Significantly, it is not objective criteria, such as length of time a partner IS known before intercourse, but instead the individual's interpretation of the relation which determines its status. 1 thus consider relational sex to be a social construction consisting of two levels of reality, one ideal and the other real.

1 . 0 The Sex Drive

Sociologists point out that the sex drive is the prevailing concept used by the populati?n at large to account for sexual intercourse (Gagnon and Simon 1973; Gardetto 1993). Popular historian Reay Tannahill (1990) assumes that a history of sex should be concerned with "the human sex drive and its social and moral consequences." This essentialist perspective even persists among sorne sex researchers (Bozon and Leridon 1996; Jackson 1996), other social scientists, and even anthropologists (Heider 1976, 188-189). The drive is thought of as a bodily urge or a psychological need responsible for interactive sexual activity.

Of course, the concept of a sex drive could be incorporated into the constructionist perspective; for instance, if we presume that sorne

92 amount of sexuality is inborn, then we may at least partially ascribe ta drive theory while nonetheless emphasizing the socially determined aspects of sexual behavior. Instead, though, bath among the African- and Canadian-born, three potentially distinct concepts are subsumed within the more abstract designation of the sex drive: sexual activity and, more specifically, intercourse, sexual response and desire are thus essentialized, without much consideration given to their social influences.

The sex drive and hs constitutive components are even categorized with hunger and the need for sleep (Foucault 1984, vol. 2; Hawkes 1996, 6; Lees 1986, 19). Of course, Sociologist Gail Hawkes (1996, 6) suggests that there is a consensus that sexual desire is a basic urge which needs to be reigned in; widespread agreement that the consequences of sexual desire would be inordinate amounts Of sexual activity,"renders it acceptable...that expressions of sexual desire be the subject of regulation and prohibition." 1 would add that even anticipated sexual desire is subject to regulation in the case of excision, since rernoval of a girl's clitoris is held to decrease "excessive sexual sensitivity" and future "sex drive" (Lightfoot-Klein 1989b, 379).

1.1 Sexual acti'Vity or intercourse among the excised

Sexual activity is popularly portrayed as being motivated by and contiguous with at least sorne amount of sensual pleasure, and even orgasm. Moreover, the informants link a desire for sexual activity with sexual response by presuming that activity implies

93 desire. The excised informants consider that genital impairment surgery aims to stem sexual sensation, thereby reducing or eliminating sexual desire and its expression in intercourse. Without explicitly citing sensitivity and desire as precipitating factors, other informants referred to the fear that if left intact girls will become "frivolous" and chase after boys and men.1 Rence much of the immigrant women's discourse on genital impairment surgery is couched in terms of controls on sexual activity and, equally importantly, the theme of the outcome of lack of controis. Informants sketched out the presumed path of debauchery that begins with lack of excision as the precipitating factor causing excessive levels of sensitivity and desire. These, in turn, lead to a lack of self-control and inevitably to excessive sexual activity (promiscuity or prostitution).

1.2 Sexual intercourse stemming from sensitivity

Asked about the disadvantages of eXCISiOn, one informant discussed her genital insensitivity but then insisted that intact women were also disadvantaged "because you may one day end up sleeping with somebody on the street, according to what they believe. But 1 don't know if that is true..." (FMTL043excised). The intact are humorously characterized as continuously alert sexually, a presumably organic state compelling them to have sex with "somebody on the street"; promiscuity appears to be the greatest fear among excising groups. The fear that ditoral

1 Frivolity and chasing after men due to lack of eXC1SlOn were mentioned by' FMTL006excised, FMTLO 14excised, FMTLO 1gexcised, FMTL025excised, FMTL038excised, FMTL044excised.

94 sensitivity will drive a desire for promiscuous intercourse is repeated below:

Excision is performed to safeguard the girl, not to be promiscuous...because they believe the more pointed the clitoris the, the more [sic], you know, when it touches something or somebody touches it, you know, you want to have sexual intercourse. That's one of the first things... For the promiscuity, that's the only aspect that 1 really, you know, agree with, probably so because, um, the Ijebu people that don't do it at all, that don't do [excision], you know, we do know that--or the people from Lagos--we do realize that they are more promiscuous. (FWPGOO8excised)

The clitoris is portrayed as a dangerous organ due to its innate excitability. Once triggered, whether by accident when "it touches " 'something" or intentionally when "somebody touches it" the clitoris causes girls and women to ~'want to have sexual intercourse." Sex is defined as biologically driven by physical sensation, and, intriguingly, as interactive. Sensation spurs desire which results in intercourse. Of course, the fact that the Ijebu, located just north of Lagos, are a highly modemized group (Horowitz 1985, 151), or that Lagos is Nigeria's largest urban center would probably better account for supposedly higher levels of promiscuity. Yet the notion that sexual organs dictate behavior points up the overriding essentialist assumption.

95 1.3 The Problem of Desire

Foucault (1984, vol. 2) traces the concept of desire back to classical Greece. Desire was generally constructed as a basic need: Galen, for instance, linked desire and its presumed corollary, pleasure, to anatomy and physiology (Foucault 1984, vol. 3, 130). Sexual response/pleasure was linked to activity through the precipitating factor of desire, as it is today.

While sensitivity triggers sexual intercourse, there is thus an intervening variable commonly thought of as desire, which can inspire too much "love" or "affection" in a woman (FMTLOI4excised). In other words, "if the girl is left without circumcision, she will be very sexi' and "run after men" (FHALOOlinfibulated). This fear of indiscriminate sexual activity would supposedly drive the unoperated "to sleep with just anyone" (FMTL026excised), run around, "need every man" (FWPGOI6excised). There is thus a strong belief in a natura! sexual urge that, left unchecked, drives women to "debauchery" (FMTL026excised). Evidence for this urge is apparently provided by Western women, who continue to want and seek out sex even into their thirties and forties (FMTL030excised)!

The perception in excising groups that women's sex drive is insatiable perhaps resembles prevlous Western constructions of women's sex drive as greater than men's (CapIan 1987, 3). Left unchecked by surgery, women's desire is supposedly overwhelming. This is one point on which the Mrican- and

96 Canadian-born women differed. The former seemed unaware that, in the West, women's sex drive is currently viewed as weaker than men's (Gardetto 1993; Hirschon 1978; Holland et al. 1994 [1990], 129; Lees 1986, 19, 21).

1.4 Sensitivity and Desire A further distinction was made by the African-born regarding the link between clitoral sensitivity and desire. Most considered that sensitivity, or the possibility of pleasure, triggers desire,2 and therefore used desire and sensitivity interchangeably.3 They lamented that, having no or very little sensitivity, they had no or little desire:

when the clitoris is removed, then afterwards...she won't have that desire....Even if she marries and has relations, she won't feel anything. It [sex] will be like an obligation for her since she has nothing to gain from it. (FMTL036excised)4

2 The presumed physiological or psychological link between pleasure and desire has been similarly postulated since Classical Antiquity, when it was considered that the "need for recreation of the [pleasurable] experience was desire" (Hawkes 1996, 10). 3 This is the case for FMTL005excised, FMTL006excised, FMTLOllexcised, FMTL02gexcised, FMTL035excised, FWPG023excised, FOTT003infibulated, FTOR009infibulated. 4 Almost identical explanations were proferred by FMTL02gexcised, FMTL035excised, FMTL043excised, FWPG023excised, and FOTT003infibulated. These informants often tended, however, to use the third person to explain why excision is done. This is curious since they were aIl excised. It may be partiaIly due to the impersonal interview wording: for instance, informants were asked why excision is done rather than why they themselves were excised.

97 Occasionally, women interpreted lack of feeling and therefore desire as a positive outcome. The clitoris "makes a woman feel that she wants sex all the time. And because of that, we're trying ta eliminate this for a woman not ta be spoiled. Sa it's ta eliminate the sexual thoughts or sexual thinking of a woman." As a result, "l'm glad 1 did it [excision] because ifs more.. .! feel more [sic] better. 1 don't have the desire" (FMTL043excised).

Egyptian women participating in a focus group defended their genital surgery, arguing that "it is better to be frigid than ta desire [one's] husband" since desire renders a woman sexually reliant upon her husband (El Dawla, Hadi, and Wahab 1998, 85). Yet whether they interpret lack of desire as a good or bad outcome, the women are nonetheless generally convinced of the link between sensitivity and desire, an assumption also made in the literature by theorists and excised women alike.s

A striking illustration of the desire-response connection cames with the daim by some of the excised of an ability ta abstain from sex for long periods due to a lack of desire. Dara reveals as much in illustrating the difference between herself and intact women: "1 can go one month, two months, 1 can say that 1 can even go a year without sleeping with a man; it holds no interest for me."

5 "Excision (...) functions across cultures primarily to 'protect' a woman from her own desire" argues Drybread (1996, 49); the women studied by anthropologist Aud Talle (1993, 91) also cite control of sexual urge/desire as the reason for removal of the clitoris.

98 AH of these claims appear to support the essentialist premlse of sex. After aU, the women who link sex and desire are implicitly arguing for a straightforward physiological response system. When sexual response is impaired, so too is desire.

Yet many other informants caU the response-desire loop into question. Even though they see the clitoris as essential to orgasm, they do not argue that a lack of sensitivity ensures a lack of desire. They implicitly recognize desire as an entity somewhat independent of sensitivity. Thus, a lack of sexual satisfaction may lead the excised woman to constantly seek out the pleasure which eludes her. The problem IS most poignantly put by Alyan, who claims that the excised becorne

insatiable. Because you seek out pleasure wherever you go... When you mak.~ love with a man.. .it is as if you were still trying to find it, again and again.. .it's like you never get enough pleasure.. .it's like there isn't any orgasm... [Interviewer: So ifs by, a bit out of frustration in a way that the woman...] seeks out or continues to seek out [sex].

Discussing her research with women in the Sudan, El Dareer (1982, 75) insists that, despite excision, "sexual desire is not decreased." Indeed, sorne Nigerians argue that excision causes sexual forwardness in women (Messenger 1971, 16)! Why would this be? Desire is arguably also hormonaUy controUed in the brain as opposed to in the genitals, argue sex therapists Singer Kaplan

99 and Sucher (1982, 3). And following her years of work with genitally impaired women in the Sudan, Cloudsley (1983, 111) ventures that "excision could even lead to increased desire because it prevents adequate sexual satisfaction." Moreover, it is argued that sometimes "desire will follow rather than precede behavior" (Simon and Gagnon 1999, 31), thereby inverting the expected sequence behind sexual response.

In addition, the fact that eXCISIon IS not deemed sufficient in preventing sexual relations is further evidence of the tenuous link between response and desire: excised girls are warned, watched over, and educated about the perils of sex, thus making it unclear whether excision or the attendant social sanctions are the more powerful deterrents:

You know, this. thing has been imposed on us that, uh, as we are growing up they will discuss this thing with us that. .. since you have been circumcised, don't move near men, oh, because we just conceive like that [i.e. very easily]. So, aU this training has withdrawn us, not even to have interest in sex. (FWPG015excised)

Yet more evidence for the social construction of sexual desire comes from the bold contention that sex is aIl in the head. Whereas, for the few Canadian-born who discuss it, this merely implies that such factors as mindset are an important component to orgasm, for a couple of the African-born, it is an argument that

100 orgasm can be divorced from genital response. Asked if excision affects a woman's (sexual) sensitivity, one informant insisted, "1 don't think so because, for me, ifs aU in the head, not down there" (FMTLOllexcised). Similarly Balim, despite claiming to sense absolutely no arousal in the genital area due to excision and partial infibulation, nonetheless said she enjoyed sexual relations, since sex is all in the head. At first glance this seems like a perversion of the intended meaning of a common phrase. Yet it also serves to refute the orgasmic imperative, pointing up the socially constructed component of sexual relations, since sex appears to be engaged in for a variety of reasons beyond orgasm per se. Moreover, sex without orgasm may nonetheless be enjoyable, and erotogenic stimulation may be pleasurable ln its own right, as attested to by many of the intact women 1 interviewed who saw orgasm as not always necessary.6

1.5 Sexual activity due to lack of control

One informant was concemed that stopping excision ln Africa would lead to a sexual laisser aller similar to what she perceives in the West. She argued that if allowed to live "naturally", girls "won't control themselves" (FMTL031excised). This would have

6 Weis (1985, 433) in his questionnaire of two hundred femaie undergraduates, concluded that "orgasm is only one of many factors accounting for a feeling of pleasure." Long Laws and .schwartz (1977, 53) aiso recognize that "we cannot ignore women's repeated reports of sexuai satisfaction that is not limited to, and may he distinct from, orgasm." Psychologist Cynthia Jane (1981) even proposes that sexuai response he conceptualized aiong two separate, though potentiaHy overlapping, dimensions, orgasm and psychological satisfaction.

101 dire consequences in Africa because of a lack of sex education and contraception.

Excision 1S thus implicitly perceived as a highly social intervention intended to create a socially acceptable body to counter the naturally unacceptable--sexually out of control--body. And yet the interactive component to the sex drive is not problematized. Instead, sexual intercourse is assumed to reflect the only plausible response to a physiological sexual urge. It is as if the only response to hunger was a meal shared with another, or as if exhaustion could only be remedied by sleep next to a compamon. In this sense, sex as a drive must be distinguished from other basic drives: it is, I would argue, constructed as an interactive drive.

1.6 Control through excision

The need for sex can be contrasted with freedom from need, or "control" that is thought to separate the excised from the intact:

1 hear it--the sound is funny [i.e. this sounds funny]--but 1 hear that, usually for girls when they didn't take [sic] [excision], they become more sexier and they become fast and, uh, and they will get [into] more trouble, you know, when they are teenagers; they don't control themselves. (FWPG008excised; also FWPG017excised)

102 Here it is clear that the discourse of sexual control ostensibly attributes responsibility to women, or implies that intact women cannot be relied upon to abstain from intercourse. Excised women are supposed to no longer need sex, a rationale which links the curtailing of sexual response through excision to the control of women's sex drive (Nelson 1987, 221, 237).

The result of reduced or eliminated sensitivity and desire, control or self-control, was often articulated as the main raison d'être of genital impairment surgery, with the result of such control-­ reduced or eliminated sexual activity--sometimes articulated by the informants, sometimes not. Moreover, the curbing of sexual response was viewed by sorne in a positive or uncritical manner, by others in a negative, highly critical, politicized one. Those who saw sexual impairment surgery in a positive light spoke of a woman b~ing able to control herself (se maîtriser), remaining unbothered sexually (tranquille), or being protected (FMTL008excised; FMTL030excised; FMTL031excised; FMTLOI0excised; FTOR006infibulated). A few other informants unambiguously criticized what they saw as unjust efforts at controlling women's sexuality (FWPG016excised; FTOROOS infibulated; FTOR007infibulated):

They think that the women...can be controlled. They don't have that much desire to [have] sexual intercourse. And it refrains from aH evils, that is what they think.. .I think it is

103 something conceived to dominate women' s sexuality. (FTOR004infibulated)

Control of women's sexual activity was also deemed necessary for what might be termed extenuating circumstances. A husband's prolonged absence was considered by some to account for sexual impairment surgery (FMTL005excised; FMTL008excised; FMTLOI7excised). The lesser attention afforded wives of polygamous was also considered to explain the surgeries (FMTL024excised). The excised wife will not "provoke" her husband but railier "wait her turn" for sex (FMTLO1Oexcised; also FTOR009infibulated).

These examples implicitly point to women's sensitivity or orgasmic capacity and desire as a hindrance; control of women thus really signifies:removing the need. to control women, since the excised supposedly don't want sex. It is also interesting to note the concerns about women taking the initiative sexually, even when it is only wiili their husbands. Clearly, in addition ta concerns about promiscuity, excision may also signal a concern with overall control of woman's sexual behavior in aH circumstances.

1.7 Incidence of sexual intercourse despite excision

Sexual intercourse occurs despite excision, according to one investigation of East African excised women (Megafu 1983).

104 Excised informants often made this same point, although their interpretations of it varied. One informant was unique in her libertarian attitude toward women' s sexual activity. She noted the inefficacy of the operations in stemming intercourse but then emphasized that women should be allowed to behave as they like. But most importantly, she signaled a shift in societal mores which make it acceptable for excised women to have and talk about extensive sexual experiences, even in Africa: excised women "used to be marginalized for saying that they had known ten men. But now they say: Today l'll go it with this man, and tomorrow it will be with someone else. Let' s leave them to do as they please" (FMTL006excised)!

In what follows, the informants conclude that eXClSlOn does not stem desire. Girls and women must want sex since they are having sex and getting pregnant. This bolsters my contention that sexual activity, response and desire are perceived as synonymous. The presumption is of course that no one would engage in sex if it didn't present immediate sensual rewards:

even when it [excision] has been done, the woman has her sexual desire. Sorne women's desire is totally destroyed because of it. But others have kept it, even if it hurts...So they will look for a man. (FMTL034infibulated; also FMTL005excised)

105 Sex drive theory is adopted uncritically, and applied even to diametrically opposed evidence: in the above quote, sorne women have no sexual desire left; others do since they engage in sex despite pain. Even contradictory evidence is reinterpreted according to an essentialist worldview that links sexual activity with sex drive or desire: if excised women avoid sex, then it is because their drive has been eliminated; yet if they have sex then this indicates that excision does not reduce or eliminate sexual response or desire! Sexual activity is thus taken not only as evidence of sexual desire, but also of an overriding desire; despite pain, genitally impaired women will seek out sexual encounters.

1.8 Why do Canadian women have sex?

To analyze motivations for sexual activity, it will be useful to examine the cross-cultural evidence. 1 was intrigued by my

" discussion with the Canadian-born concerning sex despite lack of orgasm or any physical pleasure. Why do women have sex? The Canadian-born women 1 interviewed provided many reasons for sex independent of any pleasure and even despite pain. While desire and sensitivity inform the normative explanatory model for sexual intercourse, this model is often unable to account for actual practice.

106 1.9 Sex despite lack of orgasm or pleasure within a monogamous relationship Ruth thinks that "you have that urge inside of you that you want to be with somebody." Marie defines sex as "instinctive", and a "need"; Quilène argues it must be hormonally triggered, and that men's greater need for sex is "in their nature."? But these and other informants also describe engaging in sex for many reasons unrelated to pleasure.

Discussing the circumstances under which sex did not lead to orgasm, Jane remembers those times when her alcoholic husband got drunk and pressured her into having sex: "there would be times where 1 would submit, 1 mean 1 just kind of [gave in): Ok, let's just do this and get this over with." Nathalie insists that sex with a former boyfriend gave her "no pleasure; it was like, is he finished yet?" Lisette similarly intimates that sex for her used to be about getting it over with, since sex with her first boyfriend simply "was not enjoyable."

Nathalie and Lisette tell amusmg anecdotes about watching the clock during sex, both to quantify their claims that coitus within a glven relationship was extremely short and to indicate their lack of pleasure. Ruth also admits that she doesn't recall having an orgasm with the boyfriends she had before meeting her fiancé,

7It is perhaps significant that the informants who most emphasized sex as a drive, and who most contrasted women and men's drive, were those without a university education. It would be interesting to interview more women from this category, and to conduct statistically representative surveys to compare perceptions of sex on this issue according to education level.

107 nOf with the latter until after they were married. Orgasm was not an issue for her. Unlike the women above, she suggests that she did get sorne pleasure from sex, although she admits that it is "sad" to think that "we [women] were never asked how it is or [laughing] how do we feel or what do we want."

The phenomenon of sex despite lack of pleasure may be more common among younger women. Montreal doctor Geneviève Deschêne, who works at a clinic specializing in adolescent contraception, discussed lack of pleasure among sexually active adolescent girls: "Girls have to be told that sexual pleasure does exist, and that it is as important or more important to demand as it is to give pleasure" (quoted in Massicotte 2000, C2). In their research among young women in the 1980s, Janet Holland and colleagues (1994 [1990], 119) "found that much, if not most, of young women' s sexu.al experience is not particularly pleasurable. Sometimes it seems that what is valued is the social relationship with a partner rather than the sexual activity."

1.10 Sex to keeplplease the man

Karen, Lisette, and Nathalie admit that they have had sex in the sole interest of keeping a partner. Ruth used to do so because her focus was on pleasing her partners. And 1 alluded above to Jane's acceptance of sex in order to avoid conflict. Why do women have sex? The answer goes far beyond basic sex drive theory. Since the man was the instigator of coitus in the above scenarios, it is

108 difficult to impute women's sex drive as active or at aU involved. This becomes aH the more evident when women engage in sex despite considerable pain.

1.11 Sex despite pain

1 have already made an analogy between excised women and those intact who have sex despite no pleasure. There is also a comparison to be made between infibulated and intact women. Infibulated women may experience pain during coitus because of the narrowness and inelasticity of their operated vaginal opening. They nevertheless engage in sex. Two of the intact Canadian-born women 1 interviewed had medical problems which meant that coitus could be extremely painful for them as well.

Before having an operation to partially remedy problems caused by a vaginal septum, Karen nonetheless had sex, which was sometimes "very painful"; her motivation for sex was relational­ aimed at "keeping the guy." Nathalie's is positioned in such a way that rear-entry coitus is painful for her. Yet this was the preferred position of one of her boyfriends, and so she acquiesced: "rear-entry is painful for me. ft's never painful when it's face to face but, with rear-entry.. .in addition to not being enjoyable, to giving me no pleasure, it was painful for me." Her boyfriend knew this position hurt her, but usually opted for it because rear-entry was the easiest route to orgasm for him. Nathalie eventually stopped complaining in the interests of maintaining her

109 relationship: "1 shut up at a certain point, because 1 told myself--I also wanted to preserve the relationship...So that was part of the deal... So, 1 endured it."

1.12 Sex despite lack of orgasm or pleasure within a casual relationship Hélène discusses self-stimulation during coitus as representing an evolution in her sex life, since before trying this technique with a boyfriend, "1 had never attained orgasm with any of my loyers before, and 1 had had many." She also discusses faking orgasm, "especially with one-night stands."

Fabienne attempts to explain why recreational sex is alluring even though it doesn't usually lead to orgasm for her, and may even involve simulating orgasm:

you don't care if you have an orgasm or not: in that instance, il's just fun [c'est juste drôle]; you wanted the guy and you are just happy to be with him or whatever...And to make him feel that he gave you pleasure, he feels like, wow, il's so funny, and you tell yourself: WeIl, anyway, 1 can get my pleasure when 1 go home if 1 want, or tomorrow morning or in the shower, whatever.

Several studies explore the apparently widespread phenomenon of faking orgasm (Butler 1976; Darling and Davidson 1986; Roberts et al. 1995; Thompson 1990), often in the interests of

110 maintaining a good relationship or pleasing the man. In cases where women fake orgasm in the context of recreational sex, as with Hélène and Fabienne above, presumably maintaining the relationship is not the issue. Perhaps, as Fabienne suggests, sexual exploration need not include orgasm, although simulating it does emphasize a recognition that orgasm is expected. Fabienne apparently wants only to convince the partner that he has satisfied her sexually, noting that she can always have an orgasm later, on her own.

Fabienne and Hélène's correlation of faking it with recreational sex caUs into question the assumption that women fake it in order to preserve their overall relationship. Perhaps an overriding concern with men's immediate pleasure motivates women to simulate orgasm in recreational as weIl as relational sexual encounters. In any case, even if women also simulate orgasm in other circumstances, such as when they are in a committed relationship, the implications are nonetheless similar. Women are preoccupied with men's physical and psychological pleasure. It is thus perhaps not surprising that women should simulate orgasm even in recreational sex. But it does emphasize that women do not necessarily engage in sex, even recreational sex, with orgasm as an aim or endpoint.

It is perhaps remarkable that women who percelve recreational sex as not leading to orgasm still engage in it. But recreational sex may simply mirror relational sex for many women. Ruth refers to

III non-orgasmic sex with past boyfriends as a "quick thing." Her terminology is perhaps a reflection of male concerns, but she also refers to these sexual encounters as "a quick intimate thing", suggesting that her desire for intimacy was satisfied. This says a lot about the lack of direct links between sex and orgasm and suggests an important analogy with excised women: women don't necessarily have sex for orgasmic release. This is of course why neither excision nor lack of orgasm during sex appear to discourage intercourse. l noted above that excised women may feel desire and seek out multiple sex partners despite--or even because of--a lack of genital sensitivity. Among the intact women interviewed, Fabienne similarly noted that a close friend who could not reach orgasm had nonetheless sought out many sexual partners, in search of the sexual response which continued to elude her. Fabienne herself makes the connection between such Western women and excised ones. Both the excised and Canadian-born interviewed thus argue that women who cannot attain orgasm may have more frequent, and more indiscriminate, sex. The link between orgasm and sexual activity therefore appears tenuous at best for many women, both intact and excised.

Sex researchers J. Kenneth Davidson and Nelwyn Moore (1994) found that women who feh highly guilty about their inability to have an orgasm during coitus were more likely to engage in riskier sex activities. A nurse quoted in Hawkes (1996, 85) linked

112 recreational sex and lack of orgasm among the teenage girls who consulted her about their inability to have coital orgasms: "it's a quick five minutes in the back of a car... they're never going to have an orgasm [that way], but they're still searching for it."

1.13 Control of the Canadian-born

The underlying issues of control among the excising groups might be compared with those among the Canadian-born; over the course of their interviews, sorne of the Canadian-born women introduced the issue of sexual control through pressure from boyfriends to have sex or to engage in certain sexual activities to which they were opposed (Hélène, Lisette, Olive, Quilène, Sandrine) and discussed their experiences as victims of sexual aggression by acquaintances (Nathalie, Quilène). But more subtle forms of control are also at work. Notably, women underline the sanctions against sexual assertiveness, to be discussed below ln the section on contextual considerations.

Women's reluctance to express their sexual desires and preferences translates into relations based on male fantasies and desires, argues Fabienne. Judith Long Laws and Pepper Schwartz agree with this assessment: fOllOwing Gagnon and Simon's (1973) introduction of scripting theory, they argue that sexual scripts, the "repertoire of acts and statuses recognized by a social group" (1977, 2), including the roles adopted during sexual interaction, are predominantly written and directed by men.

113 Just as 1 bave argued that 'virginity 1S related to controls on sexual activity in general, 1 also place excision at one end of the spectrum of sexual control, and social sanctions or delimiting scripts at the other. The scripts may evolve to reflect the societal mores of the times. But scripts on appropriate sexual behavior apparently govern women's sexual assertiveness, or lack thereof, even today, as indicated by my Canadian-born informants. In her ethnography of junior high school students in the United States, Donna Eder (1997, 98, 129) similarly remarked upon the "theme of men as sexual actors in contrast to women as passive sexual objects", and the denigrating labeling meted out to those who dared to reverse the roles.

In her thesis on "female circumcision", Ionthe Maclagan (1981) argues that to view'.'female circumcision as a form of externalized control, paralleling the controls internalized by Western women," is an oversimplification; both excised and intact women are subject to internaI controls. Physical control through excision and infibulation highlights ideological concerns that are clearly articulated. 1 would therefore argue that excision and infibulation are accompanied by an "ideology of control" (Lindisfarne-Tapper 1991, 15), or what Maclagan refers to as "internalized ideological control." It would indeed be surprising if the operations continued without ideological justification, especially since it is often women themselves who carry out the operations. But since the vocabulary to describe women's sexual behavior and the parallels drawn by

114 the women themseives often overlap, it appears that different cultures share similar ideologies of control.8 If controis on sexuai activity are contemplated in a broad sense, then sexual roles in the West amount to a counterpart ta excision.

Of course, this is not ta imply that, without those contraIs, women would run rampant sexually. Indeed, the basis for my refutation of drive theory is the argument that sexual relations are determined by numerous variables, many of which are not related ta sexual response or desire, a point made by women for more than a century (Mosher 1980). Laumann and coHeagues' (1994, 184) representative sex survey monitored the unspectacular sexual behavior of Americans: "In a given year, over 80 percent of aH adults aged eighteen ta fifty-nine have no sex partners or only one; only about 3 percent have 5 or more partners." And aimost 60 percent have had fewer than 5 partners since age 18 (Laumann et al. 1994, 192).

1.14 Against drive theory

My investigation of how women percelve contraIs on their sexuality, and why they have sex without pleasure, provides strong evidence against the drive theory of sexual response. My research thus furthers the basic sociological stance against drive theory and in favor of sex as a social construction (CapIan 1987, 10; Faderman 1991, 303; Hausman 1995, 97; Hawkes 1996, 9;

8 Bleier (1984, 181-183), Combs-Shilling (1989, 98), Reed (1975, 425-430), and Lindisfarne-Tapper (1991, 15-16) identify underlying male power structures as the source of women's sexual subjection.

115 Jackson 1996, 62, 64; Padgug 1999, 19-20; Simon and Gagnon 1999, 30, 37; Vance 1999, 43-46; Weeks 1995, 33).

Sorne fascinating testimonies point ta an important cross-cultural constant, namely, women do not necessarily have sex in order ta attain orgasm. Indeed, casual sex or recreational sex is viewed by the women as particularly unlikely ta result in orgasm. Both excised and intact informants suggest that sorne women who are not able ta attain orgasm may have numerous partners; they are attempting ta attain the sexual satisfaction which constantly eludes them.

2.0 Contextual considerations

2.1 Sexual intercourse as prostitution

The rationale for geilital impairment surgery may not always be complete sexual abstinence. There appears ta be a feM that women will have the wrong kind of sex in the wrong situation-­ that is, indiscriminate, promiscuous sex with a multitude of partners. Hence, when the virginity imperative fades, sexual control may persist, but shifts to a concern with number and especially type of sexual encounter. Thus many exclsmg groups no longer concerned with virginity still seek ta curb women's sexual activity in a variety of contexts, bath prior ta and within marriage.

116 Prostitution appears to be the term used to refer to an accentuated level of sexual activity. It is sometimes implied that if left intact a girl or woman' will resort to prostitution:

1 have heard that...without it [excision] their children, their daughters, will become prostitutes. Because once it [the clitoris] is removed, the feeling that you could have felt with a man is removed...once it is removed, frankly, [when] you are with a man...you can't feel very weIl. (FMTL03gexcised; also FWPG023excised)

In the above quote, the distinction between prostitution and improper but unpaid sexual activity is blurred. And in what fol1ows, prostitution and excessive, but unpaid, sexual activity are apparently synonymous:

We believe that, uh, when [if] we don't do this thing, when a girl grows up, she will be a prostitute, that is, she will be going from one boy to another. (FWPGOI5excised; also FMTL003Pinfibulated; FHAL004infibulated)

This preoccupation with what is referred to as prostitution (El Dareer 1982, 14) may reflect a concern with promiscuity more than with the acceptance of money for sex: "sex is believed to be only for men since the women regard the money the men give their wives as payment for this" (El Dareer 1982, 40). For at least sorne genitally impaired women, sex for money is not the

117 problem; the concern is instead that women will have indiscriminate sex with multiple partners.

The equation of multiple sexual partners with prostitution is reminiscent of that used among North American adolescents, and is reflected in the variant dictionary definitions. The term slut can denote a woman's untidy appearance, that she is "sexually unchaste or licentious", or that she is a prostitute, according to Webster's Dictionary. Thus dirtiness, excessive sexual activity and sex for money coincide in the same term, and are often used interchangeably. Like the African-born cited above, sorne of my Canadian-born informants alluded to the labeling of sexually active women as prostitutes or as sexually aggressive. Many had feared the epithet of aggressor or slut, two commonly used, underdefined terms used almost interchangeably to denigrate young women.

The African- and Canadian-born both remarked on the persistence of the double standard whereby men are studs, women sluts. African-born Alyan argues that "back home, men have nothing to lose" in having sex whereas the woman's reputation and esteem are jeopardized. Hélène argues from expenence that this is still the case in France. And in Canada, men are lauded for sexual activity, whereas an openly sexually active woman will be "considered a prostitute" (Fabienne). Olive9

9 These attitudes toward women's sexuality appeared to persist, particularly during adolescence, across age cohorts, although 1 did not interview

118 concurs, noting that, in her high school, boys judged girls "as easy" or "not easy", the former being viewed by aU as "the girls of Sainte-Catherine Street", that is, as prostitutes. Thus, growmg up, an important double standard separated the sexes. Marie and Karen echo the old proverbs: a girl, "mustn't sleep around...a guy could sleep around"; "the young guys were studs, but the women were sluts."

Sue Lees similarly found that the fifteen and sixteen year old British girls she studied in the early 1980s10 were constrained by arbitrary labels, especially by the denigrating "slag" or "slut" designation. She emphasizes that the epithet often is without foundation. Moreover, since it is only applied to girls who do not have a boyfriend, it may even be used more often to refer to girls who are not sexually active than to those who are. As with the recollections of high school life recounted by my informants, the definition of a slut is shown to be arbitrary and contradictory. As with the African-born, it signaIs fear of female sexuality and anticipatory sanctions on sexual activity. "Nice girls", as Lees (1986, 163) points out, avoid the unnatural promiscuity characteristic of slags, and are defined as those who engage in sex only when love is involved...

CUITent adolescents. Fabienne was in the 30-34 year age group. Olive was in the 25-29 year age group. 10 Lees and colleagues conducted approximately 100 interviews and also organized group discussions with adolescent girls from three London schools.

119 2.2 Relational and recreational sex

There is an important distinction to be made between relational

ll and recreational sex. Relational sex 1S accompanied by love whereas recreational sex privileges pleasure over other considerations, and thus does not require love as a legitimizing principle. But the distinction between the two is not always clearcut, as 1 will discuss below.

Among the Canadian-born as with sorne of the African-born, contextual considerations are often paramount; the type of relationship is often more important than actual numbers of sex partners, with recreational sex strongly sanctioned. While discussing her history of sexual experiences, Canadian-born Emily felt the need to clarify: "l'm not saying 1 was a sIut by any means." Why might 1 have thought she was a slut? Because she admitted to having not attributed as much "meaning" to sex in the past as she does today. This supports my argument that being a "slut" today is less about numbers than intent and relational commitment.

This argument also suggests. changing sexual standards; whereas the woman was previously expected to be a virgin, she is now expected to engage in sex only serially and selectively. On this

11 These two categories were of most concern to my Canadian- and African­ born informants. While procreational sex is arguably also an important category (Laumann et al. 1994, 511-529), il was not usuaHy articulated as a value: even the most conservative excised informants spoke of excision as useful for avoiding pregnancy rather than presenting lack of sexual

120 point, the Canadian- and African- born do not differ so much.

While it is true that virginity continues to be valued ln sorne societies, it appears that the concern today, even among many of the African-bom, is not that a woman will lose her virginity but that she will become a slut: excessive· sexual activity is considered inappropriate in both excising and non-excising societies. The definition of excess may remain somewhat at odds, however. A relatively greater concern in excising societies with sexual activity may help to explain the more drastic measures taken by these in the form of genital impairment.

Monogamy or seriaI monogamy was the most common type of relationship engaged in by the women interviewed. Despite this, 1 would argue that it is increasingly acceptable for women to engage in what once might have been perceived as recreational sex partly because such activity mimics seriaI monogamy. If having more than one partner over time has become acceptable, numbers become less significant.12 The Iapse of time is also becoming blurred. That is, when a woman was supposed to have sex with only one man in her lifetime, number of lifetime partners was more of an issue. Now that seriaI monogamy, and "cohabitation as the initial form of partnership" (Laumann et al. experience as a virtue. Sociologist John DeLamater (1987) also proposed other categories, less pertinent for my purposes. 12 Of the Canadian-born, onlyQuilène and Sandrine condemned excessive numbers of loyers within a seriaUy monogamous framework. Quilène and Sandrine's condemnation of the numbers themselves, irregardless of the context in which they may occur, is perhaps reflective of former, more conservative societal norms. Neither of these two had a university education.

121 1994, 206) is the practice and thus the emergmg norm, contextual considerations take precedence in defining acceptable versus unacceptable sexual behavior. As a result, recreational sex must be non-monogamous or commîtment-free in order to be unambiguously distinguished from relational sex.

Many of the African-born and aH of the Canadian-born informants approved of relational sex before marriage. The sole distinction for many appears thus to be between relational and recreational sex. Indeed, Luker (1996, 92) notes that the former is defined and rendered acceptable by "emotional commîtment." As early as 1960, Reiss (1960) linked levels of approval of to corresponding affectional ties; "permissiveness with affection" refers to sex as acceptable if linked to emotional commitment.13

For at least forty years, then, there has been a Western trend toward acceptance of relational sex. Much of the American population now can be dassified as ascribing to a relational ideology (Laumann et al. 1994, 514, 520-521). Most of those surveyed by Laumann and colleagues (1994, 514) daimed that they would not have sex without love. Similarly in a recent SOMlLa Presse representative survey (Hachey 2000, C2) 83% of

(2uébécois daim to set love, or at least a sense of loving (u n sentiment amoureux) as a precondition for sex. But neither of these surveys probed for connections/contradictions between

13 For an exception from the anthropological literature, see Donald Marshall (1971) concerning the frequent separation of affection and coitus· in Mangaian society.

122 reported values and what occurs in practice. Some of my informants also daim that sex and love are concomitant only to reveal otherwise in describing their actions.

Certainly, a woman no longer "waits" for her pnnce charming, or the one man for her. Rather, Marie explained that adhering to her "prince charming" principle required "making love only with men 1 really love." Exdusivity and love are the new guiding principles, in theory. In practice, as 1 will show, exclusivity signifies monogamy for the duration of a relationship, no matter how brief, and love may be replaced by potential for love.

While she insists that sex and love are coterroinous, Nathalie adroits to having often had sex with men on a first or second date. Marie also admits that sex accompanied by love is more of an ideal than a reality for her. Relational sex is therefore an ideal type, not always realized in practice. But types of sexual activity are not entirely indistinguishable; the association of sex and love has, 1 would argue, come to mean sex with the possibility of love. Thus, for my informants, sex with the possibility of subsequent love is another justificatory explanation for sex, even recreational sex. The interesting point is that appropriateness depends on two intangibles: emotion and, 1 would argue, intent. 14

14 This can also lead to competing definitions of an encounter: one party might interpret it as potentially relational, the other as merely recreati 0 nai.

123 Relational sex can be about love, but it can also resemble a less committed encounter as long as the possibility of a longer term commitment can be entertained. Nathalie explains her conditions for sexual intercourse: "1 have never made love with someone without loving him or without hoping that it [the relationship] will lead to something more." This helps to blur the distinction between recreational and relational sex, and to account for the many monogamous relationships that coincide with the onset of sexual intimacy, even when this intimacy occurs near or at the start of the relationship. As a result, sex engaged in without love becornes defined as relational.

It appears to me that the minimal condition for defining sex as relational is not love, but monogamy. Indeed, women may stay in a relationship because they have learned to value commitment and monogamy, even despite the absence of love, as was the case for Lisette, who remained two years with a boyfriend whom she did not love and with whom she did not enjoy sex. Lisette was nonetheless committed to working at her relationship, because she believed it was important to develop love within the context of monogamy.

Moreover, monogamy becomes the minimal requirement against which aIl relationships are judged, even to the extent that apparently recreational sex becomes legitimized by its exclusive, if temporary, character. Yet despite sorne of its similarities with seriaI monogamy, recreational sex (if, at the very least, defined as .

124 sex engaged in shortly after meeting an individual, or perhaps when it is clear that there is no hope of a relationship) is less accepted, and less acceptable for women, a social standard which may affect how women define the sexual encounters in which they engage.15 As a result, women mày feel compelled "to define a relationship as 'serious' in order to justify sex" (Rolland et al. 1994 [1990], 125, 126; see also Lees 1986, 52).

2.3 Love and Sex Marie discussed her inability to dissociate sex from love, or the impression of love, which she feh made her vulnerable too early on in a relationship. Sue Lees (1986, 25-26, 51-53) contends that British teenage girls' discourse of sexual desire is inextricably caught up with the notion of love: "it was often impossible to differentiate what appeared to be sexual desire from what was described as love" by the teenagers she studied. For instance, one adolescent interviewed equated love with the "funny feeling" she got when she kissed a boy.

Lees also offers a clue as to why women might be inclined to define an encounter as relational: while sex for men is attributed to a basic need, women "are considered to be unnatural if they seek [sex]--at least with someone other than a man that they love" (Lees 1986, 19). Marie, for instance, admitted that once she had decided that she wanted to have sexual intercourse for the first

15 Eder (1997, 131) similarly notes the contradiction between the adolescent . norm of monogamy and actual behavior in early adolescence, which may

125 time, she convinced herself that she loved her boyfriend; it would not have been acceptable to have sex with him otherwise. In addition to the virginity stigma discussed in the previous chapter, there is social condemnation of sex without love. The combined expectations of sex and love may lead young women to define sex as preceded by love, even if this is not the case.16 Sex might "generate" love, the concepts of sex and love becoming effectively fused (Thompson 1995, 24, 44, 46). Moreover, sex may be defined as inextricable from love. For the American teenage girls interviewed by Sharon Thompson (1995, 5), sexual intercourse represented "the apotheosis of romance, hs transubstantiation into the body."17

African-born Alyan similarly finds sex acceptable if accompanied by love, but also appears to equate the two; girls and women have sex because they are in love. Alyan noted that virginity IS now a less important issue than are the circumstances of first sex: the woman should be in a relationship and in love. Given the observance of norms, especially regarding type of relationship, it is becoming more acceptable to have sex outside of marriage. It appears that the circumstances of first sexual intercourse are

be less exclusive. 16Hence, just because virginity is a stigma doesn't mean that loss of virginity without love is acceptable. 17 Thompson (1995, 47-78) nonetheless identified a subgroup within the group of "popular" girls for whom sex signaHed fun as opposed to love. In contrast, working-dass girls were more limited ta a single social script linking sex to love rather than pleasure, desire or friendship (Thompson 1995, 43-44).

126 becoming more similar across societies: to have sex, a woman should be in a relationship and in love.

Conclusion 1 have established the components of drive theory and their order, starting with genital sensitivity or potential for sexual response, followed by desire stemming from sensitivity, followed by sexual intercourse and its outcome, orgasm. The excised and intact both adhere to the essentialist perspective linking sexual activity to physiological need. For the excised, women's sex drive is, in addition, problematized: their response, desire and activity need to be controlled in order to prevent excessive levels of sexual intercourse. Intercourse itself is not deconstructed; the drive is for coupled sex, not mere orgasm. This effectively defines the sex drive as inherently interactive.

From the perspective of drive theory, eXCISIOn can be understood as a means of sexually controlling women--or ostensibly removing the need to control them. Genital impairment surgery can hence be understood as an intervention aimed at creating a body that is socially acceptable, in contrast to the naturally unacceptable body that drives women to sexual abandon. Analogies with control of intact women include evidence that they, too, are subject to controls on their sexual activity through less apparent social sanctions.

127 These social controls include emotional and relational concerns; intact women have sex to keep a partner, or satisfy him, despite their own lack of pleasure and even despite pain. A woman may not expect or attain orgasm in either recreational or relational sex. That orgasm may not be the goal or outcome of recreational sex, and that it may nonetheless be simulated, suggests important similarities with relational sex: women don't necessarily have sex for orgasmic release, although they do appear concerned with concealing this fact/reassuring men of their ability to satisfy them.

The cross-cultural evidence helps to understand similarities regarding sexual response; whether genitally impaired or not, women will have sex despite no desire or pleasure. This caUs into question the normative model accounting for sexual activity. Moreover, aware tha! intercourse is supposed to lead to orgasm, omen may be more sexually active if non-orgasmic, in an effort to attain what eludes them. For the intact as well as the excised, the components of the sex drive, namely sexual response, desire, and activity/intercourse do not necessarily correlate. Efforts at controlling the drive at its presumed source, the genitalia, have failed because the genitalia do not dictate sexual activity. This is why neither excision nor lack of orgasm during sex have the effect of eliminating women's sexual activity.

My research furthers the sociological position against drive theory and in favor of sex as a social construct, since physiological

128 response 18 not the sole factor determining sexual activity and, indeed, is sometimes not implicated at aIl. Unfortunately, drive theory serves to obviate other explanations for sex, including relational concerns, or coercive situations. None of this is to deny that people need sex. 1 am simply arguing that sex is a socially constructed need, at least in the way it is currently conceived.

A second focus of this chapter was the context of sexual relations. Similarities between the excised and intact in terms of attitudes toward context and definitions of appropriate and inappropriate intercourse point to similar concerns and constructions. For the intact and even many of the excised, concerns about sexual activity focus on indiscriminate, promiscuous sex. Excessive sexual activity is considered inappropriate in both excising and non­ excising societies. Two guiding principles elucidate the ideal type of relationship: it should be exclusive (monogamous), and love­ based. My informants thus resembled those in surveys claiming that sex and love are concomitant. But their actions cast doubt on adherence to this precept, and also suggest that closed-ended surveys on the issue may elicit answers based on the ideal type of sexual relationship as opposed to actual respondent behavior.

While the ideal type of sex might be based on love and monogamy, in practice it relies on two intangibles, consisting of emotion and intent, both of which are highly subjective and flexible. Love can also signify the possibility of love or can even be imputed from sex, as suggested by my informants and in the

129 literature. Intent to commit (in the future/if the relationship continues to develop smoothly) may replace commitment/monogamy, thereby legitimating sex in the context of even newly established or short-term relationships. In practice, relational sex may closely resernble recreational sex. This not only means that the woman herself has sorne latitude in defining sex, but that others do as weIl.

It appears that the definition of appropriate sex 1S converging cross-culturally: while it need no longer be confined to marriage, sex should involve love and monogarny. However, evidence that sex is considered indistinguishable frorn love also suggests that these two components--sex and love--are assumed to coexist. That the components of relational sex do not necessarily correlate suggests an important similarity with the sex drive, whose cornponents were shown to be equally incongruous. The concepts of sex drive and relational sex are therefore flawed popular theories or prescriptions which cannot reliably account for actual practice.

130 Chapter 5

The Social Construction of Clitoral Orgasm

Even responses such as sexual climax, which ought to be physiologically straightforward, are contingent in real life upon individual attitudes and cultural practices. (Hrdy 1981, 162)

There are cultures in which women do not expenence orgasm (Mead 1964 [1955]; Messenger 1971), others where it is not deemed important for either men or women (Heider 1976), and yet others where orgasm is a stated goal, largely focused on cHtoral stimulation and women' s multiple climaxes (Davenport 1977, 123, 126, 149;. Marshall 1971). Clearly, our physiology is at least flexible enough to admit of various sexual expressions, or lack thereof. l

Ambivalence toward the role of the clitoris is evident from an examination of the popular Western discourse with which 1 will begin my analysis. The effacement of the clitoris in popular terminology and understanding helps to explain how its existence

1 Masters, Johnson and Kolodny (1992, 202) have gathered evidence that fetuses and newborns can have and orgasms. Intriguingly, this would suggest that sexual response is not, at least initially, a socially learned behavior. This is not to deny that it may subsequently become one; indeed, the above evidence regarding different capacities for sexual response implicitly suggests their social imbrication. and function can be concealed. Interpretations of the clitoris in medical discussion, anatomy texts, and surgical treatment will also be explored in order to develop an appreciation of the Western medical discourse on the clitoris. These popular and medical sources will serve to confirm the existence of the phenomenon 1 describe, namely the social construction of orgasm as a denial of clitoral response.

Turning to excising societies, compelling testimony will establish the devastating effects of genital impairment surgery,2 and provide important comparisons with medically indicated eXClSlOn in the West as well as with the existent literature on the effects of excision. The interviews of excised informants emphasize the centrality of the clitoris to sexual response through a discussion of the sexual impairment experienced by them.

In contrast to the excised, the intact informants discuss the importance of the clitoris without, however, unanimously identifying it as crucial to orgasm. The reasons for this reluctance will be discussed, particularly the intact informants' reliance on an experiential approach to analyzing sex. By this 1 mean that they define sex as a highly personal response, even at the physiological level. The experiential approach can be linked to postmodern discourse, which often holds that it is impossible to establish

2 Relativist anthropologists and sociologists downplay or even deny the negative sexual effects of excision. Shweder (2000), for instance, equates complete excision with more symbolic forms of ritual where the clitoris is not removed, in arder to support his argument that genital surgery is perhaps not sexually disabling.

132 commonalities through companson and generalization. Unfortunately, this renders cross-cultural similarities and even individual similarities invisible. Such an approach ultimately alienates women from one another, hindering collective connections because of the deniallrefusal of comparative generalization. This problem has been pointed out by other theorists regarding the experiential approach in general; 1 am merely applying this criticism to the case of sexual response.

Hence, in this chapter, 1 argue that both social and physical factors influence how--and if--the clitoris is recognized, and consider the implications of this for sexual response. 1 aim to demonstrate that beliefs about the clitoris effectively construct women's orgasm as potentially independent of this organ. Effacement of the clitoris therefore constitutes a social construction in the sense that it involves false beliefs about the implication of this organ in women's sexual response.

1.0 i>opular discourse on the clitoris Ruth Herschberger was among the first to explicitly postulate the connection between the social and the physiological:

It was quite a feat of nature to grant the small clitoris the same number of nerves as the penis. It was an even more incredible feat that society should actually have convinced

133 the possessors of this organ that it was sexually inferior to the penis. (Herschberger 1948, 32-33)

More than half a century later, popular discourse appears unable to come to terms with the centrality of the clitoris to sexual response, as became evident from my examination of the popular literature: surveying the women's and health magazines for three years, from July 1998 to June 2001, 1 visited the ever-crowded Maison de la Presse monthly in search of articles dealing with women's sexual response.3 ln order to reflect what is available to consumers, 1 considered aIl of the English- and French-language material from Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and France. 1 also obtained many of the popular books referenced therein, as weIl as consulting the bookshelves of the sexuality sections of Montreal bookstores.

The survey of magazines yielded eighty articles dealing with female sexual response. Of these, half (40/80) specifically discussed the clitoris, the G-spot, or both. Interestingly, 17/40 art::les mentioning the clitoris also discussed the G-spot, which was usually defined as an entity entirely separate from the clitoris. In only two (2/40) articles was a possible connection between the clitoris and G-spot postulated. In four other (4/40) articles it was suggested that the G-spot may not exist; the others treated it as an entity as real as the clitoris. Moreover, any

3 1 searched for keywords on the cover, including orgasm, G-spot, how to have great/better sex, and genital plastic surgery.

134 anatomical link between the two structures--clitoris and G-spot-­ was explicitly denied in one article.4

The magazine articles often consisted of interviews with popular sex experts or summaries of their books, which are elaborations of the magazine articles. 1 found that the majority now acknowledge the potential role of the clitoris, even though it is not always portrayed as essential to orgasm. But others have not completely broken free of the clitoral-vaginal opposition (Reart 1998, 23; Oumano 1999, 146-147, 150-151; Riskin and Banker-Riskin 1997, 126-127).

Moreover, the tendency to oppose clitoral and vaginal orgasms is apparent in the popular books and magazines from a variety of Western countries. Australian journalist and popular sex expert Tracey Cox (1999, 75), whose book Hot Sex is for sale at Montreal bookstores, notes the continuing controversy over the importance of the clitoris to orgasm, and subsequently links the concept of vaginal orgasm to the G-spot--a distinct area on the anterior vaginal wall whose existence has been disputed ever since its supposed discovery twenty years ago. Indeed, 1 have found that the popular literature relies heavily on the G-spot to support its construction of separate clitoral and vaginal response.

4 1 have included a thematic list of the popular magazine publications in Appendix F.

135 l will discuss this controversy in more detail ln the next chapter on vaginal response, but the G-spot deserves mention here as a locus for ostensibly independent from the clitoris. It has, in other words, been interpreted as evidence that the clitoris is not necessary to sexual·response, and even that it IS not the best/most appropriate site for stimulation. Instead of recognizing the interdependence of the sex organs, these popular portrayals of female sexual response posit a compartmentalization of genital parts.

1.1 The nameless organ, or the clitoris as taboo It may be difficult for sorne ·liberal audiences to believe that the clitoris is not a well recognized organ. As 1 suggested in the introductory chapter, this may be because within certain networks it is clearly acknowledged as a component of women's sexual response while in others it is not. Because these social networks do not necessarily overlap, there is a conviction within sorne circles that everyone must know about the clitoris, and a lack of awareness of the organ in others. It appears that multiple discourses about female orgasm have developed, a phenomenon noted concerning sexuality in general by philosopher-historian Michel Foucault throughout his Histoire de la sexualité (1976, volume 1).

One of my informants, Canadian-born Fabienne, related a discussion she had at work circa 1996 with a group of women aged twenty-five to thirty. At the mention of the word clitoris,

136 sorne of the women openly admitted their ignorance; they had never heard of it! Of course, ignorance of the terminology may not signal ignorance of sexual function. Similarly, the fact that the clitoris was only "discovered" a few hundred years ago, in that this was when it was labeled and recognized by male scientists (Laqueur 1990, 64), does not imply that women had no knowledge of their own sexual pleasure until then; clearly "one's experience of erotic pleasure does not depend on the ability to articulate Hs source" (Traub 1999, 309; also Park 1997, 188, note 10). Yet Stevi Jackson (1978) contends that most girls who went through adolescence in the 1970s were ignorant of the clitoris.5 And Fabienne's more recent example above provides further evidence of the continuing lack of basic sexual knowledge among the cohort of women who went through adolescence in the 1980s. These anecdotal accounts serve to indicate that at least sorne women in successive cohorts have been raised In apparent ignorance of the clitoris.

This ignorance is, 1 argue, related to the absence of the term frorn the collective vocabulary.6 Scientists working on a version of the Viagra drug for women were censored in the media frorn

5 While it rnay not be fair to generalize to the population based on unrepresentative qualitative data, it is intriguing that only 2124 teenagers she interviewed frorn 1973-1975 clairned to know of the organ (Jackson 1978, 351). Of course, the others rnay sirnply have been unable to articulate their experience of clitoral exciternent and orgasrn due to a lack of sexual vocabulary, as 1 have suggested above. 6 Anne McClintock (1993) rernarks upon the lack of synonyms for the word clitoris in the Western world. In contrast, there are many synonyms to refer to the clitoris in Mangaian society (Marshall 1971, 110) which values fernale orgasm. The level of a culture's interest in female orgasm is arguably reflected in the relative richness of its terminology.

137 referring to the clitoris in describing the physiological mechanism by which their drug works, even though reference to the penis is permitted to describe Viagra's effect on men (Valdes-Rodriguez 1998, B2). A similar censorship is apparent in sex education courses, where "the clitoris is often totaUy missing or its function is not discussed" as attested to in the research literature (Moore and Clarke 1995, 96, note 22; also Jackson 1982, 150).

Moreover, the social effacement of a female body part is evident in aU manner of texts and representations: "when one reads a book on early childhood sexuality one almost never sees the word clitoris used...anatomically correct doUs do not have a clitoris...Just imagine what kind of a social revolution would occur if we left out the word 'penis' from sex education curriculum" (Potter 1988). Of course, the penis is not omitted from education because it is crucial to reproduction.

In addition, a taIse analogy is made in the popular literature and

In sex education: the penis and the vagina are homologous: "most women are taught that the vagina is their primary sexual organ and that it is the greatest source of sexual pleasure" (Heiman and Lopiccolo 1992, 194). Of course, it may be argued that the vagina implicitly includes the clitoris, thus subsuming the latter within the former without ever having to mention it by name? This was

7 Maines (1999, 53) argues that this has historically been the case; indeed, until the nineteenth century, even the uterus was subsumed within the designation of vagina. Surprisingly, writer Heart (1998, 39) daims to detect the opposite trend: "The word clitoris is starting to be used as a catch-aIl term that refers to aIl of a woman's sex organs." Unfortunately,

138 clearly how one excised informant, Alyan, thought of it, describing the clitoris as "the most sensitive part of the vagina."

Both terms are apparently considered technical, and thus acceptable, in describing sexual anatomy. But conceptual confusion--and effacement--often results from this terminological equation. In discussing clitoral operations performed on genitally abnormal girls, Money and Ehrhardt (1972) attempt to reassure their charges by counseling that boys have , girls . Employment of a generic vocabulary to a very specific procedure involving drastic reduction, if not complete removal, of the clitoris is not only confusing but dismissive of female sexual response. Fausto-Sterling (1985, 138) similarly criticizes Money and his colleagues' vagina/penis equation, since it would be more anatomically correct to recognize the "the vaginal lip/scrotum, and clitoris/penis as developmental analogues.,,8

Of course, the clitoris's umque role may explain its absence from much vocabulary: lexical recognition of the clitoris signifies much more than identification of a small organ. It suggests a recognition of orgasm and its potential independence from coitus. The vagina

Heart offers no references to support this daim; 1 certainly have never encountered such usage in the literature, nor in interviews or casual conversation. S For a similar critique of Money and his colleagues see Hausmann (1995, 95-101). An even more absurd· analogy is related by anthropologist Carole Vance (1983, 374); in a film cartoon presented at a conference for sex educators and clinicians, the genesis story is retold: god creates man (Adam) with a penis and woman (Eve) with . "It is remarkable that the clitoris, the obvious homologue, is omitted. (This analogy between nonhomologous organs such as penis and is based, perhaps, on the fact that both are pleasurable organs for men)."

139 i8 a less overtly sensual term, smce it may ostensibly be used to refer only to reproduction, and may in this way be juxtaposed with the reproductive function of the penis. The result: "Male pleasure is taught, albeit as biology" (Fine 1988, 36) in sex education and biology courses; female pleasure is not, since the clitoris is considered inessential to an understanding of basic (reproductive) female sexuality.

But does the clitoral lapse in formaI education have long-term implications? Two popular magazines apparently suspected that general knowledge of the clitoris might be inadequate. They conducted surveys devoted to discovering respondents' knowledge of the location of the clitoris. American Marie Claire (Robinovitz 1999) surveyed a convenience sample of 14 men. 8/14 succeeded in locating the clitoris on a diagram of the external female genitalia. The decision to survey only men --, presumably reflected the assumption that women obviously know where their clitoris i8.

Coup de Pouce magazme made no such assumption (Samson 2000): hs reporter took to the streets of Montreal to quiz 100 women and 100 men on their knowledge of the location of the clitoris using a diagram similar to that used in Marie Claire. Just under half of the women and men managed to locate the organ. The most common error was to identify the vagina as the clitoris (45% of women and men).

140 Clinical psychologist Peter Kilmann and his students tested the effects of sex education on women's orgasm and found that education increased the frequency with which they had orgasms.9 A British medical researcher similarly found that ignorance of female anatomy and stigmatizing attitudes toward masturbation are common causes of anorgasmia--the inability to have an orgasm--in the woman: many couples with sexual difficulties "feel that it is perverted or abnormal for the woman to reach orgasm" through ditorai stimulation (Stanley 1981, 1043).

1 conducted a questionnaire on female orgasm in December 1995. Through a convenience sample returned anonymously by mail, 24 (of 25 questionnaires distributed) were returned to me.lO While most of the questions were closed-ended, one woman took the initiative of describing her coïtaI sexual experience in more detail: despite many years of marriage and frequent intercourse, she never had orgasms during sexual encounters with her husband. She had no problem masturbating to orgasm, however, and secretly did so on occasion. It appears that women's anorgasmia can, in sorne cases, be attributed to ignorance or denial of the role of cHtoral excitement in orgasm, on the part of the male in this case.

9 Kilmann et al. (1983) gathered a convenience sample of 48 couples. 10 See Appendix D for a copy of the questionnaire. 1 surveyed acquaintances and their friends on their notions of cHtoral and vaginal orgasm, masturbation, and the importance they attributed to sexual intercourse. The high response rate may be due to the fact that everyone contacted knew me directly or at least had a contact person in common, and also understood that they were contributing to a student research project, a clearly nonthreatening endeavor.

141 Unfortunately, researchers who focus on the clitoris leave themselves open to charges of female phallocentrism. Long Laws and Schwartz (1977, 57) indeed suggest that "[i]t would make sense to glorify the clitoris" as we do the penis. Similarly Paula Bennett (1993, 256) would privilege "a construction of female sexuality that takes the clitoris centrally into account." But we might also envision "the possibility of a non-phallocentric heterosexuality" (Traub 1999, 317; also Gallop 1988; Long Laws and Schwartz 1977, 60-61). l am not convinced of the plausibility of eradicating the concept of the phallus--penile or clitoral--in relation to sexual response. It seems to me that this theoretical stance leads us to deny physiological reality, just as with clitoral­ vaginal transference; the intent may differ but the results might be strikingly similar.

At any rate, it is my contention that, in practice, no one 18 interested in turning sexuality completely away from a genital focus. Moreover, such a stance suggests that the social component to sexuality lies out of the realm of physical response. Vance (1999, 46), for instance, appears to argue that sexual response per se is unproblematic--outside of the cultural because physiological, biological, constitutive of what is "physically possible" whereas research on sexuality should be focusing on what is "culturally possible." Yet this view fails to recognize that sexual response is intimately tied to culture, from whether or not it is realized to

142 how it is portrayed. Indeed, my argument is precisely that physiologieal response is heavily determined by social factors.

2.0 Medical (mis)understandings At a conference that 1 attended in Montreal in 1998,11 a gynecologist broached the subject of female orgasm by recounting a popular sex show he had seen on television the night before: "Apparently," revealed the doctor, cleady under the impression that he was sharing sorne late-breaking newsflash, "there is no difference between the clitoral and vaginal orgasm: there's only one kind of orgasm"!12 1 was not surprised at this doctor' s ignorance, as 1 had encountered a belief in two types of orgasm when interviewing health care professionals: two doctors and a nurse interviewed in 1995 and 1996 had also upheld the clitoral­ vaginal distinction.

Thus more than ninety years after Freud' s first misguided theory on female sexual response,13 a third of a century after Masters and Johnson's research established the importance of the clitoris to female sexual response,14 doctors, even doctors specializing in

Il International Conference on the Pelvic Floar, Montreal, September 23-27 1998. 12 1 have somewhat freely translated from the original statement: "U paraît que l'orgasme clitoridien versus vaginal n'existe pas: il n'y a qu'un orgasme!" 13 Freud's ideas were most probably cuHed from a belief system which had emerged by the end of the eighteenth century, in which the vagina was attributed more erotogenic importance than the clitoris (Laqueur 1997, 228). 14 Kinsey and coHeagues (1953) and, before them, Albert MoU (1912) made daims similar to those of Masters and Johnson regarding female sexual response (Heidenry 1997, 284). Moreover. the importance of the clitoris had

143 the female genitalia, don't "know" what Freud supposedly knew. This brings me back to my initial contention and inspiration for this thesis: the role of the clitoris in sexual response is often denied. While it is true that not everyone is ignorant of the clitoris, enough well-educated, supposedly medically-informed people are, to cause us to question why.

One hint cornes from representations of the clitoris--and the lack thereof--in anatomy textbooks. In a survey of twentieth century texts, Moore and Clarke (1995, 274) note that the clitoris IS either absent or not labeled in numerous works, pointing out that Kinsey's (1953) and Masters and Johnson's (1966) refutation of the clitoral-vaginal distinction went unrecognized in medical circles.15 And illustrations of the clitoris that do make it in to anatomy texts are usually imprecise or even incorrect (0'ConneU et al. 1998; Zwang ~OOl, 142-147).

been recognized since at least the seventeeth century, "and had been documented in considerable detail by nineteenth century investigators" (Laqueur 1990, 234; 238-239). 1 emphasize the findings contained in Human Sexual Response because they were the most systematic and well­ documented, and because the exclusive focus of this work on orgasm canalized attention on this particular issue. It is true that Kinsey and his team had engaged in scientific observations of sexual response, but since the sex survey, not sex laboratory, was the focus of their research, they never engaged in rigorous methodical observation and measurement comparable to that of Masters and Johnson (pomeroy 1966, 118-122). Sex educator and counselor Janice Irvine (1990, 78) documents the contributions of several predecessors to Masters and Johnson, arguing that "although the scope of Human Sexual Response was unprecedented, much of Hs content was simply replication" of earlier studies. 15 For an earlier critique of Freudian influence in popular and medical circles, see Scully and Bart (1973).

144 Moore and Clarke further criticize anatomists for "visual clitoridectomy", the deletion of detailed depictions of the clitoris and its function during various periods, most recently from about 1981-1991. But they also criticize feminists for not focusing more on the clitoris, an intellectual lacuna Paula Bennett (1993, 242) refers to as "critical clitoridectomy." Sarah Hrdy (1981, 167) speculated that it is because the only known function of the clitoris is sexual response that it is not examined iri the literature. Whatever the reasons, the depiction of "genital anatomy has by and large remained relatively stable and insulated from the challenges posed by feminists and sexologists over the past half­ century" (Moore and Clarke 1995, 291).

This suggests that the medical establishment is impervious to new discoveries about female sexual anatomy and satisfaction, or that there exists a consid~rable time lag between a discovery and its dissemination to medical professionals. It also bolsters my contention that the medical establishment remained unaware of the essential role of the clitoris for many years, perhaps explaining the current beliefs of the above-mentioned health care professionals.

Sherfey (1972, 58), moreover, suggests that the lack of study of the clitoral system in mammals in general is an indication of social influence on the selection of research topics: "1 suggest that the biologists are similar to almost everyone else: we all want the vaginal orgasm to exist and the cHtoral orgasm not to exist." Or,

145 rather, we want men's and women's sexual response to be mutually compatible miuor images, both focused on and responsive to the same act, coHus. This requirement is known as the coitai orgasmic imperative (Jackson 1984).

19th century British obstetrician Isaac Baker Brown (1994 [1866], Il) promoted eXClSlOn as a cure for numerous ailments, insisting that it wouid not impede "marital happiness" nor "prevent procreation", cHing in defense of these claims evidence that sorne excised patients subsequently became pregnant. The concept of a woman's "marital happiness" is thus transparently linked to that of fertility.16

Baker Brown appears to have equated women's acceptance of sexuai intercourse with pleasure, thereby failing to dissociate sexuai activity from .. sexuai response/desire, and ascribing to the normative association among the elements of the sexuai desire­ activity-response triad discussed in the previous chapter. He aiso thereby emphasizes that the clitoris is superfluous to fertility.

Of course, exclsmg societies have known for more than two thousand years that removal of the "asocial" clitoris does not impede fertility (CIoudsiey 1983, 124, 110). But in the West, concern for women's pleasure coincided historically with the belief that orgasm was necessary for conception (D'Emilio and

16 Or perhaps Baker Brown is merely implying that the husband's marital happiness will not suffer!

146 Freedman 1988, 5, 46; Hawkes 1996, 55; Laqueur 1990, 49; Maines 1999, 52; Traub 1999, 309-310), though this con.cern gradually subsided with the newfound conviction that it was not.17

2.1 Continuing controversy about the roie of the clitoris in the medical literature Contemporary excision in Western women due to morbidity is discussed by obstetrician/gynecologist Barry Verkauf (1975); he argues that excision has no negative effects on a woman's sexuai response: "Shouid clitoridectomy be necessary...no psychopathology or altered sexuai function need be anticipated."

Gynecologicai studies of small samples of women (10-15 per sampIe) having undergone excision due to cancer do indicate impaired sexuai response, however (Andersen and Hacker 1983; Moth et al. 1983; W~ijmar Schultz et al. 1986). These studies notwithstanding, researchers of impaired sexual response complain of a dearth of Iiterature on the subject (Weijmar Schultz et al. 1986, 119-120; see aIse Schober 1998). Sex researchers aiso blame a lack of information on female anatomy for the sometimes devastating effects of hysterectomy on women's sexual response. They argue that surgeons make no attempt--and indeed, have no

17 1 use the term conviction rather than discovery/knowledge because the belief that orgasm was not necessary for conception was initially unsupported by medical evidence (Laqueur 1997, 219-221). Gardetto (1993, 59) emphasizes the consequences of this shift in belief: "once female orgasm was separated from generation, a discourse was set into motion that would eventuaUy denigrate or deny female sexual pleasure."

147 idea of how--to salvage surrounding nerves which may affect orgasmic capacity, as they do when removing the male prostate.lg

Clinical gynecologists and researchers Weijmar Schultz and colleagues report that about half of the women excised regained orgasmic capability. One woman (1986, 124) emphasized that following surgery she required more stimulation to have an orgasm. Two others claimed to have regained sensitivity in the area of the excised clitoris. They thus emphasized that sorne operated women may retain the ability to have an orgasm; "rnutilating surgery of the female organ including clitoridectomy does not mean loss of the ability to achieve orgasm" (1986, 126).19

Attitudes toward the clitoris in the West are also revealed by sex assignment surgery of children with ambiguous genitalia. In girls with an overly large, clitoris, the entire organ was routinely removed in the past, and sorne surgeons continue this practice, convinced that the clitoris is not an essential component of female orgasrn (Fausto-Sterling 2000, 61, 282 note67).

18 Unlike with male anatomy, detailed anatomical understanding--and textbook respresentation--of the female sexual response system is sadly lacking (O'Connell 1998; Fishman 2000; Robert 2000). 19 It would have been interesting to physically monitor the genital reactions of the orgasmic women against those who had lost the capacity for orgasm to determine if residual nerves were involved and could make the difference. This would be an important direction for future research, as it suggests a diagnostic method for establishing women's orgasmic capacity, and could perhaps lead to less drastic vulvectomy surgery for cancer patients.

148 Reviewing the literature on excision for femaie infants, biologist Anne Fausto-Sterling (2000, 80) notes that "[i]n many of the case reports of ditorai surgery, the only criteria for success are cosmetic, rather than later sexual function." Arguing that sexual surgery on infants in particular poses immediate dangers and leads to inordinate, debilitating scarring, she even draws an analogy between such surgery, clearly undertaken for social as opposed to medical purposes, to the genital impairment surgery of other cultures (2000, 79, 276 note2).

3.0 Excised informants on orgasmic impairment The above medical testimonies of cancer patients are similar to those of African-born Alyan and Caryl, who told me that, despite excision, they retained a certain amount of sensitivity in the area of the ditoraI scaro which was a source of pleasure for them. They also were able" to have an orgasm, although they found it was difficult and required elaborate stimulation, obstacles they attributed to their impairment surgery. There is speculation in the literature that nerve impairment may delay but not preclude orgasm (Bakr 1982). Lighfoot-Klein (1989, 386, 388-389) found similar scar area sensitivity in some of the women she

20 "Sometîmes, inadvertently, the clitoris is not entirely removed and part of it can be seen or feU through the scar tissue" (Cloudsley 1983, 110). Sherfey (1972, 78) further notes that clitoral or penile amputation may not preclude orgasm if enough of the surrounding tissues are left intact, since "in both sexes the corpora and the glans belong primarily in the category of the erotogenic resources of the body rather than with the structures of direct orgasmic response."

149 interviewed. Hanry (1970, 56) aiso noted that masturbation may continue at the site of the scar following excision.

In general, the African-born were quite categorical in their assessment of the effects of excision on sexual response: of those who discussed sexuai sensitivity or satisfaction, the vast majority­ -24129 excised and 14/15 infibulated21 --revealed that sexual sensitivity was reduced or eliminated. There was a greater overall awareness of the importance of the clitoris among the African­ born than among the Canadian-born, whom 1 win discuss below, owing undoubtedIy to their own experiences as excised women.

The effect 1S occasionally stated unambiguously: excision deprives the woman of orgasm: "we don't know what it's like to have an orgasm" (FMTL024excised; also FMTL017excised; FMTL03gexcised). But informants rarely referred to orgasm by name, indicating a different vocabulary of terms to refer to sexual response; women generally allude to a lack of "sensitivity", "pleasure", or even "affection" to describe what they feel they are ffilssmg. These explanations also indicate complete sexual

21 Of the remaining 5/29 excised and 1115 infibulated women, one informant argued that excision didn't affect sexual response because sex is aH in the head. This is reminiscent of Balim's argument about sex in the previous chapter. Another said that her operation had not affected her sexual response, and suggested that her surgery had perhaps been less severe than that of other operated friends who did complain of sexual impairment. One informant who was pro-excision appeared to argue that she could still experience pleasure, although her French was extremely poor and subsequently difficult to decipher. FinaUy, two of the excised and one infibulated informant said they did not know if excison had affected their sexual response because they had never known their bodies in an intact state. The interviewers did not probe further to discover whether they experienced sexual p1easure.

150 impairment, as not only orgasm, but even less extreme forms of pleasure appear elusive.

Discussing sexual response with another interviewer, Dara had stated only that excision "diminishes sexuality." In her subsequent interview with me, in which 1 specifically asked about orgasm, Dara, like other excised women, spoke in terms of lack of pleasure, explaining that "for an excised woman, it is as iL.your pleasure has been taken away... So you don't have any pleasure." An infibulated woman concurred: "They cut out the pleasure, so how can she [the excised or infibulated woman] have pleasure" (FTOR009infibulated)? Others echoed the complaint: "1 get no pleasure [from sex]" said one woman when asked about the consequences of excision (FMTL026excised).

Similar responses we,re typical when asked about the disadvantages of the procedure: "The disadvantages are that you completely lose your sensitivity" (FMTL031excised). The excised women interviewed thus indicated that they feel they have been deprived of sexual pleasure. This feeling of deprivation may be accentuated by their relocation to the West, where women's sexual pleasure is more of an expectation. Moreover, 1 suspect that, in terms of expectations, the immigrant excised resemble Western women more than excised and even intact women in

151 countries where women's pleasure 1S less of an Issue (Petchesky 1998, 311).22

3.1 The literature on ritual excision and sexual response The male partners' opinions are also instructive: men l interviewed in an earlier study (Levine 1999, 36-37) intimated that excision inhibits sexual response, and for this reason preferred sex with intact as opposed to excised women. Hanry (1970, 49, 56) reports similar daims among the African and European men he interviewed; those who had had sex with both excised and intact women found that the excised women's sexual response suffered from a reduced sensitivity, thereby inhibiting female orgasm. The men interviewed by sex researcher Hanny Lightfoot-Klein (1989b, 384) who had had intercourse with excised and intact women also discuss sexual impairment in the former.

Physician and researcher Asma El Dareer argues that the pain of sequelae from the operation and the excision itself deprive the woman of "areas crucial to experiencing sexual pleasure" and thus "mitigate against a woman achieving sexual fulfillment" (El Dareer 1982, 48). Discussing his gynecological experience with excised

22 Political Science and Women' s Studies professor Rosalind Petchesky summarizes the material from qualitative research projects conducted by the International Reproductive Rights Research Action Group (IRRRAG), aIl focusing on reproductive issues, from a variety of countries (Brazil, Egypt, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, the Philippines and the United States). Petchesky (1998, 311) states: "Most respondents express little entitlement to sexual pleasure, either to have it or to show need for il."

152 and infibulated women, J. Verzin (1975, 167) comments that "lack of sexual gratification appears to be extremely common."

However, medical anthropologist and epidemiologist Carla Obermeyer (1999) has remarked on the lack of figorous scientific research into the sequelae of excision, ineluding its effect on sexual response. She contends that the available literature indicates women may expefience sexual pleasure. One study, for instance, found continued orgasmic capacity among many excised women. Conducted in the and gynecology department of an Egyptian University, a questionnaire on sexual response was distributed in conjunction with gynecological examinations?3 This permits doctors Mahmoud Karim and Roshdi Ammar (1965, Il) to compare type of excision with reported coital orgasmic ability. Sorne of those who had undergone less drastic operations involving only removal of the or partial removal of the clitoris listed themselves as coitally orgasmic and as "always satisfied" with intercourse (48% of those without labia minora; 42% of those without labia minora and without part of the elit," ris). Yet 30% of those whose labia minora and entire clitoris had been removed nonetheless reported satisfaction and orgasmlc capability. Since no category appears to have been made for women who are always satisfied with coitus despite no orgasm,

23 The rnethodology is not well-reported. The authors irnply that physical exarninations established the type of genital surgery arnong the 331 gynecology patients gathered for this convenience sarnple, while ability to have an orgasrn during coitus was established through interviews.

153 however, sorne of these women might be mistakenly induded ln the orgasmic category.

1t is nevertheless surprising that not aIl excised women daim an inability to have an orgasm, although this may be due to partial excision, or to remnants of nerves capable of transmitting sexual excitement, as noted above for medically excised patients and informants who retain sexual sensitivity despite excision. A laboratory study of orgasmic response of genitally impaired women might help to corroborate the above daims.

It has aise been suggested that minimal or no eXC1SlOn may have occurred, despite women's belief that they have been excised. This would of course account for continued orgasmic capadty. This intriguing hypothesis has been formulated by medical researchers and doctors Nimrod Grisaru, Simcha Lezer and R. Belmaker (1997), who found that only about one third of the 113 Ethiopian Jews they examined had in fact undergone the genital surgery that they reported.24 Extrapolating from their results, the researchers hypothesize that operated women who report orgasm, such as sorne of the Sudanese interviewed by Lightfoot-KIein (l989a and

24 The researchers interviewed and examined Ethiopian Jewish immigrants to Israel. Since the examinations were aH conducted "in the course of routine gynecological examinations at [a] gynecological clinic (Grisaru, Lezer, and Belmaker 1997, 212), 1 assume that the women were recruited from the clinic's clientele. The researchers also found that excision has not continued into the next generation of Israeli-born children of immigrants.. 1 discuss the same issue with reference to Canadian Ethiopian Jewish immigrants to Canada in an earlier publication (Levine 1999, 44-45).

154 1989b), might not have been subjected to complete genital impairment (Grisaru et al. 1997, 215).

This hypothesis is also suggested by anthropologist Ellen Gruenbaum (2001, 143-144; 149). Like Lightfoot-Klein, Gruenbaum conducted fieldwork among North Sudanese women. She found one midwife who often left the clitoris intact despite performing infibulation (2001, 184). There was thus a lack of clarity on exactly what genital surgery had been done on women who assured her that they could have orgasms (2001, 141). Considerable variation of the operation performed even within the same ethnie group suggests that this may account for varying levels of genital sensitivity.

Gruenbaum (2001, 149-152) also postulates that the clitoris may not be a crucial component to orgasm. To support her hypothesis, she cites a lack of scientific investigation of isolated vaginal response, and the possibility of G-spot stimulation. On the first point, Gruenbaum points out that "Masters and Johnson did not, apparently, attempt to test the notion that a female orgasm could be brought about while depriving the clitoris of stimulation... which would have been a signifieant piece of information in the discussion of the effects of clitoridectomy in circumcised women" (Gruenbaum 2001, 138).

Curiously, Gruenbaum does not rely particularly upon her informants' framing of their experience or their testimonies, as

155 anthropologists usually do. Instead, she wonders if alternate erogenous zones--including the G-spot--might compensate for sexual insensitivity of the clitoris. She notes the controversy about the existence of the G-spot, but then argues that "its reality is almost taken as a given" (2001, 151) in the United States. The implications for genitally impaired women are inferred:

The potential role of a G-spot in female arousal IS an idea that may go a long way toward explaining the orgasmic experiences of circumcised women...Even a severely infibulated woman would still have her G-spot from which to derive erogenous sensation. (Gruenbaum 2001, 152)

Gruenbaum thus emphasizes the hypothesized capacity for orgasm among excised women, with the G-spot replacing the clitoris m eliciting orgasm. Her argument is similar to treatment of the G­ spot in the popular literature; the clitoris is not critical to sexual response.

Against this presupposition, it IS important to emphasize the lack of evidence of such vaginal erogeneity in the literature as weIl as m the genitally impaired informants interviewed for the Traditional Practices study in which 1 was involved. The excised do not discuss transfer of their locus of pleasure to the interior of the vagina, as G-spot proponents and some of Freud's disciples might have expected (Bonaparte 1973 [1951], 191-192, 204). To

156 the contrary, as already noted above, those who discussed the mechanism of sexual excitement in detail alluded rather to clitoral scar sensitivity.

4.0 A postmodern appropriation of the clitoris In contrast to the excised African informants, only about half of the intact Canadian-born interviewed unequivocally perceived the clitoris as essential to orgasm: 7/15 Canadian-born either stated that the clitoris is always involved in orgasm, or implied as much by arguing that excised women can't experience orgasm. Olive was emphatic in her condemnation of excision as removing woman's pleasure, and in this way her attitude mirrors that of most of the excised themselves. The rest of the Canadian-born informants were hesitant to define the clitoris as essential to orgasm, and hence to perceive excision as impeding orgasm. Despite this, many of them did postulatè sorne role for the clitoris when speculating on the source of "vaginal" orgasm.

In fact, the term vaginal orgasm is interpreted as being part of a network of possible responses, a conceptual framework which weakens the Freudian formulation while nonetheless perpetuating its premise of a distinct response. Interestingly, sorne of my Canadian-born informants have apparently reappropriated Freudian-inspired terms. For instance, the Freudian clitoral­ vaginal distinction, initially intended to separate mature female sexuality from immature response, has provided a springboard for_

157 sorne women to identify their orgasms as clitoral, vaginal, or both, without necessarily implying the superiority of one over another.25

Freud's discussion of the clitoris does at least recogmze its existence, leading sorne to credit him with recognizing the roles of clitoris and vagina in orgasm. Thus, ironically, thanks to Freud, the clitoris is identified as a sexual organ. Irene appears to have interpreted controversy about the G-spot as a debate about whether the vagina makes any difference at all in the sensations of orgasm. Any recognition of the role of the vagina in orgasm IS thus also re-interpreted as stemming from the clitoral-vaginal debate.

Similarly, the term G-spot, to be discussed more fully in the next chapter, initially ideiltified as a site within the vagina by which women might achieve vaginal orgasm has, in the parlance of popular magazines, come to signify sexually sensitive sites on the body, male or female (Dolgoff 2000; Kemp 1999; Lessard 1999; Marshall 2001; Summers 1999; Swierczynski 1998). In my interviews, the clitoris was sometimes defined as a corollary ta the G-spot, or even the spot itself:

it is as if the G-spot leads ta the clitoris. (Nathalie)

25 Thus Caryl, Emily, Hélène, Lisette, Marie and Quilène aH distinguish orgasm types according to these categories.

158 1 always thought that vaginal pleasure came from the proximity of the clitoris in relation to the vagina, that those who have vaginal pieasure have the clitoris a little closer to the vagina than others...that's what the G-spot is. (Hélène)

The above excerpts would seem to attest to women's incorporation of otherwise confusing concepts into their own experiential framework. They may not be relying solely on their own experiences, however; while most of the women 1 interviewed claimed not to discuss sex much--or at all--with friends, they occasionally alluded to reading material that informed or reinforced their understanding. 1 did not attempt to investigate the sources of sexual information mentioned, although a focus on the concordance between sexual concepts and reading (or other) material would be an interesting direction for future research. For now, 1 rely on t~e indirect evidence; from my survey of the literature, 1 have a good understanding of the popular discourse on women's orgasm. The schizophrenie coexistence of clitoral and G-spot/vaginal opposition in much of the literature can thus be argued to either reflect, consolidate, or influence women' s understanding of sexual response.

4.1 The clitoral-vaginal proximity hypothesis Many women define vaginal orgasm as due to clitoral proximity. Vaginal orgasm is thus implicitly or simultaneously clitoral, yet another instance of the reappropriation of Freudian terminology.

159 Anatomy, that is, cHtoral-vaginal proximity, was invoked by somé6 of the Canadian-born to explain vaginal orgasm. 1 was intrigued by such an explanation, since 1 had never heard it before in the popular literature. What intrigued me about finding such an opinion among the women 1 interviewed was that they an appeared to have separately developed the same hypothesis. Clearly, then, there is a belief in considerable variation in female anatomy, and in "vaginal orgasm" as indirectly linked to the cHtoris.27

Hence, when asked to unravel the mystery of sorne women' s ability to have vaginal orgasms, several of the women's theories converged. While sorne looked to explanations linked to emotional factors, such as being in love, feeling good about oneself, or being able to relax, the most common explanation was anatomical. Olive mirrors the interpret(itions of Fabienne,. Hélène, and Jane: "1 think it has mostly to do with the fact that there's not the same distance for everyone between the clitoris and...the vagina."

While not specifying cHtoral-vaginal proximity per se, Irene, Lisette and Marie wondered whether an ability to have an orgasm through clitoral stimulation but not with coitus was based on "how you are constituted, physically" (Marie), that is, "an anatomy

26 6/15--if we include Irene and Marie, whose allusions were less direct; see their comments in the main text. 27 InternaI contradictions occur in sorne of the interviews: sorne women daimed vaginal orgasm is distinct but then proposed the proximity hypothesis to explain vaginal orgasm, thereby implying cHtoral input: 12/15 of the Canadian-born daim, at sorne point in the interview, that the clitoris is involved in coïtaI orgasrn.

160 thing" (Irene). This may reflect the argument that women may not aH be identically constituted; Masters and Johnson may actually have been studying a certain physiological type when they set as a prerequisite that participants in their study must be coitally orgasmic, a suspicion aired in the wake of their research findings claiming that aU women can learn to become coitally orgasmic (Fromme 1966; Miller and Fowlkes 1980, 262, note12), and later investigated as a possible explanation for some women's coïtaI anorgasmia (Brindley and Gillan 1982).28

Although 1 will argue that relying on one' s own experience may sometimes conceal characteristics shared with other women, causing women to feel alone, it may also serve to make sense of otherwise perplexing concepts. Freud's clitoral-vaginal opposition may be re-interpreted by some as recognizing the roles of both clitoris and vagina b~cause this is the only way these women can relate it to personal experience. This is similarly the case for the G-spot.

It would seem that the there has not been much lasting feminist influence on the issue of sexual response. Open discussions of women' s own bodies in consciousness raising groups may have led to personal discoveries and reassuring group comparisons thirty years ago. Yet this approach has apparently not prevailed.

28 Of course, by studying women who could have orgasms during intercourse, Masters and Johnson also showed that aU orgasms, even apparently vaginal ones, involve indirect clitoral stimulation.

161 Women's sexual solidarity is perhaps correlated with awareness of, or identification with, the women's movement. Women's feminist identifications were, unfortunately, beyond the scope of the current study.

4.2 A discourse of difference Some of the Canadian-born informants admitted they were not sure whether the clitoris was necessary for orgasm. One reason for this uncertainty was the belief that aH women are different; we cannot know how another woman' s body functions. Such a belief was an important subtheme running throughout many of the interviews. The women had the impression that they were not qualified to talk about female sexuality in general: they could only speak for themselves, given their perception of vast differences among women.

Hélène and Sandrine, for example, dared not speculate on the repercussions of excision on sexual response. Hélène adrnitted that her own response would be severely handicapped, but then emphasized the impossibility of speaking for others: "No two women are alike, eh?" Women are apparently so different that the mechanisms which trigger their orgasm can be different, sorne requiring a clitoris, others not.

Asked to define the role of the vagma and clitoris in orgasrn, Emily argued that it is impossible to do so, since "it's different for each woman." Similarly Fabienne and Irene stress that their

162 thoughts on orgasm are not representative of other women, although the latter does ponder the difference: "1 have wondered why.. .It seems sort of like men aren't so different [from each other as women are]." Thus, genitally, each woman is unique, argues Marie. Quilène concurs: "11' s quite varied, each person is different." And Karen similarly concludes, "i1's probably an individual thing."

The women's impressions of difference are arguably the resuh not only of a lack of sisterhood, but also of the popular literature's perplexing portrayal of women's sexual response as highly individualistic and divisible into separate body parts. Certainly, the discourse on sexual response generally isolates clitoral from vaginal/G-spot response.

The positive outcome of the personal, experiential approach is that each woman bases her ideas on her own experience, and does not presume to speak for others. However, such an approach IS problematic in that it also indicates the extent to which women feel alone, and fail to identify their own sexual response with that of other women. Sexual solidarity is impossible when no woman is like another.

Perceiving oneself as unlike other women has repercusslOns on women's self-concept. Hélène feh "complicated", and Irene thought of herself as belonging to a categorical subset of women simply for requiring clitoral stimulation in order to have an orgasm. That coitus is an inefficient way of attaining orgasm for

163 many (see, for instance, Butler 1976; 120; Levin 1981; Shibley Hyde 1994, 115; Weijmar Schultz et al. 1989, 93) often goes unacknowledged. Instead of questioning the coitai orgasmic imperative, we have historically problematized women's sexuality: "Medical authorities as recently as the 1970s assured men that a woman who did not reach orgasm during heterosexual coitus was flawed or suffering from sorne physical or psychological impairment" (Maines 1999, 6).

It is here that a contradiction surfaces from within the women's discourse: a thoroughly postmodern perspective would not allow for comparison: women would as a result never feel inadequate as they would not compare themselves to any other. Unfortunately, while comparison of sexual response may be non-existent or minimal in women's interpersonal communications with other women, they do compare themselves to the mediatized ideal of the coitally orgasmic woman. Moreover, they inevitably compare themselves with their sexual partners.

4.3 lmplicit comparisons 1 argue that heterosexual women do inevitably devise sexual standards, but that these standards arebased upon comparisons with men. While they hesitate to discuss and compare their own sexual response with that of their sisters, women are confronted with that of their partners. This may help to explain why the role of the clitoris is so easily downplayed or misunderstood; since it 1S. not a component of male sexual response, it may be difficult to

164 think of it as essential to female response. This may also help to explain a fascination with so-called "female ejaculation", which 1 will discuss with reference to vaginal response in the next chapter. Men may, paradoxically, be women's principal source of information about other women's sexuality. In support of this contention, sorne of my informants described how their boyfriends informed them of how they should respond sexually based on male standards, or on sexual experiences with other women.29

Furthermore, women may be unaware of the interconnections responsible for orgasm. The vaginal lips may act as an

intermediary between the vagina and clitoris ln vaginal intercourse (Masters and Johnson 1966). Yet sorne American and Canadian women apparently resort to labial Hp reduction for aesthetic purposes (Canadian Press 1998; Sandberg 1999)! One unsatisfied customer of the surgery successfully sued when labial reduction deprived her of the ability to have an orgasm (Sandberg 1998).30 Perhaps this woman would never even have considered the surgery had she received a better education about the physiology of sexual response. Moreover, that such surgery might be permissible when the genital surgery of other cultures is

29 Nathalie provides a striking example of her sexual intimidation; her ex­ boyfriend c1aimed women who did not reach orgasm through penetration were abnormal, and subsequently reported that his new girlfriend was sexuaUy fulfiUed by the same techniques that had failed her. In my less formaI sexual discussions with women and men, the possibility of orgasm without any cHtoral stimulation is frequently emphasized by men. 30Genitai plastic surgery is discussed in a more enthusiastic tone in popular magazines (Breslin 1998; Hudepohl 2000).

165 condemned points to a contradiction within Western culture on this issue. Research into genital plastic surgery could provide an important opportunity for cross-cultural comparison.

Moreover, the physiologically un-male reaction of the clitoris may further obfuscate its role: when stimulated, the clitoris appears to retract into its hood and thus "may seem to be lost altogether, or harder to find" (Brecher and Brecher 1966, 27; Masters and Johnson 1966, 51-52, 152),31 which is also partially due to the swelling of the enlarged vaginal lips (Sherfey 1972, 60).

Masters, Johnson and Kolodny (1992, 76, note3) "wonder how many men panicked when this phase of clitoral retraction made the clitoris seem to disappear." Yet such a misunderstanding of female physiological response is not a thing of the pasto A man calling in for advice, on the popular Canadian broadcast, "The Sunday Night Sex Show" (July 2000, Women's Television Network)32 illustrated this very concern. He complained that he didn't know what his partner wanted; upon stimulation, her clitoris seemed to disappear! She claimed to like what he was doing, but he didn't believe her, given the evidence of the

31 Explains Sherfey (1972, 86): "with clitoral retraction, the female actually uses the swollen preputial sac in the same manner the male uses the vaginal barrel to achieve stimulation of the penis. Functionally speaking, the is a miniature vagina." 32 In Science in the Bedroom: a history of sex research (1994, 275) Vern Bullough comments on the contemporary phenomenon of '''pop sex'; a mishmash of real data mixed with fantasy is being disseminated to feed the demands of a voracious public appetite."

166 retracting clitoris. Sex counselor Sue Johanson sympathized with the male caller.

Johanson a.dvised that the only way for the man to discover his partner's unique sexual response will be when she is a.ble to improve her communication skills. This shows how much ignorance surrounds the clitoris as weIl as how woman's sexuality is problematized; even the popular sex experts ascribe to the postmodern practice of individualizing women's experiences.

The women I interviewed would not have been surprised by the treatment of another woman' s sexual response as sorne kind of anomaly. Alone, she can resort solely to her own experience, with little defense against her partner' s disbelief in her sincerity. No effort is made to look for similarities among wornen, such as the fact that women's se.xual response in the stage leading to orgasrn is signaled by the retraction and even disappearance of the glans and shaft. This medical ignorance is arguably a result of the absence of generalization and solidarity arnong wornen. Philosopher Susan Bordo (1997, 343) deplores the consequences of this relativistic approach: "Particulars reign, and generality-­ which collects, organizes, and prioritizes, suspending attention to particularity in the interests of connection, ernphasis, and criticisrn--is suspect." In this way, the postrnodern fragmentational discourse not only reflects, but also directs how we conceptualize sex.

167 The danger of perceiving each woman's experience as anomalous thus becomes apparent; each perceives her own response as unique at best, deficient at worst. Implicitly, in the case of the disappearing clitoris, the male experience sets the standard by which to judge that of the female,33 and the contrast is interpreted as revealing the woman's lack of normalcy. None of this is to deny the concomitant influence of popular culture on women's conceptions of sexual response. To wit, commitment to a postmodern stance has arguably been adopted from the larger culture. In addition, the separation of clitoral and vaginal response may also have been absorbed from popular cultural representations.

Thus women's ability to relate their own sexuality to other women' s becornes problematic, as each is thought to represent solely herself, a far,cry from earlier feminist efforts at consciousness-raising about common experiences. 1 nonetheless argue that there exists a certain contradiction to women' s perception of sexuality. Perhaps because heterosexual women are more directly confronted with other men's sexual response than with other women's, or perhaps because the tendency to compare is difficult to avoid, women do, in practice, compare themselves to men.

33 Rather than clitoral erection per se, "female genital lubrication and swelling are analogous to erection in the male" (Singer Kaplan and Sucher 1982, 8).

168 Conclusion The social construction of cHtoral response refers not only to the reaHzation or inhibition of orgasm, but also to the perception of its source. Indeed, this chapter has been largely concerned with whether the clitoris is recognized, how it is perceived to function, and whether it is crucial to sexual response.

The role of the clitoris in sexual response is far from obvious. Women's sexual response is popularly divided into cHtoral versus vaginal types, the latter typically correlated with G-spot orgasms. The dichotimization of orgasm takes the focus off the clitoris and fosters the belief that is not a crucial component to sexual response.

Terminological ignorance of the clitoris may be an extension of the absence of the term. from the collective vocabulary, as evidenced by censorship of the word in the media and sex education. But words also reflect cognition: it appears that the lexical absence of the clitoris is a sign of its conceptual absence. Popular magazine surveys indicated that the organ is not well-recognized; more rigorous research has also estabHshed a lack of understanding of its role in woman's orgasm.

And yet the popular discourse often resembles the medical discourse on the clitoris: discussions with doctors and nurses as weIl as anatomy textbook representations, and the Hmited research efforts devoted to monitoring the effects of excision, aIl

169 point to a lack of understanding of women' s sexual response. Particularly troubling is the fact that surgeons perform radical surgery such as sex assignment, cancer treatment involving clitoral excision, and hysterectomy without appreciating their implications for sexual response.

The testimony of the immigrant informants attests to the overwhelmingly negative outcome of excision. There is also sorne

suggestion, in my interviews and ln the Hterature, that sexual response might vary depending on the extent of the excision. Combining these findings with those on medically-indicated excision, it appears possible that the underlying cHtoral structure and nerve network may restitute sexual response in genitally operated women.

With regard to the genitally intact, for many, confusion persists as to the role of the clitoris. Women often seem deprived of a conceptual framework for perceiving sexual response as a coordination of cHtoral and vaginal reactions. Sex researcher Kenneth Mah (2000, 51) argues that contemporary orgasm research tends to compartmentaHze the sex organs, which has the effect of consoHdating the belief that "'clitoral' and 'vaginal' orgasms are very different entities." Women's understanding of sexual response may thus be a combination of popular influences and inadequate sex education, as weIl as misleading medical research and information.

170 Paradoxically, these conventional understandings have been combined with the adoption of a postmodern approach; the ditoris--and its underlying nerves--may not be essential to sexual response since every woman is unique. As a result, "to make a daim about social or cultural patterns .. ,is a stance that is increasingly difficult to sustain in a postmodern context" (Bordo 1997, 344). Against this reasoning, the vagina, in general, and the G-spot, in particular, are posited as competing--not complementary--Ioci for sexual receptivity. The next chapter will further illustrate the extent to which woman' s sexual response 1S tied to social concepts, and the value placed upon the concept of vaginal, as opposed to cHtoral, orgasm.

171 Chapter 6

The Social Construction of Vaginal Orgasm

The relevance of social beliefs to the perception of sexual response affects not only concepts of clitoral orgasm, as discussed in the prevlOus chapter, but also concepts of vaginal orgasm. In this chapter, 1 consider the argument that the clitoral-vaginal distinction was invented by Freud himself, thereby suggesting an enduring connection between social constructionism and vaginal orgasm. Through examination of the notion of vaginal orgasm and contemporary debates about Freud and his legacy, 1 will suggest that clitoral-vaginal transference has been replaced by other, similarly constraining, constructions. 1 then turn to variant concepts of vaginalorgasm which, 1 argue, are ill-defined. Indeed, the scientific and popular literature, as weIl as the women interviewed, often refer to vaginal orgasm without specifying its parameters, thus allowing for both conceptual and interpretive confusion. What exactly is vaginal orgasm? Having identified two competing perceptions of vaginal orgasm which are used in the literature and by my informants, 1 will suggest an analytic distinction between them.

The first definition of vaginal orgasm is as orgasm during intercourse, with a notable lack of attention to the role of the clitoris. In this first definition, the role of the clitoris might be implicit, although a failure to consider its role suggests that h is perceived as unimportant. The second definition views vaginal orgasm as a distinct entity, which is sometimes further used in conjunction with the G-spot and female ejaculation. In this view, vaginal orgasm is perceived as distinct from cHtoral orgasm and the l'ole of the clitoris is denied. 1 will further subdivide this category: vaginal orgasm as a distinct yet undefined entity; vaginal orgasm as a distinct and defined entity, involving the G­ spot and ejaculation.

It is important to examine these variants of vaginal orgasm because of what they tell us about the strength of social beliefs. The fact that the lack of scientific evidence for vaginal as distinct from cHtoral orgasm has not cast doubt on its existence provides crucial support for my argument that sex/sexual response involves not only an,atomy and physiology, but also beHefs about them. That is, vaginal orgasm is about the social construction of sex. This is more evidence in favor of my argument about sex, gender and social construction. The definition 1 developed in Chapter 2 of sex as our perception of difference as weIl as presumed differences applies weIl to vaginal orgasm: sex, not just gender, and not just sex for the excised, but sex--the body and hs physiological capacity--is sociaIly constructed. 1 will examine the repercusslOns of this construction for women's self-perception.

173 1.0 Freudian clitoral.. vaginal transfer Historian Thomas Laqueur postulates that Freud was arguing for the social construction of women's sexual response. As a result of the existent medical knowledge, Freud "must have known that what he wrote in the language of biology regarding the shift of erotogenic sensibility from the clitoris to the vagina had no basis in the facts of anatomy or physiology" (Laqueur 1990, 240). Freud knew that the clitoris was essential to orgasm. "[B]y inventing its vaginal counterpart" (Laqueur 1990, 233), he was simply arguing that women had to learn to deny clitoral response in order to fit into the social order. Similarly to Laqueur, Money (1997, 199­ 200) suggests that the clitoral-vaginal debate is "ideological" as opposed to anatomical or physiological.

Theorists espousing a social constructionist approach have thus argued that the Freu,dian clitoral-vaginal debate is not about physiology but about the social acceptability of women's orgasm. 1 also adopt this viewpoint. But, in addition, citing evidence from the literature and my interviews, 1 insist that many people do not recognize that this distinction constitutes a social construction; the importance of the clitoris to sexual response is not recognized because of a concomitant belief in a separate vaginal response. And belief in the vaginal orgasm has had wide-ranging effects on women's psychological well-being and sexual relations.!

1 Anecdotal accounts of vaginal expectations attuned me to the continuing cHtoral-vaginal cleavage, and inspired this chapter. An acquaintance remained friends with a former boyfriend for several years after they had . broken up. Rer former boyfriend bemoaned the vaginal frigidity of his later girlfriends, who aU claimed to need cHtoral stimulation. Re longed for

174 Regardiess of whether or not Freud knew he was prescribing a physiological impossibility, interpretation of his writings have bolstered a belief in it, and this perhaps helps explain why women themselves often distinguish between ditorai and vaginal types (Bender and Peeler 1979, 415) Moreover, "social beliefs and techniques control, direct, shape, and distribute bodily powers and functions" (Hirst and Woolley 1982, 28-29).

Indeed, pnor to Masters and Johnson's research, psychoanalysts themselves espoused a model of female sexual response involving the physiological transfer from clitoris to vagina (Gillespie 1969). Arguably, the cHtoral-vaginal distinction constituted "the dominant paradigm of normative female sexuality" at least into the 1970s in the West (Maines 1999, 112). Seymour Fisher (1973, 410) noted the perct?ption among the American women he interviewed2 that cHtoral orgasm was "inferior" in defiance, or ignorance, of Masters and Johnson's (1966) clinical evidence of clitoral involvement in aIl orgasms.

an ideal sexual relationship such as the one he had had with her, in which the woman is satisfied with vaginal stimulation alone. She was never able to bring herself to tell him that her own vaginal orgasms did not exist, that the ideal sexuality he remembered had been ideal only for him, and at the expense of her own orgasmic pleasure. 2 Fisher's voluminous monograph, The Female Orgasm is devoted to analyzing the link between the psychology and physiology of sexual response in a convenience sample of 285 married women, recruited through a university student newspaper (the women had an average of 2-3 years of post-secondary education).

175 Into the 1980s, viewed the coitally anorgasmic woman as "inhibited and neurotic and in need of treatment, even if she is otherwise responsive" (Kaplan and Sucher 1982, 11). Lillian Rubin (1982, 71) discusses the pressure felt by couples to reach vaginal orgasm, "a quest that brought needless pain and suffering to millions." More recently popular historian Sarah Dening (1996, 192) concurred: "The controversy about vaginal versus cHtoral orgasm continues to this day." Even outside the Western world, in India, Freudian doctrine has been adopted, and "a great controversy prevails regarding cHtoral versus vaginal orgasm" (Sandhir 1994, 57).

A qualitative study of five clinical sexologists ln Montreal (Deshaies 1989) confirmed the persistence of the clitoral-vaginal distinction. While they did not distinguish between the terms vaginal and coital o~gasm, 4/5 sexologists insisted that cHtoral and vaginal orgasms constitute distinct physiological responses (Deshaies 1989, 65, 68).3

Perhaps the interpretation of Freud as postulating a cHtoral­ vaginal transfer of orgastic center says more about our beliefs and subjective interpretation than about his theory. But even Freudian enthusiast Gardetto (1993, 236) is inclined to admit that

3 The sexologists were Francophones. l unfortunately do not have enough comparative data to determine whether French-English differences exist.

176 "[a]lthough Freud himself perhaps did not believe ln a 'vaginal orgasm', his followers did." 4

1.1 Clitoral-vaginal proximity surgery Freud's theory on female sexual response has been put to extensive use, from the work of his disciples to modern-day popular sex material. In the past, Freudian Marie Bonaparte (1973 [1951]) and a colleague developed surgery intended to facilitate clitoral-vaginal transfer by severing and displacing the clitoris closer to the vagina. In this way the jump from exclusive clitoral to exclusive vaginal response would be bridged until the vagina could take over completely. Bonaparte (1973 [1951], 203) even considered African excision a method for achieving proper vaginal response in women, as it is arguably "the exact physical counterpart of psychical intimidations imposed in childhood on the sexuality of Euràpean Httle girls."

4 While it has been argued that Freud was not the first to posit the existence of the vaginal orgasm, his role in popularizing the notion is undeniable (Maines 1999, 62) and hence it seems fair to speak of the theory as Freudian. There are those who daim that Freud did not in fact postulate a distinct vaginal orgasm: neo-Freudian scholar Renata Schlesier (1984) argues that Freud did not mention vaginal orgasm per se. Although Freud insisted that "erotogenic susceptibility to stimulation [must bel transferred by a woman from the clitoris to the vaginal orifice" (Freud 1975 [1905], 87), he was perhaps not implying that orgastic capacity was similarly transferred. This rectification does not, however, deny the subsequent interpretations of his work as postulating vaginal orgasm. (For an overview of these interpretations, see Brown 1966, 125-175.) It may ahernately be argued that Freud was merely mirroring popular prejudices, and that mueh of what passes for Freudian would otherwise pass as popular dogma (Gagnon and Simon 1973, 9-10). Indeed, even when referenee to Freud has been swept away, various of the principles that inform his theory remain, leaving open the question of whether Freud's influence is pervasive and continuing, or whether overarching and persistent societal· beliefs inform both his theories and contemporary convictions.

177 Similarly, feminist writers Robin Morgan, Gloria Steinem (1995, 293) and Alice Walker (1992, 169), who have joined the fight against excision, refer respectively to "psychic" and "psychological" clitoridectomy. Sex researchers and educators Albert Allgeier and Elizabeth Rice Allgeier (1995, 34) consider Freud' s derision of clitoral response as "psychological circumcision." In this rare instance of conceptual agreement, Freudians, feminists, and sex researchers alike draw a parallel between blatant surgical and more subtle forms of sexual control, although 1 have already argued in Chapter 4 that physical control through excision does not replace psychological control. Instead, it is justified and enforced by ideological concerns which translate into both psychological and physical control.

In the more recent past, American gynecologist James Burt performed "corrective" surgery into the late 1980s, also involving displacement of the clitoris; the goal was no longer transfer, as it was for Bonaparte, but merely to ensure that stimulation of the clitoris would coincide with sexual intercourse (Holoweiko 1989).5 Virginia Johnson reportedly viewed such surgical realignment as mutilation (Heidenry 1997, 279). But the silence of most medical,

5While Dr Burt's "Love Surgery" was reportedly advertised in the 1980s, 1 received no indication that the women 1 interviewed were aware of it. Reiss (1990, 173) interprets the surgery as resulting from the use of a term like dysfunctional with regard to vaginal anorgasmia. 1 would argue instead that the concept underlying the term is the problem. But, indeed, that women would resort to surgery to become coitally orgasmic is an indication of the dominance of the coital orgasmic imperative.

178 and other, authorities on this issue speaks eloquently to a belief in women's problematic physiology.

1.2 enrrent distinctions My own research also indicates that the clitoral-vaginal paradigm is still in use. As mentioned in the previous chapter, 1 conducted an exploratory questionnaire in December 1995, in part to discern the possible extent of Freudian influence concerning attitudes toward the clitoris. Gnly one of twenty-four respondents adhered to the orthodox psychoanalytic account, indicating that the role of the clitoris 1S to provide the first stage of sexual development, abandoned ln adulthood for vaginal penetration and vaginal orgasm. Two others indicated that its only role is to prepare the woman for vaginal penetration, and one woman penciled in her view that the clitoris has no role whatsoever.

These views reflect vanous elements of the Freudian position either by denying the role of the clitoris in adult women, or by placing the focus on vaginal orgasm, thus indirectly attesting to the secondary role accorded to the clitoris in psychoanalytic and popular theories. (They contrast with the views of the majority, though, who said !hat the only role of the clitoris is to sexually satisfy the woman.)

It was also intriguing to discover that more than 40% of respondents argued that the woman who is clitorally orgasm1c but vaginally anorgasmic has not yet reached her full sexual potential.

179 Such a V1ew may attest to the unfortunate influence of psychoanalytic sexual theory in the population at large. It is also possible that my reference to vaginal orgasm--which 1 intended to exclude clitoral stimulation--was interpreted as an allusion to coital orgasm. But even if this is the case, many women nonetheless appear to have been convinced that the woman who reaches orgasm through clitoral stimulation is missing out on the type of orgasm needed to realize her full potential. The claim that vaginal orgasm is a reflection of a woman' s sexual potential is reminiscent of the Freudian doctrine.

My subsequent research confirms the minority tendency to distinguish between clitoral and vaginal orgasms, or to downplay the role of the clitoris, as 1 will discuss below.

2.0 Vaginal orgasm as orgasm during intercourse The term coital orgasm 1S potentially free from the clitoral-vaginal binary, yet it is not often used in the popular literature or by women themselves. Moreover, coital orgasm shares characteristics with the other definitions of vaginal orgasm in that the term obscures the mechanism by which orgasm during coitus 1S reached. In a sense, the definition of sex as coitus effectively constructs female sexuality as vaginal (Long Laws and Schwartz 1977, 52).

180 Vaginal orgasm thus reqmres further specification. This is because of a lack of clarity on the issue of clitoral stimulation. A belief in vaginal orgasm usually overlooks the possibility of indirect stimulation. Yet there is also a more subtle variation on the theme of vaginal orgasm, one allowing for a definition of this type as synonymous wïth coïtaI orgasm, as it was used by the Montreal sexologists in the above-cited study by Nicole Deshaies (1989).

In addition to noting a vaginal bias in , sociologists J. Kenneth Davidson and Nelwyn Moore (1994) blame the popular media and women's magazines for perpetuating the vaginal orgasm imperative.6 They argue that the societal preoccupation with vaginal orgasm, while perhaps "an archaic vestige of

Freudian psychology", is "still much in evidence" III popular magazines, which emphasize the vaginal orgasm as the normative sexual experience.7

1 found vanous expectations ln my own survey of recent popular texts. In magazine articles, the clitoral-vaginal distinction is often upheld, suggesting a hierarchy of sexual response with vaginal orgasm as the ultimate type. A sexologist cited in one article appears unable to break free of the traditional psychoanalytic Vlew of the vaginal orgasm as a mark of maturity, and as more

6 For a discussion of media influence on women's sexuality, see J. C. Daniluk (1993). 7 Davidson and Moore (1994, 168) argue that Redbook, Cosmopolitan and Mademoiselle magazines have aH contributed to the "societal imperative" of the "vaginally-induced orgasm." Hawkes (1996, 121) similarly condemns the emphasis in popular magazines on coHus and advice on how to attain coïtaI orgasms.

181 intense than most cHtoral orgasms (Accorsi 1998). Paradoxically, this denigration of the clitoris follows the advice of a gynecologist cited eadier in the same article who specifically discusses the need for clitoral stimulation during coitus! As a general rule, the articles tend to provide opinions or information with little or no accompanying analysis. Many articles uncritically discuss both clitoral and vaginal (or G-spot) orgasm without even defining the terms .8

In popular sex books, clitoral response is sometimes subsumed within vaginality. This provides yet another reworking of the

"coitai imperative" (Jackson 1984), whereby vaginal penetration 1S still the ideal, but wherein the clitoris is allowed to operate.9 And yet, despite apparent recognition of the inherent role of the clitoris, a tension emerges setting it against the vagina, as in the popular advice book" Natural Sex (1999; also Heart 1998). Under the heading "vaginal versus cHtoral", author Elena Oumano (1999, 146-147) argues that, "[p]erhaps this country's [the United States'] biggest sexual controversy surrounds the subject of cHtoral versus

8 One popular book distances itself somewhat from the clitoral-vaginal debate by discussing orgasm in even more diffuse terms. In Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Sex, Sandra Scantling and Sue Browder (1993) never actually define the "supersex" they attempt to teach, although they do suggest that the best kind of sex leads to an out of body experience, or the ability to see colors during sex/orgasm! 9 Similarly earlier, mid-twentieth century sex manuals recognized the role of the clitoris, perhaps thanks to the Kinsey report, but it was appropriate to only; the goal was "simultaneous, vaginal orgasm" with no discussion of clitoral input (Lydon 1971, 66). Anne McClintock (1993, 118­ 119) summarizes the message in sex manuals of the first part of the twentieth century: "The vaginal orgasm, putatively a natural 'instinct', had to be learned (and by most accounts the vagina appeared to be a sluggish and diffident pupil), while the unnatural clitoral orgasm had to be unlearned. "

182 vaginal orgasms...many women--too many to count--state unequivocaUy that vaginal orgasms are better than cHtoral." 10

Oumano (1999: 151) also recommends that women interested in having a vaginal orgasm "avoid cHtoral stimulation during sex" in arder to transfer sexual sensitivity from the clitoris to the vagina. Sex therapists Michael Riskin and Anita Banker-Riskin (1997, 126-129) similarly recommend graduaI cessation of cHtoral stimulation. These popular authors distance themselves from the recognition of indirect cHtoral contact in coitus; the goal is to avoid even indirect contact! Thus the orgasm is mystified, compHcated. Women who know how to reach orgasm non-coitally are provided numerous techniques for achieving orgasm during coitus, with the implicit--and sometimes expHcit--suggestion that coital orgasm is preferable.

Sorne theorists (Long Laws and Schwartz 1977, vii; Ross and Rapp 1997, 153) suggest that the interpretation of Freudian theory as estabHshing two different orgasms has generally been exposed as a "social construction" which pressured women "to conform to invented norms" (Long Laws and Schwartz 1977, 15). 1 disagree with this impression. Instead, 1 argue, the either-or tenor of the cHtoral-vaginal debate persists in modified form, as 1 will next discuss.

10 Popular author Tracey Cox (1999, 75) similarly suggests that the clitoral­ vaginal distinction in Australia is a controversial and hotly debated topic.

183 2.1 Coitai anorgasmia Women who have coital orgasms half of the time are considered by many sex researchers to manifest secondary orgasmic dysfunction (Kilmann et al. 1983; Milan, Kilmann, and Boland 1988). This research assumption apparently carries over into sorne sex therapy and is evident in popular constructions of sexual inadequacy (Riskin and Banker-Riskin 1997, 27). Of course, since only some, perhaps the minority of women, regularly have coital orgasms, the dysfunctional label might be applied to the majority (Allgeier and Rice Allgeier 1995, 245; de Bruijn 1982, 151; Milan, Kilmann and Boland 1988)1 11

Distinguishing coital from non-coital orgasm effectively sets up an opposition between clitoris and vagina, and perhaps helps explain why women come to perceive them as functioning independently of each other. 12 Sex theorists and researchers thus argue that Freudian concepts have "filtered into the folk-knowledge of our society and helped to shape common-sense conceptions of sexuality" (Jackson 1996, 65; also Bleier 1984, 170), including the

11 Similarly, in response to the Kinsey report of 1953, "Bergler and Kroger insist that there is no scientific difficulty with arguing that eighty to ninety percent of aIl women are 'abnormal'" [vaginally anorgasmïc], referring to the latter as "neurotics" (Maines 1999, 62). 12 Kinsey and colleagues recognized that the supposed norm of exclusively vaginal orgasm was not practicable, but that women felt inadequate because of this norm. Their qualification of vaginal orgasm as "biological impossibility" (1953, 584) indicates to me that scientists were already postulating the social construction of sexual response. Women could not actively reconsttuct their sexual response--but they could believe that they were maladjusted because of this inability. Perhaps the vaginal theory had until then remained unchallenged in practice because the extent of vaginal anorgasmia in the general population was not known.

184 valorization of the "vaginal orgasm" (Davidson and Moore 1994, 154).

Indeed, professional therapists have identified coital anorgasmia as pervasive.13 Even before the invention of new therapy to treat coïtaI anorgasmia, frigidity due to the "myth of the double orgasm" was reported as the main reason women sought psychiatrie counseling (Chesler 1972). With the advent of new therapeutic approaches, it was listed as the most common reason why women sought sex therapy (Singer Kaplan 1987, 82-87). Today, it is considered the second most common reason, behind disorders of desire. But Jennifer Berman, a urologist and sex researcher specializing in women's orgasmic difficulties, has postulated that a lack of desire may be linked to orgasmic problems, thereby dissolving the distinction between the two, at least in some instances (Fishman 2000).

Despite this, coitai orgasm does not appear to be a possibility for many women. Sex therapists Helen Singer Kaplan and Erica Sucher (1982, 12) report that "only approximately one-half of our patients who complain of coital anorgasmy are able to climax in intercourse after treatment." Reiss builds an excellent critique of the therapeutie definition of sexual dysfunction in women with hs emphasis on coital anorgasmia, and agrees with Dr. Sanford Copley

13 EarHer psychoanalysts appeared incapable of accepting clitoral sensitivity as the norm. Thus, despite relying, herself, upon clitoral stimulation to have an orgasm, Bonaparte (1973 [1951]) marvels, "1 was struck by the great number of clitoridal [sic] women and wondered what could cause so frequent an anomaly."

185 that "no one has yet invented the term 'scrotal skin dysfunction' for men who require direct penile contact to reach orgasm.,,14

Clearly, medical opmlOn on sexual response is tainted by popular or Freudian beliefs about appropriate female sexuality, beliefs which largely drowned out dissident voices to the clitoral-vaginal transfer theory throughout the twentieth century.15 And this was despite a flagrant lack of scientific evidence, since Freud provided neither case material nor experimental data to support either the existence of clitoral-vaginal transference nor any indication of how the two types of orgasm might be distinguished (Hastings 1963).

Even pro-clitoral sexologists at the turn of the century as well as sex therapists since at least the 1940s paradoxically proclaimed the importance of the clitoris while prescribing only indirect contact in coital orgasm, which constituted the ultimate goal and the ultimate female sexual response (Gardetto 1993, 1, 185-186). This supports my argument that coital anorgasmia as a dysfunction continues the Freudian tradition of the

14 Copley's homology is cited in Reiss (1990, 174). There are other indications that the sexual response belief system is built on numerous foundations. Singer Kaplan and Sucher (1982, 10) point out that "[nlo one is distraught because the sensory trigger spot for the eye blink is not located in the muscles of the eyelid. But many clinicians get intensely upset when faced with evidence that suggests that while the female orgasm consists of rhythmic spasms of the muscles surrounding the vagina [...] it is characteristically triggered by stimulation of the sensory endings of the clitoris."

15 Daniel Brown (1966 [1964]) provides numerous references which call the clitoral-vaginal transfer theory into question.

186 problematization of female coitai response. It merely shifts. the terrain of treatment from psychoanalytic analysis to .16

2.2 Masters and Johnson on sexual dysfunction Masters and Johnson's unquestioning adoption of the view of women' s sexuai response in coitus as problematic ignores the more profound sociological questions about the very existence of a problem in the first place. Their ideological commitment was to heterosexuai intercourse. Because of this, they devoted themselves to helping couples correct for coital anorgasmla, which they labeled a sexual dysfunction (Masters and Johnson 1970; Masters, Johnson and Kolodny 1992, 547-548).

Ironically, the pioneers of research into clitoral function thus adopted a therapeutic approach to female orgasm which denied the primacy of the clitoris and problematized clitoral stimulation, arguably contributing to women's sense of sexual inadequacy (Reiss 1990, 170). Masters and Johnson have thus been accused of perpetuating a coital bias, which serves as "a powerful corrective to the autonomous functioning and responsiveness of the clitoris" (Miller and Fowlkes 1980, 261). Not surprisingly, then, while sexual dysfunction may be defined as an inability to have an orgasm during intercourse, an inability to have an orgasm without intercourse is not considered dysfunctional by sorne therapists (Vance 1983, 378).

16 Indeed, sexology may have superseded psychoanalysis as the main provider of sex therapy because it deals with orgastic problems in a

187 Moreover, one of the solutions to the "problem" of coital anorgasmia is suggestive of a continuing clitoral-vaginal cleavage. While Reiss (1990, 171) points out that many women achieve coital orgasms by adopting sexual positions enabling cHtoral stimulation which may even be indirect, this approach is not always favored in the literature and in treatment. As discussed above, contemporary sex manuals often recommend that cHtoral stimulation be reduced and eventually eliminated in favor of "solely" vaginal stimulation during coitus, without any clitoral input.

The indirect approach reportedly fails more often than it succeeds (Reiss 1990, 171). 1 would even argue that it constitutes a reformulation of the Freudian clitoral-vaginal transference supposition. In both,. the woman gradually learns to give up primary clitoral for ostensibly vaginal stimulation. And, of course, orgasmic success at either requires indirect, unacknowledged, stimulation of the clitoris. In this way, the coital imperative becomes enmeshed with the concept of vaginal orgasm.

2.3 Pleasure as Orgasm To add to the conceptual confusion over coital orgasm, much of the literature--even psychoanalysis--fails to distinguish enjoyment of

concrete way with often appreciable results (Béjin 1985).

188 17 intercourse from ability to have an orgasm. For instance, ln a large convenience study of female university students,18 psychological sex researchers Bender and Peeler (1979, 409) defined coitai orgasms as those felt during intercourse; women who had never experienced orgasm were toid to consider orgasm as "the highest point of excitement, or most pleasurable point, or the most intense point emotionally or physically." Concerning popular and medicai representations of orgasm, Maines (1999, 63) comments on the Iack of conceptuai distinction between coital pleasure and orgasm.

Kinsey and colleagues (1953) suggested that the contractions of the vagina during orgasm may have been interpreted as evidence of exclusively vaginal response. l would add that women's enjoyment of coitus may have been reinterpreted as orgasmic. AIso, a belief in vaginal orgasm implies that men initiate and awaken women's sexuality, and is another indication of the construction of sex as interactive. Finally, it implies that vaginal sexuality is better in that clitorai orgasm is abandoned for it.

17 The Freudian Bonaparte (1973 [1951]) does not clearly distinguish enjoyment of penetration from ability to have a vaginal orgasm, assuming, perhaps, that women who enjoy and accept coitus must obvious1y be vaginally orgasmic. 18 A convenience sample of 281 female university students completed a questionnaire on orgasm, specifically concerned with discovering how women categorize orgasmic experience and whether measures of personality can be correlated with orgasmic capacity.

189 2.4 The role of the clitoris in coital orgasm Of course, the indirect stimuli to the clitoris are numerous, and include sensation relayed through the large and small lips; the latter actually form the clitoral hood or prepuce at their uppermost point. But even if it was possible to isolate vaginal stimulation from that of the vaginal lips, clitoral response could not be ruled out because of internaI pressure affecting it from underneath.

Clitorai involvement is inevitable because the clitoris has both overlying and underlying structures which are stimulated during coitus; the clitoris continues internally beyond the glans by means of the shaft and its --crura, that attach it to the pubic bone (Masters, Johnson and Kolodny 1992, 44-45; Rathus, Nevid and Fichner-Rathus 1997, 69). Research indicates that the anterior vaginal wall is part of a "clitorallvaginal sensory arm of the orgasmic reflex with' orgasmic potential when properly stimulated" (Weijmar Schultz et al. 1989, 94).19 In addition, ultrasound measurements have established that vaginal pressure can contribute to clitoral blood flow, constituting an indirect form of stimulation which is not usually recognized by women themselves, nor is it acknowledged or measured by medical researchers (Lavoisier et al. 1995).

19 Masters and Johnson (1962) were the first to postulate the stimulation of clitoral nerves through vaginal intercourse.

190 These findings are significant because they suggest that the clitoris may be stimulated to a certain extent without a woman realizing il. Since women's perceptions of the sources of their own sexuality may not reflect physiological reality, it is of course possible for them to misunderstand their own sexual functioning. The notion of isolated clitoral and vaginal response thus defies the physiological evidence linking them. This implicitly questions a reliance by other researchers (see, for instance, Alzate 1985) upon women's perception of cHtoral input--or absence thereof--to orgasm.

If the clitoris is thus understood to have both underlying and overlying structures which are stimulated during coitus, then vaginal sensitivity can ultimately be Hnked to the clitoris. This is the physiological refutation of the cHtoral-vaginal distinction and is perhaps what leads sorne women to self-identify as both cHtoral and vaginal. One of my intact informants, Quilène, remains perplexed at what she sees as the either-or tenor of clitoral­ vaginal representations in the media, explaining that she is both clitoral and vaginal simultaneously. And coital orgasm was explicitly attributed to indirect cHtoral stimulation by Jane.

Just as recognition of any vaginal sensitivity is construed as an argument in favor of Freud (see Chapter 5), the role of the vagina in orgasm is also perceived as confirmation of at least a certain kind of "vaginal orgasm." Fabienne returns ta an earlier question

191 about vaginal orgasm: "But ifs interesting, the subject of vaginal orgasm.. .I know that when 1 have an orgasm, ifs really around the vagina that you feel the contractions." But because her orgasms also involve clitoral stimulation, she does not consider herself to have solely vaginal orgasms.

Just as much of the literature refers to vaginal orgasm as orgasm during penetration, this seemed to be a tacit consensual definition among the women 1 interviewed. Some of the women did not, however, seem to have reflected rnuch about the role of the clitoris in coital orgasrn, at first differentiating clitoral and vaginal orgasrn and then, upon further reflection, wondering if they weren't linked.

Rence Marie argues that "for sorne people ifs more through the clitoris, and has nothing to do with the vagina, and vice-versa... [for other women] ifs impossible to have an orgasm vaginally: it can happen but it is more difficult." But asked whether the clitoris would be involved in vaginal orgasrn, Marie hesitates, saying she doesn't know and then speculating that the clitoris is linked to vaginal orgasrn, since "the clitoris is not there for nothing."

A conceptual shift occurs in her discourse,z° smce she appears to perceive vaginal orgasrn first as being separate from clitoral orgasm and then as involving the clitoris. The contradictory

20 Similar conceptual shifts regarding cHtoral and vaginal orgasm as separate, but then linked, occur for Fabienne, Gillian, Hélène and Quilène.

192 discourse may reflect a lack of reflection about the process of orgasm. But it may also indicate an attempt at combining competing discourses which are fundamentally incompatible, with the resulting confusion.

3.0 Vaginal orgasm as a distinct yet undefined entity It is surprising to me that the notion of vaginal orgasm without cHtoral input often remains largely undefined. What is meant in the literature, and in conversation and interviews, by this term? The meaning sometimes becomes apparent, but at others remains strangely elusive, as when women insist that they believe in this type of orgasm, yet are at a loss to define it, or the mechanism by which it might work. Vaginal orgasm might best be described in these cases as an orgasm independent of ditoral stimulation, thus overlooking the imp?ssibility of neatly subdividing genital parts, and indirect stimulation of the clitoris. It is also sometimes described as more diffuse than ditoral response.

Yet, at the same time, no alternative source of initiation is postulated. "Like the missing-limb phenomenon, it involves feeling what is not there" suggests Laqueur (1990, 243). This perhaps helps explain why vaginal orgasm is sometimes described in vague terms in the research literature, even without a distinct culmination in orgasm (Bender and Peeler 1979; Fisher 1973).

193 3.1 Intact and excised informants' perceptions of undefined vaginal orgasm ln my interviews as well, wornen were often vague in their conception of this response and even in their own rnemories of hs occurrence. While sorne insisted that they had experienced a solely vaginal orgasrn, others thought it to exist despite uncertainty about its definition or not having experienced it themselves.

Initially, 5/15 Canadian-born wornen reported having had orgasm without clitoral input. Lisette is particularly categorical, and introduces the clitoral-vaginal distinction herself: "in the beginning 1 couldn't reach orgasrn through penetration...And now 1 can reach it through penetration alone...without touching the clitoris: without it being stirnulated...now 1 know that 1 am both [clitoral and vaginal]. And 1 even prefer the vaginal kind-- penetration."

Of those claiming it has happened "rarely" (Hélène) or that they have had "a few" (Gillian), the rarity or distance of the memory serves to explain their vagueness. Arnong those hesitant about whether or not they have experienced a vaginal orgasm, Fabienne describes clitoral orgasrn in detail but then, when speculating on whether she has experienced vaginal orgasm, becornes rather vague, saying about a certain light-headed feeling: "Maybe that' s if' (vaginal orgasrn), although she ultimately does not think that she has experienced vaginal orgasrn. Hélène similarly hesitates,

194 saying she has reached orgasm vaginally, "probably, once or twice: ifs hard to say." Karen also initially categorizes herself with the vaginally orgasmic. Yet Hélène and Karen subsequently recant, deciding that the clitoris is always involved.

Even those who have not had orgasm without stimulation of the clitoris point to the existence of such a phenomenon. Despite never having experienced a solely vaginal orgasm, Fabienne and Quilène nonetheless are convinced that it exists. And Gillian ventures to speculate that the clitorally excised woman, "could still orgasm vaginally."

As discussed in Chapter 5, The African-born women's thoughts on excision and sexuality were more harsh than those of the Canadian-born; they were more categorical in their condemnation of the operation as impeding sexual response. Having undergone excision, they speak not in theoretical but in authoritative, experience-based terms about the effects of loss of the clitoris. Accordingly, their silence on the issue of vaginal as distinct from clitoral orgasm 1S telling; these women do not perceive vaginal orgasm as an alternative to clitoral orgasm.

That vaginal orgasm is not a prevalent concept in Africa also suggests its existence as apurely social construction as opposed to a physiological response. Caryl was the only African-born woman interviewed who reported having been introduced to the Western concept of vaginal as distinct from clitoral orgasm. She found the

195 concept vaUd because, despite at least partial eXCISIOn, she would label herself as the clitoral type: "because of my personal experience, well, as a woman, having made love, well, 1 am more sensitive around the clitoris than elsewhere."

This is yet more evidence for my claim in the previous chapter concerning women' s interpretation of the clitoral-vaginal debate; through its recognition of two types of orgasm, the controversy at least indirectly validates the existence of clitoral response. In this bizarre twist on the initial Freudian formulation, even an excised informant interprets the clitoral-vaginal debate as an affirmation of the existence of clitoral orgasm!

Despite this, sorne women do not question the distinction and continue to believe in two distinct responses, as reported by sex researchers Bentler and Peeler (1979). Several of the women 1 interviewed also postulate two or even three; clitoral, vaginal, and clitoral-vaginal (Caryl, Emily, Fabienne, Gillian, Hélène, Lisette, Quilène and Marie). Responding to my question about whether she thinks there are different kinds of orgasms, Hélène reflects the general impression that "obviously there are essentially two kinds, you know: 1 think that there are women who identify themselves as being vaginal, others who are more clitoral. And 1 think there are sorne who can experience it in both areas."

That women today still believe in a separate vaginal orgasm is clear evidence that people do not think in terms of a clitoral-

196 vaginal continuum. As a result, women continue to perceive their own sexual response as less than ideal, or as a variant on the norm. Hélène adroits, "1 felt unlucky to not always--to not really be able to reach orgasm through penetration alone." Fabienne also treats vaginal orgasm as a possibility; despîte its elusiveness for her, she insists "[î]t's not a myth." Quilène defers to the perceived advice of sexologists in confirming the existence of distinct cHtoral and vaginal orgasms.

It is thus clear that some women's impressions of sexual response are based on social beHefs as opposed to personal experience.

Indeed, the inability to have a vaginal orgasm became a stigma ln the twentieth century. Women have learned to feel înadequate or at least aberrant if unable to reach orgasm in the prescribed way. Women also emphasize the effects of the normalization of the expectation of vaginal orgasm: "There's a certain amount of pressure around vaginal orgasm, 1 think. Because ifs what you're supposed to do, in a sense", argues Gillian.

The results of this normative expectation are damaging: Gillian wonders why vaginal orgasm is not more frequent for her, and how others attain what for her is so elusive. She feels sexually inadequate. And Hélène argues that, while they are aware of the necessity of cHtoral stimulation for most women, men persist ln their beHef that women should (and could) reach orgasm vaginally. This inevitably results in pressure to do so, and in adherence to beliefs by men and women about the normalcy of

197 vaginal orgasm, and the continued failure of sorne men to learn how to stimulate the clitoris.

Popular psychological explanations for a lack of vaginal orgasm continue in modified form. Rather thàn suggest the neuroticism of the vaginally anorgasmic, explanations today focus on well-being, especially during the sexual encounter. Karen thus suspects that women who can reach orgasm through cHtoral stimulation but not during intercourse perhaps "don't feel as comfortable during intercourse as they do before." Lisette interprets the inability to reach orgasm vaginally as a "mental block", an "inability to let go."

These assumptions are somewhat reminiscent of Freudian evaluations of the coitally anorgasmic as neurotic, ill at ease with themselves and their femininity.21 But the Freudian hypothesis has rarely been tested. An exception is Fisher, discussed earHer with reference to subjective cHtoral-vaginal distinctions. His convenience samples of white women (1973) and black women (1980) yielded surprising results: women who are more vaginally oriented also tend to have a more negative body image and to be more anxious generally than those who are clitorally oriented.

21 Marie Robinson (1959) summarizes the psychoanalytic position: "great observers... in the field of have been unanimous in their observation on the difference between cHtoral and vaginal orgasm and its importance to personaHty development and to neurosis."

198 Fisher's findings appear to refute and, indeed, reverse the Freudian dogma.22 That the opposite had been presupposed to be the case indicates not only that connections between maturity/superiority and vaginal sexual response were unfounded, as Fisher concludes, but that they masked a very different, antithetical reality. Once again, the belief in a certain type of sexual response appears to rest on social, instead of scientific, criteria.

4.0 Vaginal orgasm as a distinct and defined entity There have been efforts to define the distinctive qualities of vaginal as opposed to clitoral orgasm, predicated on the "supposed discovery of the contentious G-spot" (Fox 1993, 21). Notions of orgasms triggered by the G-spot and potentially accompanied by female ejaculation constitute such an effort.23 Yet the very existence of the G-spot can be disputed. As mentioned above, the anterior vaginal wall has nerve endings and therefore erotic sensitivity (Weijmar Schultz et al. 1989). But this sensitivity does not appear to be localized in any particular spot (Alzate and Roch

22 Since masturbatory (clitoral) orgasms are more intense than those induced through intercourse, Fisher (1980, 33; 1973, 315-316) postulates that the more anxious, vaginaHy oriented woman will avoid intense stimulation/orgasm because it provokes intolerable levels of anxiety. 23 There have also been efforts to distinguish vaginal orgasm by uterine contractions (Kline-Graber and Graber 1976; Ladas, Whipple and Perry 1982), a distinction which has been adopted in sorne popular sex advice material (Paget 2001). But these contractions would have to be demonstrated to occur in isolation of other vaginal contractions in arder establish discrete uterine orgasm, since it has already been established that uterine . contractions accompany orgasm (Masters and Johnson 1992; 1966).

199 1986; Alzate and Londono 1984; Hoch 1983; Weijmar Schultz et al. 1989).

Yet despite a lack of evidence, the G-spot and its corollary, female ejaculation,24 are presented as "anatomical structure" and "event" respectively (Winton 1989, 151). Sociologist Mark Winton (1989, 159) has even argued that these are "biological entities" that should be socially recognized. Judging from the number of magazine articles and discussions on popular sex shows on these issues, and from women's subsequent belief in them, however, 1 would argue that the G-spot and female ejaculation have been effective1y scripted into existence despite a lack of any compelling evidence of a biological foundation for them.

4.1 The G-spot From a social constructionist point of view, the most intriguing thing about the G-spot is acceptance of it as a concrete reality. A book published in 1982 by a sex therapist and two sex researchers is still the quintessential reference concerning the G­ spot. One indication of the continuing popularity of this bestseller is that The G-Spot and Other Recent Discoveries about Human

24 The two are considered by sorne to be intimately linked because it is theorized that the G-spot constitutes a female prostate and that its stimulation causes the prostate gland to ejaculate a substance, thereby providing both a site for the G-spot and a source of ejaculation. Scientific support is, however, lacking (Singer Kaplan 1982). While the G-spot and ejaculation are usually correlated in the literature, ejaculation may reportedly occur even when no G-spot is detected (Goldberg et al. 1983).

200 Sexuality (Ladas, Whipple and Perry 1982) lS still on the shelves in bookstores.25

Combining self-reported cases of G-spot orgasm and ejaculation with clinical data, the authors claim also to have located the G­ spot on an 400 subjects examined,z6 and attempt to legitimate their findings through reference to the sexological literature. However, sexologist Zwi Hoch (1983) objects to misinterpretation of his research by Ladas, Whipple and Perry: he points out that his findings neither purport to establish the existence of a discrete anatomical G-spot nOf the distinction between clitoral and vaginal orgasms. Yet the popular literature has continued to subscribe to beliefs incongruous with the medical evidence. Three things about these beliefs are important from a sociological viewpoint.

The first is the implied, and sometimes clearly stated, superiority of G-spot over clitoral orgasm (Heidenry 1997, 301; Ladas, Whipple and Perry 1982, 151). G-spot orgasm and female ejaculation are often presented as the ultimate sexual response; popular author Laura Corn distinguishes the G-spot, with its intense "internaI orgasm" from the less spectacular "external (clitoral) orgasm.'>2? A friend who knew of my research forwarded

25 Most recently (October 2001), 1 surveyed the material available at Indigo, where The G-spot and several books that refer to the g-spot crowd the shelves of the ever-popular Sexuality section. 26 For a summary of critiques of The G-Spot, including the charge that the research subjects were non-random and unrepresentative, see Janice Irvine's (1990, 167) discussion in her book on sex research, Disorders of Desire. 27 Corn, who has sold over 2 million books, made this daim during a local television interview (CFCF 12) in 1996.

201 an e-mail to me from a man describing his experience with the G­ spot and ejaculation.28 He gave graphie instructions on "giving your mate the ultimate orgasm", suggesting that the G-spot induced orgasm is somehow better than that reached through ditoral stimulation. In addition to belittling the typieal sexual response, and suggesting that "internaI" orgasm 1S better,29 there is also the suggestion that G-spot orgasm should be the goal of aIl women, and that it is a good way for anorgasmic women to learn to have orgasms (Heidenry 1997, 303).

Second, smce the G-spot can reportedly not be located in many cases by the woman herself due to its position in the vagina, the aid of a partner or vibrator is often crucial. The implication is obvious; a woman' s sexual response is not her own. Discussions about the G-spot confirm popular myths, and extend Freudian notions, about women's sexuality as both elusive and complex, and largely dependent upon another being for realization. This ties m with my argument in Chapter 4 regarding the sex drive as an interactive need. The G-spot moreover constructs male and female sexual response as entirely complementary. Yet, "it is only by rendering the clitoris accidentaI (as it were) to female sexuality (and thus, effectively, eliminating it) that complementarity is made possible" (Bennett 1993, 250).

28 The e-mail was posted February 6 1997. 29 Rathus, Nevid and Fichner-Rathus (1997, 149) summarize that G-spot stimulation is theorized to cause particularly intense orgasm" (emphasis added). Heidenry (1997, 301) writes skeptically of the "alleged" discovery of the G-spot "that promised orgasmic bliss to women beyond anything the mere clitoris could accomplish."

202 Is the clitoris effaced when the G-spot is constructed as the key to women's pleasure? This may not necessarily always be the case, but the clitoral/G-spot opposition is often invoked: "If you can locate it, your G-spot is said to be as Close to a magic orgasm button as you'll ever find" (Oumano 1999, 150). In addition to presenting the G-spot as the spot for women, this quote also admits that the search may be elusive ("if you can find it"). This 1S because of a lack of evidence for its existence, as 1 will discuss presently.

The third point lS thus that social acceptance has not been deterred by a lack of anatomical evidence: "The very existence of the G-spot remains debatable" (Rathus, Nevid and Fichner-Rathus 1997, 150), a point not especially emphasized, particularly in the popular literature. While proponents of the G-spot, like Ladas, Whipple and Perry (1982) claim that women have a discrete anatomical site on the anterior vaginal wall, subsequent research has failed to detect its existence (Alzate and Londono 1984).

Sorne women are generally sensitive on the anterior vaginal wall, however (Alzate 1985). Masters and colleagues (1992; see also Alzate and Roch 1986) examined more than 100 women, and found the front wall to be sensitive or to exhibit an especially sensitive spot in ten of the women. Only two of the popular books consulted, one by Pulitzer prize winning science journalist Natalie Angier (2000, 83), recognize that "the G-spot may be nothing

203 more than the back end of the clitoris." Sex therapists and researchers Julia Heiman and Joseph Lopiccolo make this same point.30 Moreover G-spot orgasm supposedly distinguishes itself physiologicaIly by unique uterine and vaginal movements, but these have never been documented (Masters, Johnson and Kolodny 1992, 80).

4.2 Informants' perceptions of the G-spot Sorne of the women 1 interviewed were similarly perplexed yet credulous. Hélène enlists the G-spot in explaining (other women's) vaginal orgasms: "a woman who has an orgasm from penetration alone...who has really, who has found her G-spot--I don't know if it exists, though..." And Nathalie's speculation about her own sensitivity resembles that of the women who couldn't quite remember or define their rare vaginal orgasms: She thinks that "maybe once" she experienced aG-spot orgasm in a past relationship. But she now experiences themaIl the time, through combined clitoral and G-spot stimulation, despitehesitating about the very existence of the G-spot. What fascinates me in the above two accounts is the tension between questioning whether the spot exists and describing women's experience in terms of it.

4.3 On the lack of evidence for the G-spot G-spot proponents are nonetheless committed to objective scientific principles, in theory. The problem arises when one

30 1 refer ta their sex manual, Becoming Orgasmic (1992), as a popular book

204 attempts ta move from theory to evidence: proponents of the G­ spot are prepared, in practice, to base their daims on impressionistic accounts about female sexual response. Evidence in favor of a discrete spot supposedly present in aIl women is principally anecdotal or unreplicable; Whipple and subsequent collaboratars were unable to substantiate the daims reported ln the G-spot sensation she co-authored (Goldberg et al. 1983; Belzer, Whipple and Moger 1984).

Heimann and Lopiccolo (1992, 45) summarize the implications of popular G-spot discourse:

Popular media and magazines presented the G-spot theory as if it were an established scientific fact, and we have counseled women who were concerned because they didn't seem to have aG-spot.

Despite argmng that media coverage has not paid attention to "scientific fact", and presenting its presumed effect on women's sexual expectations of themselves, the authors do not ultimately defer to current or future scientific research as arbiter of the issue. Instead, they adopt a decidedly postmodern stance in their advice to women: "it is important to discover what is reality for you." In this way, the popular sexological literature echoes women' s impression of sexual uniqueness, discussed in the

because it is written for a mass audience.

205 previous chapter, or at least favors an approach ta sexuality that stresses individual experience over collective identification.

Reviewing the evidence, a recent article by psychologist Terence Hines (2001) more incisively unravels the "modern gynecologic myth" of the G-spot, noting a general, blind acceptance of the site as anatomical fact in popular books and even a university textbook on sexuality! 31

4.4 Female ejaculation Just as there is no scientific agreement on the existence of a distinct G-spot, the related phenomenon of female ejaculation 1S characterized by a similar lack of consensus. Despite this, evidence of urethral emission is used to confirm the existence of the G-spot (Rines 2001, 360), since stimulation of the spot is perceived as triggering ejaculation. Yet believers are surprisingly vague at times regarding the supposed anatomical and physiological entities they believe in. Darling et al. (1990) and Davidson et al. (1989) base their research on the G-spot and female ejaculation on a questionnaire sent to 2,350 women.32 The women surveyed in the scientific and popular literature, (as well as women 1 interviewed), may determine that ejaculation has occurred based on the quantity of liquid, without regard to its source,33 hs

31 The textbook, Our Sexuality, is by Crooks and Baur (1999). 32 The questionnaire was an anonymous survey of American and Canadian women selected at random from the membership lists of two health and counseling organizations. The response rate was 55%. 33 Psychiatrist and medical researcher Desmond Heath (1984) discusses evidence of variations among women in the number of glands surrounding

206 chemical composition, or the moment at whieh it manifests itself-­ before, during, or after orgasm (Darling et al. 1990). Conceptual confusion results:

Since professionals are puzzled· regarding the specifie qualities of the fluid and its source, it is not surprising that ejaculators also were confused regarding its origins. Many ejaculators were either unable to verbalize the exact source of the spurt of fluid or the differences between lubrieation and the fluid spurt. (Davidson et al. 1989)

It seems we have a concept in search of a reality! Or, rather, several phenomena seem to be competing for the same designation. Lack of empirieal evidence does not appear to deter anyone, though: subjective accounts take precedence over more objective scientifie inquiries.

4.5 Intact informants' perceptions of female ejaculation Female ejaculation is moreover usually linked to the G-spot ln more than one sense; since stimulation of the latter may reportedly trigger the former, the two are physiologieally linked. AIso, like the G-spot, it is underdefined and overdesignated. My interviews reflected these conceptual problems. Fabienne, for example, believes in ejaculation because a friend of hers the , suggesting that female ejaculators may differ anatomically from non-ejaculators. Another suggestion of anatomical variation cornes from sex researchers Daniel Goldberg and colleagues (1983) who postulate

207 experiences it. Where does it come from? What is it composed of? Fabienne has no answers. 1 ask if ejaculation isn't simply the same substance aIl women emit. "It must be the same liquid, but in more abundant quantity," she thinks.

Researchers have encountered similar difficulties in defining and analyzing female ejaculate: "predominant changes in vaginal secretions caused by appear to be primarily quantitative, rather than qualitative, in nature" (Darling et al. 1990, 32). Yet many women define themselves as ejaculators based solely on amount of fluid emitted (Ruppel in Heindenry 1997, 303). And analyses of the "ejaculate" emanating from the urethra have not succeeded in differentiating it from urine (Alzate 1985, 533; Goldberg et al. 1983; Money 1997, 200).

In addition to an often unremarkable chemical composition, the source is equally mysterious: sorne researchers and women who ejaculate consider it to be the vaginal walls, others the urethra, and yet others simply don't know (Darling et al. 1990, 39). However, as was graphically demonstrated on Discovery Channel's

The Sex Show, 34 the fluid does emanate from the urethra in at least sorne instances.

that the G-spot may actually consist of tissue irregularities present in sorne wornen. 34 A wornan was filmed being stimulated ta ejaculation on the show, entitled . "Orgasm" October 20 1999.

208 Nathalie considers that she ejaculates because, when stimulated on the clitoris and G-spot simultaneously, she emits a fluid substance in great quantity, although this emission is not tied to the moment of orgasm; she continues to produce the substance even after orgasm. Popular writer Mikaya Heart (1998, 291-302) similarly considers that copious amounts of fluid indicate ejaculation, also noting that emission may occur before or after orgasm. Hearing similar descriptions, Goldberg and· colleagues (1983, 29) determined that many women who self-identified as ejaculators were "merely lubricating." Similarly, sexologist Heli Alzate (1985, 532-533) found that the female ejaculators he studied were unable to identify the source and composition of their ejaculate, suggesting they might be referring to .

ft is also interesting to note that Nathalie's point of comparison lS male ejaculation rather than other women's experiences. She admits that she has never discussed this issue before. This lends support to my argument in the previous chapter that some women compare their own sexual response to men's instead of to other women's. Perhaps this helps explain the development of a terminology based on male response.

Olive remembers reading about sexual response in high school; in her recollection, the book she consulted claimed that "woman ejaculates but it occurs internally. You know, it wasn't like a man: it is exterior for a man; it will come out...For us [women], it doesn't·

209 come out, but we ejaculate." Given the terminology, it is clear that women's understanding of their own sexual response is filtered through male experience, and perhaps through sexual advice books that set female sexuality against a male standard of comparison.

1 do not mean to deride or disbelieve women's accounts of ejaculation, including those provided by my informants. It appears that sorne women do emit sorne kind of substance from somewhere at sorne point in their sexual response cycle. This seems to be the only composite picture available on female ejaculation from the scientific data.

But even my minimal definition of female ejaculation as a spurt of liquid has recently become too precise: sex researcher Milan Zaviacic now claims that female ejaculation occurs even if it does not express itself overtly35 (Campbell 2001): it is purported to be produced in such small amounts by most women that it remains in the urethra after sex. The question remains, though, why the term has been adopted, since "no semantic clarity is gained by calling it 'female ejaculation'" (Alzate and Roch 1986, 218).

4.6 Ejaculation and female sexual inadequacy 1 would argue that many different phenomena might be housed under the umbrella concept of female ejaculation. By companng

35 Zaviacic presented his findings at the 15th World Congress of Sexology in . Paris in June 2001.

210 them aH to male ejaculation through lexical analogy, we are either limiting our perception of women's possibly disparate emission responses, or at least committing the grave error of setting male response as the sexual standard, whh aIl hs attendant pitfalls. Ejaculation is characterized as the ultimate sexual response; women who ejaculate are thus capable of great orgasms--like men's.

In contrast, women who do not locate their G-spot or who do not ejaculate may feel inadequate, less sexually responsive than ejaculators (Alzate and Hoch 1986, 218; Hines 2001, 361). They might also continually search for an anatomical site and attendant emission which may not even exist! The popular magazines and books 1 surveyed certainly encourage women to discover their G­ spot and realize their ejaculatory potential, both of which are implicitly or explicitly differentiated from cHtoral response. Urologist Helen ü'Connell (1998, 1893) and colleagues have discovered that the urethra is surrounded by the " complex" known as the clitoris. It would thus be impossible to dissociate the G-spot and urethral emission from ditoral involvement.

An emphasis on the term ejaculation in reference to women suggests a preoccupation with ways women are like men.36 Are the minority of women who ejaculate to be envied by other

36 In contrast, the capacity for multiple orgasm exhibited by women is less . typicaHy set as a goal for men.

211 women? A new sexual hierarchy might easily emerge which places ejaculators at the apex, a conviction that is apparent in the popular literature (Riskin and Banker-Riskin 1997, 129). Indeed, conversations with respondents and female friends elicit similar views: women who ejaculate feel they have reached a peak in their sexual careers; women who do not ejaculate wonder if they are somehow sexually inferior. Those who present no apparent signs of ejaculation could potentially be deemed less sexually responsive than manifest ejaculators.

4.7 On the impossibility of deconstructing the G-spot and female ejaculation A belief in vaginal as distinct from ditoral orgasm, and in the G- spot and ejaculation might be countered with evidence to the contrary. Why doesn't scientific evidence succeed in dispelling these beliefs? Laqueur (1990, 69) provides a compelling explanation for the tenacity of certain systems of sexual belief: a belief may be empirically irrefutable because it is based on conviction or faith as opposed to objective criteria. 1 would argue that this helps to explain why belief in a separate vaginal response may persist. independently of scientific evidence.

Laqueur (1990, 242-243) moreover argues that Freud's theory of cHtoral-vaginal transference both mirrors and reinforces a societal preoccupation with "the adaptation of genital parts to heterosexual intercourse." Maines (1999, 115) traces this preoccupation back much further, arguing that coïtaI orgasm for

212 women--though not necessarily exclusive of the clitoris--has for a long time been the expected norm: "the fact remains of our normative preference for cohus, in which the constant from

Hippocrates to Freud--despite breathtaking changes ln nearly every other area of medical thought--is that women who do not reach orgasm by means of penetration alone are sick or defective."

1 would extend this argument, with sorne variation· in terminology and concepts, to what followed in the rest of the twentieth

century. Hence 1 argue that there is a common thread, shifting ln vocabulary from a preoccupation with Freud's vaginal maturity to Masters and Johnson's coital imperative to G-spot responsivity. Namely, sorne researchers, and certainly popular sex experts and the population at large, seem to be concerned with connecting female sexual response to the vagina.

Conclusion My focus in this chapter on the concept of vaginal orgasm might appear overly technical. Why investigate anatomy and biology? Why does it matter whether women recognize the source of orgasm? Just as 1 argued in Chapter 2 that sex deserves to be studied by sociologists because it is inseparable from gender, 1 make the case here that perception of sexual response is a highly social issue. When sex researchers, therapists, and popular writers base daims about sexual response on social beliefs rather than scientifically derived evidence, they are inviting social scientists

213 to take a doser look. With minimal scientific backing, the G-spot and female ejaculation have sprung into existence. It is my contention that this has been possible because of pre-existing beliefs about female sexual response which construct sexual relations based on male pleasure. Coitai orgasm is posited as an essential and ultimate response, with an attendant silence regarding clitoral input.

Indeed, as theory, the G-spot has a lot in common with prevlOus, equally contentious notions of female sexual response such as the Freudian argument. Women' s beliefs about their own response, and their definition of vaginal orgasm, are thus important because they provide. insights into the social construction and imposition of appropriate female sexual response.

214 Chapter 7

Conclusion

Sexual response is not a straightforward physiologieal phenomenon. It is a fascinating topie for sociologieal inquiry because of the opportunity it provides to compare reality with beliefs, allowing for an examination of how beliefs can be socially substantiated despite a lack of scientifie evidence for their existence. Moreover, certain beliefs also persist alongside scientific evidence that would refute them.

To discover how sexuality in general, and orgasm in particular, lS constructed, 1 focused on cross-cultural evidence. 1 was not interested in targeting only genitally excised women because important comparative work on the issue of female orgasm has been lacking. This may be because the connection between excised and intact women appears less than obvious; excision is ablatant example of how sexual response may be physically impaired through social practiees. But my research suggests that the experiences of these two groups of women are in some ways comparable. ln addition to adopting the premise that orgasm is socially constructed, that is, controlled through beliefs and human intervention, 1 also explored the theoretical usefulness of the sex- gender distinction. Separating sex from gender has, 1 argue, led to undertheorization of the sex side of the equation by treating the body and its physiology as outside the bounds of social analysis. Necessarily focused on the body, the study of the social side to sexual response combines sex and gender Issues, thereby appearing to blur the distinction between them.

Yet my approach differs from that of most other feminist work only in hs foregrounding of sex as opposed to gender: whereas others engage in gender research, the adjective sex might be added ta qualify it as sexed gender. My analysis, on the other hand, IS gendered sex research, where sex--the body--is central. The analysis of sex effectively results in its reappropriation from the sex/gender dyad as social. 1 question the operationalization of the sex/gender distinction to exclude sex from social analysis, not the theoretical usefulness of the distinction itself.

1 further argue that gendered beliefs and practices exerClse tangible effects on the body. Indeed, their effects on sexual response constitute the focus of my research. In the case of excision, physical intervention signaIs the irretrievable fusion of sex and gender. Among the intact, instances of gendered sex are less drastic but exist nonetheless, notably in the case of popular belief in vaginal orgasm and the G-spot. 1 therefore focus throughout the thesis on the extent to which sexual response ln diverse societies depends on social as opposed to physiological factors.

216 My interest in exploring how initiation to sexual activity can be linked to questions of sexual response grew out of my informants' own interests. Indeed, virginity--its maintenance and conferral through excision, and restitution through additional surgery--is emphasized by the genitally impaired. Surgery intended to ensure or confer virginity effectively curtails sexual response. In this sense, the social construction of orgasm--or its inhibition--is clearly established.

Yet chastity and sexual restraint represent declining values; emergent norms of sexual response clash with the practice of excision. Many operated women and their partners are less concerned with virginity than with conjugal relations. In this way, past kin group concerns with virginity lead to devastating surgery that inhibits women's sexual response and relations.

There also appears to be a link between intact women's sexual response and virginity, since many women do not masturbate prior to sexual initiation with a partner. In other words, sexual intercourse introduces sorne women to their sexual response. Such a link suggests that women's sexual response is socially constructed as interactive.

One important similarity between the excised and intact seems particularly significant for theories of sexual initiation and response: for many women, pleasure is not a motivation for first

217 sex. This suggests that excision will not be an effective deterrent for sexual activity. But it also hints that women may engage in sex for reasons unrelated to their own pleasure.

Another apparent similarity involves genital interventions designed to re-tighten the vaginal opening, referred to as reinfibulation for previously infibulated women, and perineoplasty for the intact. While more research is needed, these analogous surgeries suggest that cross-cultural attitudes and practices may physically converge in this instance.

But perhaps the greatest commonality between excised and intact women requires a widening of the conceptual framework. If virginity is a code word for comprehensive sexual control, then other forms of sexual control can be compared to it; the absolute sexual control signaled by virginity gives way to a concern with controlled sexuality. In fact, many of the excised resemble the intact in their concern with uncontrolled sexual activity.

Concern with control, and sex in general, is informed by two popular ideas, the sex drive and relational sex. The sex drive 1S a composite term which can be broken down into its constitutive parts. My informants argue that genital sensitivity or potential for sexual response is at the root of desire, which in turn leads to sexual intercourse.

218 Moreover, excised and intact women alike privilege desire or physiological response in accounting for sexual activity and defining it as interactive. The drive is perceived as focusing on sexual intercourse, as opposed to mere sexual release through orgasm. The aim of genital impairment surgery is not only absolute sexual control through complete abstinence, but also relative sexual reserve. With social-surgical intervention, the naturally unacceptable body with its untamed drive toward interactive sex can be transformed, in theory, into a socially acceptable body.

While intact women maintain the physiological potential for sexual response, instances where sex is engaged in despite lack of orgasm or even pleasurable response suggest a connection with the excised; among the women interviewed, one of the main reasons for having sex is the male partner's pleasure or expectations, which often supersede the woman' s. Hence lack of orgasm and pleasure do not impede sexual activity. And intact women's acceptance of sex despite pain indicates additional analogies with the genitally impaired, for whom sex may be chronically painful.

In this way, the cross-cultural evidence caUs into question the normative model of sexual activity as reducible to--or focused on­ -sexual drive. The lack of correlation between sexual response, desire, and activity suggests that they are not obvious components of sexual drive. Once these components are teased apart, more

219 intricate analysis 1S possible: the removal of sexual sensation through excision cannot be equated with inhibition of desire; lack of orgasm during sex cannot be presumed to inhibit sexual activity.

My analysis of sexual practices and their relation to sexual response provides practical evidence in support of the sociological stance toward sex as socially constructed rather than principally driven by physiological dictates. This is not to deny that genital sensitivity or desire may be positively associated with sexual intercourse and orgasm. 1 simply question the inevitability of the connection among these components. Social instead of physiological factors may instead be paramount in accounting for sexual behavior and response.

Among the social factors which may account for sexual activity, 1 suggested that the context of sexual relations has become an important marker of acceptable sex. The excised and intact emphasized that sex should occur within a relationship. Relational sex is, in principle, monogamous and love-based. The survey research cited in Chapter 4 also attests to this. But 1 argue further that the equation of sex with commitment and love is not always realized in practice. This leads me to define relational sex as an ideal type, and to speculate that quantitatively-based results that do not examine the connection between attitude and behavior may misrepresent actual practice.

220 The equation of sex with love that is apparent m the literature and my interviews suggests that virtually any sexual connection can be defined as relational. My interview data also suggest that assumptions about recreational sex as pleasure-oriented are mistaken; recreational and relational sex alike may have very little to do with orgasm and even genital pleasure more generally.

Relational sex is predicated on an ideal connectionbetween love and sex, just as the sex drive is predicated on a desire-response­ activity presumption. While these underlying components may be interconnected, it is inaccurate to describe them as anything more than social expectations.

Sorne of the most significant social expectations to emerge from my study of sexual response concern the perceived roles of the clitoris and vagina in orgasm. The excised informants insist on the connection between the clitoris and orgasm, referring to their own sexual surgery as evidence of impairment. Intact informants are less categorical, with sorne unsure as to the pertinence of the clitoris to orgasm.

The social construction and, perhaps, physical perception of orgasm as bifurcated into clitoral and vaginal types may explain a lack of focus on the clitoris in sexual response. Terminological and conceptual absence of the term clitoris from popular discourse certainly provides an indication of its relative perceived

221 importance. In addition, sorne research has indicated that its function and location are not unanimously recognized.

Surprisingly, however, the clitoris is absent from medical as weIl as popular discourse. Medical knowledge of the clitoris and its inner workings has been lacking, leading to misunderstandings of clitoral structure and function even in the medical community. As a result, there is considerable ignorance about the impact of radical sexual surgeries on sexual response following sex assignment, genital cancer treatment, and hysterectomy.

My cross-cultural research suggests that findings among the African and Western excised might be compared on the issue of sexual response. Women from diverse cultural backgrounds discuss similar physiological capacities with regard to sexual response despite genital impairment surgery. It is thus possible that sexual response' may vary depending on how extensively the clitoris and its underlying structures are impaired. Recent research into the underlying structure of the clitoris suggests that remaining nerve pathways may help to re-establish sexual response. There is a real opportunity here for future cross­ cultural exchange of research into impaired sexual functioning.

My focus in Chapter 5 on the clitoris is by no means intended as an argument in favor of the importance of this organ to the exclusion of aIl others, notably the vagina. Instead, 1 mean to reflect the absence of a conceptual understanding of sexual

222 response ln which the ditoris and vagma function in coordinated harmony. A similar focus on the vagina in Chapter 6 is also intended to reflect this conceptual isolation. Indeed, identification of the vagina as an alternate, not complementary, site for sexual excitation is evident in the popular and medical literature and in my interviews.

1 further distinguish between types of vaginal orgasm in order to darify which presumed physiological mechanisms inform each. This leads me to identify three ways in which orgasm is implied to focus on the vagina rather than on the clitoris. The first nonetheless allows for the possibility of ditoral stimulation, the second two deny cHtoral input: (1) vaginal orgasm may refer to coital orgasm, with ditorai input at least suggested or not ruled out (not distinct from ditoral stimulation); (2) it may refer to coïtaI orgasm withollt cHtoral stimulation, but through sorne additional, unspecified means (distinct but undefined); (3) ït may refer to G-spot stimulation (distinct and defined).·

It should not be surprising that multiple definitions of vaginal orgasm have developed in the absence of a dear-cut definition. They reflect the search for a credible source of women' s vaginal pleasure as weIl as efforts to reconcile vaginal orgasm with personal experience and scientific evidence. Belief about physiology affects at least how women conceptualize their own and others' sexual response. The fact that the lack of scientific evidence for vaginal as distinct from clitoral orgasm has not cast

223 doubt (for sorne) on its separate existence provides crucial support for my argument that sexual response is socially constructed.

One important additional component to women's understanding of sexual functioning is adherence to the personal experiential approach in which the respective roles of clitoral and vaginal stimulation are often informed by women's own experiences or anecdotal accounts of others' experiences. In a sense, this approach replaces more systematic scientific inquiry, and perhaps even questions the need for it.

Yet 1 argue that this postmodern approach to sexuality precludes collective identification and recognition of basic sexual similarities among women. It also has the paradoxical effect of replacing more scientifically rigorou~ investigations. Each individual account is elevated to the status of bodily truth: the clitoris is not stimulated if a woman does not perceive it to be so; the G-spot exists (for all women) because an acquaintance reportedly found hers. The urge to synthesize is apparently never dispelled in practice. As a result, generalizations and comparisons are made on the basis of individual experiences instead of more systematically gathered evidence.

Historical examination of the notion of vaginal orgasm suggests a conceptual continuum: clitoral-vaginal transference has been replaced by other, similarly constraining models involving, first,

224 the coital orgasffi1c imperative, and then the introduction of an anatomical site for sexual sensitivity within the vagina. 1 argue that these theories are aH rooted in a desire to substantiate the social concept of vaginal orgasm. The G-spot represents the fusion of belief with a semblance of scientific criteria; in order to move beyond the concept of diffuse vaginality to account for orgasmic stimulation, a discrete area independent of the clitoris has ostensibly been located.

Directions for future research Future research interests on sexuality suggested by my work might focus more narrowly on the practice of excision itself, involve historical work on either the excised or the intact, further comparative work on the excised and intact, or address the issue of continuing cHtoral-vaginal cleavages. 1 will take up each of these possibilities in turn.

Concerning the practice of excision Anthropological investigations of structural determinants of excision suggest conditions under which it can be expected to dec1ine. Kin structure appears to be an important explanatory factor in the control of women's sexuality in general, with control typicaHy greatest in patrilineal, patrilocal descent systems which prevail in excising groups. However, analysis of the influence of kin structure's role in excision is complicated by its

225 interdependence on other societal structures such as the economlC system.

A decline in the kin structure is usually aiso accompanied by shifting economic arrangements. 1 hint at this relationship ln discussing new conjugal living arrangements in Chapter 3. A decline in both kinship and family financial bonds may cause migration to the cHies, educational advancement, conjugal as opposed to group living arrangements, and a focus on conjugal as opposed to group dynamics. Anthropologists or economists well­ versed in kin structure might further investigate these factors; and quantitative data analysis might succeed in determining the relative importance of kin, economic, educational and migration factors in accounting for the practice of excision.

1 also allude briefly, in Chapter 3, to the changing sexual expectations of excised women. Sexual gratification appears to be an emerging concern for the genitally impaired. Clinical research might determine how best to address the sexual concerns of excised immigrants. It would be useful to compare these immigrants' attitudes toward impairment with those excised women who have not migrated. It may well be that relocation to a culture where orgasm is considered normative has a profound impact on excised women's self-perception and attitudes toward sexuality.

226 While 1 focus on excised women themselves, more research is needed on the men from excIsmg groups. This is because, as mentioned in Chapter 3, their willingness to accept non-excised women as marriage partners may affect the practice of excision. There is sorne suggestion in the literature and from my research that men are beginning to value sexual response in their partners.1

Historical work on either the excised or the intact Shifts in attitudes toward women's response might be traced through a variety of material, and through life history interviews with women and men. The African-born have apparently experienced dramatic shifts in socio-sexual expectations. Future research might focus more specifically on the theme of change. My interviews suggest that Canadian-born women's sexual attitudes change considerably,over the course of their lives, and that generational changes have occurred. Additional interviews could be conducted on the Issue of changing perceptions and attitudes; for instance, intergenerational interviews of mothers and daughters might compare attitudes and behavior.

The identification of desire as a significant new sexual problem might be framed as an emergent social construction. Research IDight concentrate on shifts in normative sexual standards and individual interpretation of them. My data on the excised might

1 1 have not yet scrutinized the data from the 66 men who were interviewed· for the Traditional Practices study. 1 hope to correlate their attitudes toward

227 be re-examined for its contribution to the concept of desire as potentialIy independent from orgasmic capacity per se.

Comparative work on the excised and intact More detailed comparative work on alI female genital surgeries is certainly indicated by the findings presented here. Interventions aimed at vaginal retightening--whether of intact or infibulated women--could be compared through interviews of specificalIy targeted groups of women who have undergone such surgery. Physiological research carried out on genitalIy impaired women from diverse societies might thus be compared, and any new information on female sexual function might be shared.

Continuing cUtoral-vaginal cleavages While my survey of popular magazines and books provides a good indication of the popular discourse, 1 did not specifically aUempt to determine their influence on individual informants' beliefs. Future qualitative research might investigate the influences which informants attribute to material sources, especiaUy ones they consider to have influenced their views on sexuality. These might include specific popular magazines and books, television programs such as the popular sex calI-in shows, or sex education material. While informants' retrospective interpretations of formative influences might not be entirely accurate, they would at least

excision, its continuance, and sexual response, with that of the women.

228 indieate whieh sources are remembered and whieh ones continue to influence their perspective.

Moreover, a comprehensive review of sex education material with a specifie focus on treatment of the clitoris would indieate whether criticisms of previous sex education material, discussed

III Chapter 5, remain applicable. The sex-Iove connection discussed

III Chapter 4 might also be investigated with regard to sex education. 1 have conducted a preliminary survey of the sex education material for young children whieh indieates that sex and love are typieally presented as coterminous (love therefore sex).z

There may be unexpected consequences to the philosophieal underpinnings of sex education; if love and sex are always associated, then they may become synonymous, and thus reversible (sex therefore love). If male, but not female, pleasure 1S discussed as a result of a commitment to reproductive education, then girls' and women's pleasure may be omitted.

Concerning other forums for sex education, the above-mentioned suggestion for intergenerational interviewing might include mothers' and daughters' accounts of parental sex talks. My informants often remembered these talks quite vividly, perhaps because they are socially recognized and formally categorized as

2 My preliminary overview involved investigating the sex education material available at three Montreal bookstores.

229 significant, and perhaps because they were generally isolated to one specific occasion. 1 suspect that informants would have very little difficulty accounting for the information on sexuality divulged by their parents.

My qualitative research is a source of theoretical ideas (or theoretical generalization, as discussed in Chapter 1) about societal beliefs concerning female sexuality, and sexual response and orgasm in particular. But no large-scale, representative work has been conducted on the issue of a clitoral-vaginal distinction. Edward Laumann and his colleagues (1994) did not think it worthy of inclusion in their sex survey, since they presumed that such a distinction is no longer an issue. My research indicates that it is.

If researchers conducting representative studies could be convinced of this possibility, they might include questions regarding it in their surveys. A large-scale survey could show whether the clitoral-vaginal distinction and notions like the G-spot are widespread, and whether they affect women' s and men's perceptions of women's sexuality, and normative female sexual response. Similar surveys of health care professionals would be useful in determining how their views relate to those of the general population.

1 can think of at least one other daim about female sexual response which is centered on the vagina and should also be

230 studied as a possible social construction: the importance of performing exercises to strengthen the pubococcygeous (PC) muscles is touted in popular magazines, on television sex shows, and in material distributed to pregnant and parturient women. By exercising the muscles surrounding the vaginal entrance through various squeeze and hold techniques, it 1S claimed that the woman may become orgasmic or enhance her own orgasm. Yet no medical evidence supporting the benefits of doing these exercises has accompanied this claim. Indeed, the few available studies, most conducted in the early 1980s, actually question their usefulness.3 Investigation of this issue may reveal yet another instance of unsubstantiated medical claims and popular focus on the vagina.

Concluding remarks Female orgasm encompasses apparent physiology, but also beliefs about physiology that are not based on corporal reality. It is just one instance of the sexed body, but highly deserving of sociological analysis because numerous of its facets are socially determined. The decision to engage in a cross-cultural investigation of women who no longer share the same genital configuration underlines my tendency to recognize similarities where others see differences. This proved invaluable to developing a comparative perspective of diverse cultural attitudes and practices and to establishing important theoretical and empirical connections.

3 See, for example, Sultan and Chambless (1982). Very Uttle subsequent research has been conducted.

231 1 founded my cross-cultural argument on the analytic distinction of sex from gender: sex signifies the pre-social, pre-gendered body despite also being subject to social interpretation and even physical modification. Hence women's orgasmic capacity is not only socially constructed in the very literaI sense made evident through genital surgery; it is also more implicitly constructed through social inhibition and restriction regulating the onset and circumstances of interactive sex, and through normative models dictating popular understanding of its physiology.

My investigation of the sex side of the sex/gender binary has demonstrated that many facets of female orgasm, from bodily structure to beliefs about it and subsequent sexual expression, are constrained by more than just physiology. The repercussions of the muting of sexual response are thus manifold, and reach into the body and psyche, profoundly transforming not only genital organs but women' s own perceptions and expectations of their sexual selves.

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264 Appendix A

The Informants: socio-demographic information

Code or Genitally Country Language Education: pseudo- intactl of of Age university nym* excisedl origin interview group Ino

infibulated ** uni versitv

Alyan excised Senegal French 35-39 no univ.

(FMTL021)

Balim excised Mali French 25-29 no univ.

(FMTL016)

Caryl excised Mali French 45-49 univ.

(FMTL005)

Dara excised Guinea French 30-34 no univ.

(FMTL020)

Emilv intact Canada English 20-24 univ.

*F=female; HAL=Halifax; MTL=Montreal; OTT=OUawa; TOR=Toronto; VAN=Vancouver; WPG=Winnipeg.

**For the intact (Canadian-born), language of interview corresponds with mother tongue. The excised and infibulated (African-born) were interviewed in the language in which they were conversant. Montreal immigrants typically spoke French. Immigrants in the rest of Canada typically spoke English. The Informants: socio-demographic information

Code or Genitally Country Language

pseudo- intact/ of of Age Education

nym* excised/ ad gin interview group level

infibulated

Fabienne intact Canada French 30-34 1 univ.

1 Gillian intact Canada English 20-24 uni v .

1Hélène intact Canada French 30-34 uni v .

Irene intact Canada English 30-34 univ.

Jane intact Canada English 35-39 uni v.

Karen intact Canada English 30-34 univ.

Lisette intact Canada French 20-24 univ.

Marie intact Canada French 35-39 no univ.

Nathalie intact Canada French 35-39 univ.

OUve intact Canada French 25-29 no univ.

Phoebe intact Canada Somalia 35-39 no univ.

Ouilène intact Canada French 20-24 no univ.

Ruth intact Canada En~dish 25-29 no univ

Sandrine intact Canada French 30-34 no univ.

FOrr003 infibulated Somalia French 35-39 no univ.

FMTL003 infibulated Djibouti French 18-14 no univ.

FMTL034 infibulated Ethiopia French 35-39 not stated

FHAL001 infibulated Ethiopia English 40-44 not stated

FHAL004 infibulated Somalia English 25-29 uni v .

266 The lnformants: socio-demographic information

Code or Genitally Country Language

pseudo- intact! of of Age Education

nym* excisedl origin interview group level

infibulated

FfOROOl infibulated Somalia English 25-29 no univ.

FfOR002 infibulated Somalia English 40-44 uni v .

FfOR003 infibulated Somalia English 30-34 uni v .

FfOROO4 infibulated Somalia English 55-59 uni v .

FfOROO5 infibulated Sudan English 35-39 univ.

FfOROO6 infibulated Sudan English 45-49 not stated

FfOR007 infibulated Sudan English 35-39 no univ.

FfOROO9 infibulated Ethiooia English 25-29 no univ.

FfOROlO infibulated Somalia English 18-24 no univ.

FfOR011 infibulated Somalia English 30-34 no univ.

FfOR012 infibulated Kenva English 25-29 uni v .

FfOR013 infibulated Somalia English 45-49 uni v.

FfOR014 infibulated Somalia English 35-39 univ.

FHAL005 excised Ethiopia English 30-34 no univ.

FOrfOO1 excised Guinea French 40-44 uni v .

FMTL006 excised Mali French 30-34 uni v.

FMTL008 excised Mali French 40-44 no univ.

FMTLOO9 excised Mali French 18-24 no univ.

267 The Injormants: socio-demographic information

Code or Genitally Country Language pseudo- intact! of of Age Education nym* excised/ origin in terview group level

infibulated

FMTLOlü excised Mali French 30-34 no univ.

FMTLOII excised Mali French 25-29 univ.

FMTL012 excised Mali French 25-29 no univ.

FMTL014 excised Ivorv Coast French 18-14 no univ.

FMTLü15 excised Burkina Faso French 40-44 no univ.

FMTL017 excised Burkina Faso French 18-24 no univ.

FMTL0l9 excised Mali French 18-24 no univ.

FMTL024 excised Guinea French 40-44 univ.

FMTL025 excised Guinea French 25-29 no univ.

FMTL026 excised Guinea French 35-39 not stated

FMTL027 excised Guinea French 35-39 no univ.

FMLT029 excised Senegal French 30-34 no univ.

FMTL030 excised Mali French 18-24 not stated

FMTL031 excised Mali French 18-24 not stated

FMTL035 excised Guinea French 35-39 no univ.

FMTL036 excised not stated French 30-34 no univ.

FMTL038 excised Mali French not stated not stated

FMTL039 excised Guinea French 30-34 no univ.

FMTL043 excised Nigeria English 25-29 no univ.

268 The Informants: socio-demographic information

Code or Genitally Country Language pseudo- intact! of of Age Education nym* excisedl origin interview group level

infibulated

FMTL044 excised Eritrea French 30-34 not stated

FMTL045 excised Guinea French 30-34 no univ.

FVANOOI excised Nigeria English 30-34 uni v .

FWPGOO4 excised Ethiopia English 18-24 no univ.

FWPGOO7 excised Eritrea English 30-34 no univ.

FWPGOO8 excised Nigeria English 35-39 uni v .

FWPGOO9 excised Ethiopia English 18-24 no univ.

FWPG015 excised Nigeria English 45-49 no univ.

FWPG016 excised Ethiopia English 30-34 no univ.

FWPG017 excised Ethiopia English 30-34 no univ.

FWPG023 excised Eritrea English 25-29 no univ.

269 Appendix B

My role in the Traditional Practices study My involvement in the Traditional Practices project began in February 1997. Between February and August 1 helped rework the interview guide, consent form and project description before translating aIl of these from French to English. The interview guide underwent several modifications as suggested by the panel of African immigrants and other researchers who constituted the consulting and executive committees for the study. For the Montreal and Ottawa regions, experienced interviewers were recruited and coached during a 15-hour training period. During this same time, research and immigrant network contacts were established at the local and national levels. 1 was subsequently sent to Vancouver, Winnipeg, Toronto, and Halifax to conduct similar interviewer training sessions with the African-origin immigrants hired. The female interviewers questioned both men and other women. Our male interviewers were restricted to interviewing only other men, given the sensitive subject matter. 1 was also involved in the ongoing supervision of the interviewing process, including discussing interviewing techniques and concerns with the interviewers. While 1 was also involved in the coding of the interviews, my analytic role reflected my principal interest in the issues of sexual control and response.

270 Appendix C 1 include below the interview schedule for the intact and genitally excised women interviewed by me.

Interview Schedule: Women's Sexuality A. Women's sexuality and sexual response 1. How did you leam about sex growing up (childhood/adolescence)? 2. How would you compare women's sexuality to men's? 3. Do women and men think about virginity in the same way? (Ifmarried, ask re: abstinence before wedding--not asked in lst 8 interviews) 4. How important is it for a woman to have an orgasm?/Compared to a man? 5. Do you think there are different kinds oforgasms? 6. What is the role of the vagina in orgasm? What is the role of the clitoris? 7. Have you heard about the clitoral vs vaginal orgasm debate? 8. Sorne women who are able to have an orgasm through clitoral stimulation are not necessarily able to do so during vaginal penetration. Why do you think this is? 9. Has your idea of what sexuality is about changed over the years? How did you use to think about it? How do you think about it now? --For immigrant women: Has it changed since you moved to the West? 10. Are there any forms of sexual activity which malce you uncomfortable? (masturbation, anal sex, homosexuality) Why do you think this makes you uncomfortable? 11. What other aspects of sexuality do you think we should have discussed?

B. Excision, infibulation and reinfibulation 1. ··For immigrant women: In your first interview, you mentioned that (excision/infibulation) affects sexuality. Could you elaborate on this? How would it affect the woman's sexuality in general? How would it affect her ability to have an orgasm? 2. ··For infibulated women: 1 would also like to ta1k about reinfibulation. What are the reasons for reinfibulation? What effect does it have on the woman? 3. ··For Canadian·born women: Have you heard about the practice of clitoridectomy, also known as female circumcision or excision? Ifyes: How do you feel about it? Do you think it would affect the woman's sexuality in general? How would it affect her ability to have an orgasm? Ifno, explain that it involves removal ofthe clitoris and sometimes other parts ofthe girl's genital region: Do you think this kind ofoperation would affect the woman's sexuality in general? How would it affect her ability to have an orgasm? c. Episiotomy and Perineoplasty 1. Do you have any children? Ifyes: Did you have an episiotomy with any of your births? Ifyes: Did you feel the repaie following the episiotomy was done well? (for e.g. Were you sewn too tightly?) 2. There is a procedure which is sometimes performed on Canadian women, especially after they have given birth a few tirnes. The doctor sews the vaginal opening a little more tightly; it's called perineoplasty. Have you heard of this procedure? What do think the advantages ofit might he?

D. A critique of female sexuality 1. If you could, what would you change about women's sexuality? (lst 8 interviews: "...about women's sexuality in our society")

271 IInterview code: E. Socio-demographic charaderistics

Ta be completed by the respondent:

1. What is your religion? _

2. What is the last level of schooling which you have COMPLETED? D primary/elementary D secondarylhigh school o undergraduate university degree o graduate university degree o Other (for example, indicate how many years of university you have completed even if you have not received a degree): _

3. What is your age group? D 15-19 040-44 D 20-24 D 45-49 D 25-29 D 50-54 030-34 055-59 D 35-39 060-64 D 65+

4. Are you (you may choose more than one option) o in a relationship or married? o single? o separated/divorced? Dwidowed?

5. Are you employed? OYes--.-->What do you do? _

ONo DStudent

6. Could you give me an estimate of how much you and your family eam in a year? NOTE: Ifyou are a student but live most of the year alone, count only how much you earn, including your loanslbursaries/scholarships. D $30,000 ta $39,999 Ounder $10,000 0$40,000 ta $49,999 0$10,000 ta $19,999 0$50,000 ta $59,999 0$20,000 ta $29,999 0$60,000 or more

272 Guide d'entrevue: Sexualité de la femme

A. Sexualité de la femme et orgasme l. Pourriez-vous me décrire ce que vous avez appris sur la sexualité (enfance/adolescence)? 2. Pourriez-vous faire une comparaison entre la sexualité de la femme et celle de l'homme? 3. Est-ce que les femmes pensent à la virginité de la même façon que le font les hommes? (Si mariée, l'interroger sur l'abstinence prénuptiale temporaire-- (dans les 8 premières entrevues [femmes cdnnes], question pas posée) 4. Est-ce qu'il est important pour une femme d'avoir un orgasme?/Comparé à un homme? 5. Pensez-vous qu'il existe différents orgasmes? 6. Quel est le rôle du vagin dans un orgasme? Quel est le rôle du clitoris? 7. Avez-vous entendu parler du débat concernant l'orgasme vaginal vs clitoridien? 8. Certaines femmes peuvent atteindre l'orgasme par la stimulation du clitoris, sans pour autant atteindre l'orgasme durant la pénétration. Pourriez-vous expliquer cela? 9. Votre notion de la sexualité a-t-elle changé au cours des années? Qu'en pensiez-vous dans le passé? Et aujourd'hui? ··Pour femmes immigrantes: Est-ce que votre notion de la sexualité a changé depuis que vous habitez en Occident? 10. y a-t-il des comportements sexuels qui vous mettent mal à l'aise (masturbation, relations anales, homosexualité)? Pourriez-vous m'expliquer pourquoi? 11. y a-t-il d'autres aspets de la sexualité Qu'on aurait pu aborder ensemble?

B. Excision, infibulation et réinfibulation 1. ··Pour femmes immigrantes: Dans votre première entrevue, vous avez mentionné que l'(excision/infibulation) a un effet sur la sexualité. Pourriez-vous être plus précise? Quel effet l' (excision/infibulation) aurait-elle sur la sexualité de la femme en général? L'(excision/infibulation) a-t-elle un effet sur l'orgasme? 2. ··Pour femmes infibulées: J'aimerais aussi aborder la question de la réinfibulation. Pourquoi pratique­ t-on la réinfibulation? Quel sont ses effets pour la femme? 3. ··Pour femmes nées au Canada: Avez-vous entendu parler de la pratique connue sous le nom d'excision ou de clitoridectomie? Si oui: Qu'en pensez-vous? Est-ce que vous pensez que l'excision aurait un effet sur la sexualité de la femme en général? L'excision aurait-elle un effet sur l'orgasme? Si non, expliquer que l'excision implique l'enlèvement du clitoris et parfois d'autres parties génitales de la fille: Pensez-vous que ce genre d'intervention aurait un effet sur la sexualité de la femme en général? L'excision aurait-elle un effet sur l'orgasme? c. Épisiotomie et périnéplastie l.Avez-vous des enfants? Si oui: Avez-vous eu une épisiotomie lors d'un de vos accouchements? Si oui: Cette intervention a-t-elle eu un effet quelconque? (par e.g. Est-ce qu'on vous a trop recousue?) 2. Certaines femmes canadiennes qui ont accouché plusieurs fois ont la possibilité d'être recousues par un médecin pour reserrer l'ouverture du vagin. C'est ce qu'on appelle la périnéplastie. Avez-vous entendu parler de cette intervention? Quels en seraient les'-'a""v"'an....t...ag"'e'"'s....,-"s"'e"'lo""n'-'v""o"'u"'-s-'-? _

D. Une critique de la sexualité de la femme 1. Si vous aviez à changer quelquechose par rapport à la sexualité de la femme, qu'est-ce ça serait? (8 premières entrevues [femmes cdnnes]: "Dans notre société, si vous aviez...)

273 ICode d'entrevue: E. Caractéristiques sodo-démographiques

À remplir par la répondante:

L Quelle est votre religion? _

2. Quel est le dernier niveau de scolarité que vous avez COMPLÉTÉ? o primaire D secondaire (système québécois); collège (système français) D CÉGEP (système québécois); lycée (système français) D 1er cycle universitaire D 2ième ou 3ième cycles universitaires D Autre (par exemple, indiquer combien d'années universitaires vous avez complété, si vous n'avez pas reçu de diplôme: _

3. Quel est votre groupe d'âge? D 15-19 040-44 020-24 045-49 025-29 050-54 030-34 055-59 035-39 060-64 o 65+ 4. Etes-vous (choisir plus d'une option au besoin) D en union libre/concubinage ou mariée? o célibataire? o séparée/divorcée? o veuve?

5. Avez-vous un emploi? OOui-•••->Que faites-vous? _ o Non o Étudiante 6. Veuillez indiquer votre revenu familial approximatif (par année): NOTE: Si vous êtes étudiante vivant seule durant la plupart de l'année, ne comptez que vos propres revenus, incluant vos prêts, bourses, et bourses d'excellence: 0$30,000 à $39,999 o moins de $10,000 0$40,000 à $49,999 0$10,000 à $19,999 0$50,000 à $59,999 0$20,000 à $29,999 0$60,000 +

274 Appendix D

Survey on Women's Sexuality Sondage sur la sexualité des femmes

Dear respondent, As expIained to you during our recent phone conversation, 1 am conducting a survey into women's practices and attitudes conceming sexuality. Even though you have already agreed to participate in the survey, please remember that you may refuse to answer any question. Since this survey is anonymous, 1 have no way of telling who has responded and who has not. Your participation is nonetheless crucial. Please fin out this survey (it should take less than 30 minutes) and return it BEFüRE DECEMBER 21 1995 (using the stamp included) ta the fonowing address:

Chère répondante: Suite à notre récente conversation téléphonique, je vous envoie le sondage traitant des pratiques et attitudes des femmes sur la sexualité dont il a été question. Même si vous avez déjà accepté de participer, souvenez-vous que vous pouvez refuser de répondre à n'importe quelle question. Puisqu'il s'agit d'un sondage anonyme, il m'est impossible de savoir qui me l'a renvoyé. Votre participation est néanmoins cruciale. Veuillez remplir ce sondage (durée: moins de 30 minutes) et le retourner (en vous servant du timbre ci­ inclus) à l'adresse suivante AVANTLE 21 DECEMBRE 1995:

Alissa Levine 4114 St-Hubert Mt! H2L 4A8

Thanks in advance for your cooperation! Merci d'avance de votre coopération!

Please note: For the purposes of this survey the tenn sexual intercourse refers to penetration of the vagina by the penis; the tenn ~refers to any person with whom you have had sexual intercourse.

For multiple choice questions, please mark with an X the box next to the corresponding appropriate answer.

Veuillez noter: Pour les fins de ce sondage, le terme relations sexuelles fait référence à la pénétration du vagin par le pénis; le terme partenaire fait référence à une personne avec laquelle vous avez eu des relations sexuelles.

Pour les questions à choix multiples, veuillez marquer d'un X la case correspondant à la réponse appropriée.

275 1. How old are you? /Quel âge avez-vous? 018-23 024-29 030-35 036-41 042-47 048-53 054-59 060+

2. Have you ever had sexual intercourse? Avez-vous déjà eu des relations sexuelles? o No/Non ------>IfNo: Answer all questions except for those marked with an asterisk. Si Non: Répondre à toutes les questions saufcelles marquées par un astérisque. o Yes/Oui------>lf Yes: Answer an of the foHowing questions Si Oui: Répondre à toutes les questions qui suivent

*3. How often do you have sexual intercourse? Avec quelle fréquence avez-vous des relations sexuelles? o once a month or less/une fois par mois ou moins o once a week/une fois par semaine Otwice a week/deuxfois par semaine Othree or four times a week/trois ou quatre fois par semaine o Other(specïfy)/Autre réponse(spécifier):

4. How often do you masturbate? /Avec quelle fréquence est-ce que vous vous masturbez? o never/jamais o once a month or less/une fois par mois ou moins o once or twice a week/une ou deux fois par semaine o three or four times a week/trois ou quatre fois par semaine Ofive or six times a week/cinq ou six fois par semaine o Other (specify)/Autre réponse (spécifier):

5. Which of the following do/would you fmd more embarrassing?: Lesquelles des situations suivantes vous est/serait plus gênante ?: Obeing masturbated by a partner/se faire masturber par un partenaire Ohaving sexual intercourse/avoir des relations sexuelles

*6. The first time you had sexual intercourse, did you have an orgasm? Lors de votre première relation sexuelle, avez-vous eu un orgasme? o No/Non OYes/Oui o Don't remember/Ne me souviens pas

*7. Why do you have sexual intercourse?/Pourquoi avez-vous des relations sexuelles?

276 8. Have you ever had an orgasm? lAvez vous déjà eu un orgasme? o NolNon o Yes/Oui------>If yes: what percent of the time do you have an orgasm through the following ways (e.g. 0%; about 10% about 50%, etc): Si oui: avec quelle fréquence parvenez-vous à l'orgasme des manières suivantes (e.g. 0%; 10%, 50%, etc):

during vaginal penetration/durant la pénétration vaginale: __% of the time/% du temps

during clitoral stimulation/durant la stimulation clitoridienne. __% of the time/% du temps

during combined vaginal penetration AND clitoral stimulation: durant la pénétration vaginale ET la stimulation clitoridienne en combinaison: __% of the time/%du temps

other (specify)lautre réponse (précisez):

*9. To have a parmer bring you to orgasm is Vous faire jouir par un partenaire, c'est o very unimportant/d'une importance minime o unimportant/sans grande importance o important/important o very important/d'une grande importance o Other/Autre réponse:

10. The role of the clitoris is: ILe rôle du clitoris est: o to provide the rrrst stage of sexual development, abandoned in adulthood for vaginal penetration and vaginal orgasmlde servir d'étape initiale dans le développement sexuel, destinée à être abandonnée plus tard enfaveur de la pénétration et l'orgasme vaginaux o to prepare the woman for vaginal penetration/de préparer la femme pour la pénétration vaginale

Oto sexually satisfy the womanlde satisfaire aux désirs sexuels de lafemme o Other (specify)/Autre réponse (précisez):

277 For statements Il and 12, please indicate whether you strongly disagree, disagree, don't know, agree, or strongly agree. Pour les propositions 11 et 12, indiquez si vous n'êtes pas du tout d'accord, pas d'accord, ne savez pas, êtes d'accord ou êtes très d'accord.

Il. Women need less sex than men. Les femmes ont moins besoin de relations sexuelles que les hommes. o Strongly DisagreelPas du tout d'accord o Disagree/Pas d'accord o Don't knowlNe sais pas o AgreelD'accord o Strongly Agree/Très d'accord

12. It is more important for the man to have an orgasm than for the woman. Il est plus important que l'homme parvienne à l'orgasme que lafemme. o Strongly DisagreelPas du tout d'accord o DisagreelPas d'accord ODon'tknowlNe sais pas o Agree/D'accord o Strongly Agree/Très d'accord 13. A woman who is able to have an orgasm through clitoral stimulation by a partner but not through vaginal penetration (choose as many responses as apply): Une femme qui parvient à l'orgasme par stimulation clitoridienne par son partenaire mais non pas Darpénétration vaginale (choisir autant de réponses que vous voulez): o has probably not yet reached her full sexual potentialln'est probablement pas encore parvenue à son plein potentiel sexuel Ohas probably not bad a lot of experience with a partner/n'a probablement pas eu beaucoup d'expérience avec un partenaire Ois abnormal sexually lest anormale sexuellement Ohas probably reached ber full sexual potentiallest probablement parvenue à son plein potentiel sexuel Oprobably has had a lot ofexperience with a partner la probablement eu beaucoup d'expérience avec un partenaire Ois normal sexuallylest normale sexuellement o Other (specify)IAutre réponse (précisez):

278 Appendix E

My use of interview excerpts in the mam text of the thesis is necessarily limited to brief passages which serve to illustrate a particular point. Unfortunately, these excerpts provide a mere glimpse into the conversation in which they occurred. In order to give the reader a better idea of the interview process, 1 include below two longer passages in which quotations which appear m Chapter 2 are re-inserted into their original context.

The first passage corresponds to the quotation provided on pages 34 to 35 by an African-born excised woman (FMTL043excised), who discusses the positive effects of excision, in part by comparing excised women, and herself in particular, to intact women. She concludes this portion of the interview with a brief indication of the normalcy of excision and of how it helps her to be herself:

Interviewer: Could you explain to me why it lS done? Why the circumcision is done.

Respondent: Why it lS done?

Interviewer: Yeso

Respondent: At first, uh, the woman... It's more eaSler [sic] to give birth. It is more easier to give birth. And secondly, it's because

279 they want the woman to realize that she has a man so that she won't look for another man. You know, sometimes they believe that it cornes to them, and they start feeling it, that, "ükay, now 1 need this. 1 need the sex [sic] right now." So they try to eliminate the idea of what they think.

Interviewer: And what are the advantages of that circumcision?

Respondent: Dh, 1 can say... WeIl, when we have the same conversation back home [in Nigeria, respondent's country of origin], the advantage of... Because we had a person who is still not yet circumcised, and somebody... 1 can say for myself, who 1S circurncised, and the question was who enjoys it better? Who feels sex more better? And, 1 mean more. And the person who wasn't circurncised says she always goes around thinking about it. That she always feels it, and may enjoy it better. But for us, we don't feel it. You know, it's like it doesn't stay. It's not there. Ifs there but it's not what we want aIl the time. Not like an everyday thing. Yes, if it cornes, it cornes. And if it doesn't come, you just relax. But the other person doesn't feel that way. She feels that she needs it now and she wants it now. That is how they believe. That is what is said.

Interviewer: And do you think it has an effect on a woman' s sexuality, on her sexual life?

Respondent: 1 don't think 80. No, it doesn't have any effect at aIl.

280 Interviewer: And what are the disadvantages of circumcision?

Respondent: Disadvantages? 1 don't reaHy know disadvantages. Because if... What 1 would say are disadvantages, how you can feel it aH the time. But that is not a good thing either because you may one day end up sleeping with somebody on the street, according to what they believe. But 1 don't know if that is true because... Do you mind if 1 use myself?

Interviewer: Go ahead.

Respondent: Yes, because 1 am circumcised. Okay, that is why l'm saying it. 1 feel that... 1 don't feel that way, you know. 1 can say 1 prefer being myself. 1 don't... If 1 don't get it, 1 don't get it. 1 think ifs a normal thing. 1 don't think there are disadvantages. 1 believe ifs normal.

***

The second passage corresponds to the quotation on page 50. Canadian-born Nathalie discusses the impact of her former boyfriend' s sexual preferences and notions about appropriate sexual response:

Nathalie: ...he preferred rear-entry position.

281 Alissa: Mhm.

Nathalie: So, even though it was vaginal, it wasn't [inaudible 1 word]; it was rear-entry, and that was terribly painful for me, with rear-entry. 1 don't know, my uterus is apparently a bit inverted, 1 don't know. In any case, rear-entry is painful for me. ft's never painful when it's face to face but, with rear-entry, like animaIs, let's say, then...

Alissa: yeso

Nathalie: it gives me no pleasure, so it was like, "Is he finished yet?"

Alissa: And it' s painful, as weIl?

Nathalie: Yes, it was painful as weIl; in addition to not being enjoyable [agréable], to giving me no pleasure, it was painfuI for me. So it was reaIly like, so that he could get his pleasure, and then it was over. As for me, of course, he would say, "You never initiate things." WeIl, of course 1 never--you know? 1 am not a masochist, you know, so...

Alissa: Sony, 1 didn't hear you; he would say...

282 Nathalie: He would say, "Ah, you never initiate things, you never approach me to make love, ifs always up to me to ask." But, 1 mean, that's the thing; l'm not a masochist, you know?

Alissa: Mhm. Okay. And did you tell him that it was painful?

Nathalie: Yes, but, it turned out that he had a difficult time coming any other way. But, you know, 1 shut up at a certain point, because 1 told myself--I also wanted to preserve the relationship up to a certain point and... So that was part of the deal, of the pact that 1 had made in my head: the two go together.

Alissa: [clarifying] A pact.

Nathalie: Yes.

Alissa: Okay, okay. Yes.

Nathalie: So, 1 endured it. And it isn't--it didn't take long [she earlier referred to the brevity of coitus with the same boyfriend], and then it was over and that was it.

Alissa: And you, your pleasure ln this, it wasn't really--did he worry about...

Nathalie: no.

283 Alissa: Okay.

Nathalie: He said that 1 was made wrong; that nature should have made it so that when the man penetrates the woman, she should have an orgasm at the same time as he, and that if it didn't work that way, well, 1 had problems, and 1 should get [professional] help.

Alissa: You, ln particular, had problems?

Nathalie: Yes, that's right. Because he had his pleasure [jouissance]. He ejaculated, and, he had, in any case, what he could consider an orgasm for the brief time that it lasted. So, for him, 1 imagine, his pleasure came from the ejaculation, and the short amount of penetration before the ejaculation.

Alissa: So he had the idea that the woman should get her pleasure during penetration and that's it.

Nathalie: That's it.

284 Appendix F

The Clitoris and the G-spot in Popular Magazines: July 1998-June 2001

1 include below thematic lists of the magazines m which 1 found articles discussing the clitoris, the G-spot, or both. 1 The country of origin is indicated in the case of non-North American magazines. Complete references are provided in the reference list.

1. The clitoris is mentioned or discussed and the G-spot lS not mentioned in 15/40 magazme articles:

Alexandre and Réka 1998 Marie Claire (France); Theobald 1998 She (UK); Maber 1998 Company (UK); Kramer 1998 Cosmopolitan; Pereira 1999 Sciences et Santé (France); Robinovitz 1999 Marie Claire; Maximum Satisfaction in Bed (no author provided) 1999 For Women First; Hollander 1999 Mademoiselle; Varian 1999 Glamour; Crain Bakos 2000a Complete Woman; Gaynor 2000 Cosmopolitan (UK); Kelly 2000 Cosmopolitan (UK); Kelly 2000b Woman's Life; Good. 2001. Men's Health; Pepper 2001 Marie Claire.

2. The clitoris is mentioned or discussed and the existence of the G-spot is questioned or denied in 4/40 articles:

Tarkiel 1998 Votre Beauté (France); Lou 1998 Vital (France); Spencer 2000 Glamour; Boucher 2000 Femme d'aujourd'hui.

1 Four of the articles are included in two thematic lïsts. Two of these discuss the G-spot as a vaginal structure before also referring to it as a site on other parts of the body; two others suggest that the G-spot may be part of the clitoris, but also either question the existence of the former or refer to the G-spot as a site on other parts of the body.

285 3. The clitoris is mentioned or discussed and the G-spot is presented as distinct from the clitoris in 12/40 articles:

Vachon 1998 Cosmopolitan; Gottlieb 1998 Men's Health; Oumano 1998 Woman's Life; Kemp 1999 Cosmopolitan; Davidson 1999 Men's Fitness; Everett 1999 Company (UK); Walker 2000 Glamour; Samson 2000 Coup de Pouce; Crain Bakos 2000b Complete Woman; Everett 2000 Woman's Life; Goyette 2001 Femme d'aujourd'hui; Hudepohl 2001 Marie Claire.

4. The clitoris is not mentioned but the G-spot is mentioned or discussed in 5/40 articles:

Riskin and Banker-Riskin 1999 Complete Woman; Fraud 1999; Sciences et Santé (France); Lessard 1999 Femme d'aujourd'hui; Stuken 1999 Marie Claire; Brouillette and Courchesne 2001 Femme Plus.

5. It is postulated that the G-spot may be anatomically linked to the clitoris in 2/40 articles:

Spencer 2000 Glamour; Marshall 2001 Glamour.

6. The term G-spot is used to refer to a sensual site not located on the anterior vaginal wall of the vagina in 6/40 articles:

Swierczynzski 1998 Cosmopolitan; Summers 1999 Black Woman; Lessard 1999 Femme d'aujourd'hui; Kemp 1999 Cosmopolitan; Dolgoff 2000 Glamour; Marshall 2001 Glamour.

286