The female organ is our capacity to experience and enjoy love naturally. Playing the most important role in the reproductive system, feminine hormonal changes and natural sexual apparatus. The genital organs are described into small parts for easy understanding.
- Ovaries and hormone producer
- Ovum
- Vagina, hymen and virginity
- Clitoris
1. In the female reproductive system, the ovaries are the most important organs. The ovaries, of which there are two, are the female germinal glands. They are situated one on each side of the uterus, and are approximately almond-shaped. It has been found that each ovary contains about 30,000 ova or eggs. Ova (also called ovum or eggs) are produced in the ovaries. Ovaries are two small organs set in the pelvic cavity below and to either side of the navel. The ovaries also secrete, in cyclic manner, the hormones estrogen and progesterone (see menstruation).
2. The ovum is a globular cell which is enclosed in a tiny bladder known as the Graafian follicle. In it filled with a fluid. The follicles containing the ova are situated on the outer layer of the ovary. After an ovum matures, contractions arise in the ovary, which cause the follicle enveloping the ovum to burst, and shed its contents, together with the ovum, it passes into the uterine tube, or fallopian tube and into the abdomen.
An inner uterine layer of tissue, called the endometrium, undergoes cyclic changes as a result of the changing levels of the hormones secreted by the ovaries. The endometrium is thickest during the part of the menstrual cycle in which a *fertilized ovum would be expected to enter the uterus and is thinnest just after menstruation. If no fertilized egg is present toward the end of the cycle, the thickened endometrium degenerates and sloughs off and menstruation occurs; if a fertilized egg is present it becomes embedded in the endometrium about a week after fertilization. The developing embryo produces trophoblastic cells and these, along with cells from the endometrium, form the placenta, the organ in which gas, food, and waste exchange between mother and embryo takes place. The embryo also forms the amniotic sac within which it develops.
*If sperm are present as a result of sexual intercourse or artificial insemination, fertilization occurs within the tube. The ovum, either fertilized or unfertilized, then passes down the fallopian tube and into the womb or uterus, a pear-shaped organ specialized for development of a fertilized egg. These cyclic changes take place every four weeks, or in general, a few days earlier or later.
|
| 3. The vagina is a passage connecting the uterus at the lower end, called the cervix, with the external genitals into the vagina. It is to receive the penis and the sperm ejaculated from it during sexual intercourse. It also serves as an exit passageway (known as vaginal vault) for menstrual blood and for the baby during birth. The external genitals, or vulva, include the clitoris, erectile tissue that responds to sexual stimulation, and the labia, which are composed of elongated folds of skin. At its entrance, the vaginal canal is closed by a thin membrane, known as the *hymen. A vagina that has not experience the penetration of penis, sexual intercourse and where the entrance of vagina is intact are often called as *virgin. The hymen is not so elastic and its diameter is smaller than further up in the vagina. The length of the vagina ranges between 6 and 16 centimetres depending on the position of the uterus.
The vagina also produces secretion from the mucous membrane, a thick and sticky white mucous containing acid. (The white colour is acquired from cells shed by the vagina.)The secretion may frequently increase to a highly inconvenient flow known as leucorrhoea or "the whites." Coincidentally, it also serves as a natural lubricant during intercourse.
*The hymen is a membrane which completely or partially occludes the vaginal opening in human females, and because sexual activity or rough penetration would usually puncture this membrane. However, the hymen is a poor indicator of actual virginity. Most women break theirs through masturbation, tampon use, or non-sexual activity before having sexual intercourse. Also, some females with intact hymens have had sexual intercourse. On the contrary, among some primitive peoples, virginity is an object of contempt.
Among more civilized people, a woman's chastity in woman is considered a primary virtue, and a man has the right to demand that his fiancee be pure. This was the case with the Egyptians, the Hebrews, the Arabs and the Greeks. The man had the right to send the young woman back to her parents if he discovered that she was not a virgin. She was then publicly tortured to death. In Egypt, it was customary among the Arabs and Copts for a matron, or even the fiancee himself, before the marriage and in the presence of witnesses, to introduce the forefinger wrapped in linen into the girl's vagina in order to obtain proof of her virginity by the appearance of blood.
The prestige of virginity, therefore, is merely a social phenomenon consequent on the development of civilization. If we were to discuss the problem of pre-nuptial continence, to question whether or not sexual intercourse is desirable before the legal marriage, we should be departing from the purely scientific stand point which guides us in this work, and taking our stand on the uncertain ground of social controversy.
However, that is not our intention. While taking up a purely biological point of view, we must nevertheless stress the fact that, according to the statistics of several specialists, psychological and physiological disorders of various kinds may be induced by prolonged continence. If, therefore, our social system prohibits sexual intercourse without the sanction of marriage, and at the same time places economic difficulties in the way of marriage, the conclusion is clear. We stumble here on to one of the failures of social system. So long as contradictions exist between biological exigencies and the demands of present day civilization, the solution of the problem will rest with the conscience of the individual, and depend on her sense of responsibility towards herself, her partner, and her children.
4. At the exterior of the vagina is the clitoris. It is situated at the point where the two small lips meet above the entrance of the vagina. Usually about two centimetres long, but only the tip, the so-called glans, projects, while the body of the clitoris is hidden. The clitoris serves to arouse voluptuous sensations in the woman, and is even more abundantly supplied with sensitive terminal nerves than the male glans. Also, like the penis, it has cavernous bodies which fill with blood when the adjacent mucous membrane is subjected to excitation. This causes the volume of the clitoris to increase to about three centirnetres, and through this "erection" it comes into closer contact with the male member during the sexual act.
Between the vaginal canal and the small lips there is a pair of important glands, known as Bartholin's glands. To the right and left of the small lips are the large lips (labia majora) which are formed by two raised folds of skin, which contain adipose tissue. Their average height is two centimetres. In virgins the large lips lie close together, in older women they are more and more parted.
In the upward direction the large lips merge into a triangular fatty mound, which is covered with hair. Graaf, who discovered the follicle named after him, was of the opinion that the object of this mound, which is called mons veneris, is to prevent the pubic bones of the partners from knocking against each other during sexual intercourse.
|
