tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/genitals-27289/articlesGenitals – The Conversation2022-12-14T03:29:05Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1965532022-12-14T03:29:05Z2022-12-14T03:29:05ZSnakes have clitorises<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500911/original/file-20221214-14-cj88o9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C0%2C1904%2C1260&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Luke Allen</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Snakes have clitorises – and we have given a full anatomical description of them for the first time.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.1702">research</a> published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, we describe the size and shape of the snake clitoris (or hemiclitores) across nine species. </p>
<p>We also closely studied the cellular makeup of the clitoris in Australian death adders, finding it to be composed of erectile tissue and bundles of nerves.</p>
<p>The discovery of what appears to be a functional clitoris offers a new perspective on snake courtship and mating. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-sex-life-aquatic-how-moving-from-land-to-water-led-to-the-surprisingly-touchy-courtship-of-sea-snakes-159431">The sex life aquatic: how moving from land to water led to the surprisingly touchy courtship of sea snakes</a>
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<h2>Finding the snake clitoris</h2>
<p>As part of her PhD research, our student Megan Folwell at the University of Adelaide had been dissecting snake specimens in museums. She came across a heart-shaped structure in the female tail, nestled between two scent glands, that she thought was the clitoris (or the hemiclitores, as it is called in snakes) and showed me.</p>
<p>I wasn’t sure what we were looking at, so we got in touch with Patricia Brennan at Mount Holyoke College in the US, who is an expert in how genitals have evolved in vertebrates. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500876/original/file-20221213-151-bqi4g7.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An animation showing a wireframe drawing of the lower half of a snake's body with the clitoris highlighted." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500876/original/file-20221213-151-bqi4g7.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500876/original/file-20221213-151-bqi4g7.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500876/original/file-20221213-151-bqi4g7.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500876/original/file-20221213-151-bqi4g7.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500876/original/file-20221213-151-bqi4g7.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500876/original/file-20221213-151-bqi4g7.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500876/original/file-20221213-151-bqi4g7.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The snake clitoris is a heart-shaped structure in the tail.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Folwell et al</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>On closer inspection, we found it was a structure full of red blood cells and nerve tissue, as we would expect for erectile tissue. This suggests it is indeed the clitoris, and may swell and become stimulated during mating.</p>
<p>We went on to examine nine different species of snakes representing the major branches of snake evolution. All had a clitoris, though their sizes and shapes varied.</p>
<h2>Why didn’t we know about this already?</h2>
<p>Across all species, researchers have given female genitalia <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35353194/">a lot</a> <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.1001851">less attention</a> compared to its male counterpart. </p>
<p>What’s more, it’s hard to get a good look at snake genitalia. It’s all internal to the snake’s tail, for the most part, though the snake penis (or hemipenes) inflates for mating. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500912/original/file-20221214-13-kq7mqq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500912/original/file-20221214-13-kq7mqq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500912/original/file-20221214-13-kq7mqq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=627&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500912/original/file-20221214-13-kq7mqq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=627&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500912/original/file-20221214-13-kq7mqq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=627&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500912/original/file-20221214-13-kq7mqq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=788&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500912/original/file-20221214-13-kq7mqq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=788&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500912/original/file-20221214-13-kq7mqq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=788&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The clitoris of an Australian death adder.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Folwell et al.</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>There has been quite a bit of research into the snake penis, but the snake clitoris has been missed.</p>
<p>While there are earlier reports, most actually referred to lizards, or mistakenly described the penis or scent glands, or featured only vague descriptions without anatomical references. Studies of species in which intersex individuals are relatively common heightened this confusion.</p>
<p>However, we have shown that the snake clitoris, although it shares its developmental origins with the penis, is very different from the penis – and our detailed anatomical description should help prevent this kind of confusion occurring in future.</p>
<h2>A crucial piece of anatomy</h2>
<p>In other species, we know the clitoris has <a href="https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/articleSelectSinglePerm?Redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencedirect.com%2Fscience%2Farticle%2Fpii%2FS0065345420300012%3Fvia%253Dihub&key=22f7498e0cabf6da1cbf5bbec791b299065c7bd7">important functions</a> in reproduction. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/all-female-mammals-have-a-clitoris-were-starting-to-work-out-what-that-means-for-their-sex-lives-114916">All female mammals have a clitoris – we're starting to work out what that means for their sex lives</a>
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<p>Perhaps because many scientists assumed female snakes had no clitoris, and hence no capacity for arousal, it has generally been assumed that mating in snakes is largely a matter of males coercing females. </p>
<p>But a crucial piece of anatomy was missing from this conversation. Our discovery suggests female arousal – and something more like seduction – may play a role.</p>
<p>We still have a lot to learn. It may turn out that variation in the clitoris between species will be correlated with courtship and mating behaviours, and help us understand how females choose mates.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196553/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jenna Crowe-Riddell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The first description of the snake clitoris may change what we think we know about mating and courtship among the slithering reptiles.Jenna Crowe-Riddell, Postdoctoral Researcher in Neuroecology, La Trobe UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1722932022-02-04T13:09:35Z2022-02-04T13:09:35ZNot everyone is male or female – the growing controversy over sex designation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441210/original/file-20220118-13-l32vzy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C26%2C5906%2C3904&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Although the medical establishment is now recognizing that sex is not binary, society as a whole has been slow to embrace the concept.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/small-beautiful-child-lies-on-the-bed-on-his-royalty-free-image/1300384940?adppopup=true">Vera Livchak/Moment via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Check out your birth certificate and surely you’ll see a designation for sex. When you were born, a doctor or clinician assigned you the “male” or “female” label based on a look at your genitalia. In the U.S., this has been <a href="https://doi.org/10.1056/nejmp2025974">standard practice for more than a century</a>. </p>
<p>But sex designation is not as simple as a glance and then a check of one box or another. Instead, the overwhelming evidence shows that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ase.2002">sex is not binary</a>. To put it another way, the terms “male” and “female” don’t fully capture the complex biological, anatomical and chromosomal variations that occur in the human body. </p>
<p>That’s why calls are growing to remove sex designation from birth certificates, including <a href="https://thehill.com/changing-america/respect/equality/566767-ama-doctors-experts-recommend-removing-sex-designation-from">a recent recommendation</a> from the American Medical Association. </p>
<p>I am a <a href="https://www.bumc.bu.edu/busm/profile/carl-streed/">professor of medicine</a> who has worked extensively <a href="https://scholar.google.com.au/citations?user=Rv-dZJ4AAAAJ&hl=en">on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual (LGBTQIA+) issues</a>. My co-author is a <a href="https://www.childrenshospital.org/directory/physicians/g/frances-grimstad">professor of gynecology</a> who is deeply involved in the health of people who are trans and intersex. </p>
<p>Our research and clinical experience show that sex designation is not something to take for granted. For those who don’t fit neatly into one of two categories – <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/(sici)1520-6300(200003/04)12:2%3C151::aid-ajhb1%3E3.0.co;2-f">and there are millions</a> – an inappropriate classification on a birth certificate can have consequences that last a lifetime.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">What does intersex mean?</span></figcaption>
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<h2>The problems with sex designation</h2>
<p>Variations in genital anatomy happen more frequently than you might think; <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/(sici)1520-6300(200003/04)12:2%3C151::aid-ajhb1%3E3.0.co;2-f">they occur in 0.1 to 0.2% of births annually</a>. In the U.S., that’s about 4,000 to 8,000 babies each year. </p>
<p>Other sex traits don’t necessarily help either. Doctors examining the reproductive organs <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/518288a">can find people</a> born with both a vagina and testes, and also those born without any gonads. And when evaluating an individual’s estrogen and testosterone hormone levels, long defined as key determinants of female and male bodies, doctors find some people with vaginas still produce <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(12)60071-3">significant amounts of testosterone</a>. Because of this, testosterone is not a great indicator for defining sex; higher amounts of testosterone do not necessarily make someone male. </p>
<p>Even karyotyping – a laboratory procedure used since the 1950s to evaluate an individual’s number and type of chromosomes – doesn’t tell the whole story. While we typically expect people to either have XX or XY pairs of sex chromosomes, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/518288a">many people have variations</a> that <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1159%2F000499274">do not fit either category</a>. These include <a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/turner-syndrome/symptoms-causes/syc-20360782#">Turner syndrome</a>, in which a person is born with a single X chromosome, and <a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/klinefelter-syndrome/symptoms-causes/syc-20353949#">Kleinfelter syndrome</a>, which occurs when a person is born with a combination of XXY chromosomes. </p>
<p>In short, human diversity has demonstrated that the binary categories of male and female are incomplete and inaccurate. Sex designation, rather than “two sizes fit all,” <a href="https://doi.org/10.1089/lgbt.2021.0018">is on a spectrum</a>. Up to 1.7% of the U.S. population – that’s more than 5 million Americans – have an anatomy and physiology that present intersex traits.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">What it’s like to be intersex.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Binary designations can be damaging</h2>
<p>Those with intersex traits who <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0240088">are assigned at birth</a> to be female or male can <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2017/05/intersex-rights/">experience medical care that harms them</a>, both physically and psychologically. </p>
<p>Sometimes physicians perform surgeries to align bodies into binary categories. For example, those born with a larger than typical clitoris <a href="https://doi.org/10.1089/lgbt.2021.0018">may have it reduced in size</a>. But some who have this childhood surgery suffer as adults from pain and difficulty having sex.</p>
<p>[<em><a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters?nl=science&source=inline-science-corona-important">Get The Conversation’s most important coronavirus headlines, weekly in a science newsletter</a></em>]</p>
<p>Additionally, governments sometimes limit those with intersex traits from fully participating in society. For instance, in Australia, <a href="https://ihra.org.au/16808/annulment-marriage-due-intersex-marriage-falsely-called/">marriages have been annulled</a> because governments have previously ruled that an intersex person – someone not seen to be “100% man” or “100% woman” – cannot be legally married.</p>
<p><a href="https://stillmed.olympics.com/media/Documents/News/2021/11/IOC-Framework-Fairness-Inclusion-Non-discrimination-2021.pdf">Private entities</a> often do the same. The International Olympics Committee uses <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/caster-semenya-and-the-twisted-politics-of-testosterone/">cutoffs of hormone levels</a> to determine who plays in women’s sports. As a result, some athletes have been barred from participation. </p>
<p>And for those with a gender identity that differs from the sex designation on a government document, <a href="https://transequality.org/sites/default/files/docs/usts/USTS-Full-Report-Dec17.pdf">discrimination, harassment or violence</a> can result. </p>
<p>State governments have begun to acknowledge sex diversity. Some let gender-diverse people change their designation on birth certificates, <a href="https://www.lgbtmap.org/equality-maps/identity_document_laws/birth_certificate">although there are restrictions</a>. Medicine too <a href="https://doi.org/10.1089/lgbt.2021.0018">is changing</a>. For example, some pediatric centers have stopped performing surgeries on newborns with <a href="https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/jNAuCVOrlMC8Dq3vuQEnoR?domain=them.us">differences in sex development</a>. Still, society at large <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2017/09/20/health/geas-gender-stereotypes-study/index.html">has been much slower to move beyond</a> the use of strictly binary categories. </p>
<p>As clinicians, we strive to be accurate. The evidence shows that using male and female as the only options on birth certificates is not consistent with scientific reality. Evidence shows that removing this designation will tell new parents that it’s not sex assignment that’s most important at birth but rather the celebration of a healthy and happy baby.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/172293/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carl Streed receives funding from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the American Heart Association. He is affiliated with the US Professional Association for Transgender Health and the American Medical Association. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Frances Grimstad does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Millions of people do not fit neatly into male or female sex designations at birth, and wrong identification can set them up for a lifetime of physical and mental harm.Carl Streed Jr, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Boston UniversityFrances Grimstad, Assistant Professor of Gynecology, Harvard UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1413322020-06-30T17:46:14Z2020-06-30T17:46:14ZEven groupers have parasites<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343521/original/file-20200623-188896-19rel9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=388%2C45%2C2544%2C1786&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A brown Mediterranean grouper. We don't see it on the picture, but it hosts many parasites!</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Epinephelus_marginatus_(Lowe,_1834)_1.jpg">Parent Géry/Wikimédia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>“Parasite” is a term with a negative connotation, associated with laziness and predation, and the recent <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasite_(2019_film)">Oscar-winning movie <em>Parasite</em></a> will certainly not improve the public’s general opinion on the matter.</p>
<p>Parasite are animals that lives on or in another organism, the host, causing it some harm. However, for a biologist, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasitism">parasites are fascinating</a> and often represent the most interesting cases of evolution. In addition, parasites may well constitute the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/s0020-7519(98)00153-2">majority of life on earth</a>, both in the number of species and individual animals. Almost all animals have parasites.</p>
<p>We chose to study the parasites of emblematic fishes, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grouper">groupers</a>. Not all of them – only the tiny parasites called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monogenea">monogeneans</a> living on the gills of these beautiful fish.</p>
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<span class="caption">A monogenean, as it is seen in the microscope, showing various parts and organs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Chaabane & Justine</span></span>
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<p>Monogeneans are tiny animals, less than 1 mm in length – you will hardly see them on a fish’s gill without a microscope. They attach themselves by their posterior end, with the anterior end free in the water. Attaching themselves firmly to soft tissue requires a special organ, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haptor">haptor</a>, which contains sharp hooks that penetrate the gill’s surface.</p>
<p>The name “monogenean” was given by Belgian parasitologist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre-Joseph_van_Beneden">Pierre-Joseph Van Beneden</a> more than a century ago, and means that their life cycle involves only a single host fish. Once attached, adult monogenean never leave. Their larva can swim freely, however, enabling them to find another fish. </p>
<h2>A very diverse genus</h2>
<p>Studies in recent decades revealed that most monogeneans on the gills of groupers belonged to a <a href="https://folia.paru.cas.cz/artkey/fol-201004-0001_an_annotated_list_of_parasites_isopoda_copepoda_monogenea_digenea_cestoda_and_nematoda_collected_in_group.php">single, hyper-diverse group</a>. These monogeneans are generally “species specific”, meaning that they’re found only on <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.parint.2012.01.009">one species of grouper</a>. In addition, each species of grouper harbours several species of monogeneans – <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11230-006-9057-3">up to a dozen</a>. </p>
<p>The multiplicity of grouper species and the broad range of parasites on each grouper allow these monogeneans to be hyper-diverse – more than 80 species are known, and there are probably many more. Most of these monogeneans belong to a single genus named <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudorhabdosynochus"><em>Pseudorhabdosynochus</em></a>.</p>
<h2>A very special male organ and incredibly diverse female ones</h2>
<p>Most zoologists spend a significant part of their time looking at sexual parts of the animals they study. Why? Because many species are superficially very similar, yet highly different in the shape of their genitalia. This is how <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution">evolution</a> works, and having a different sexual morphology prevents incompatible species from copulating with each another, therefore avoiding wasting energy in mating that would not produce progeny.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343658/original/file-20200624-56928-8w8r7z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343658/original/file-20200624-56928-8w8r7z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343658/original/file-20200624-56928-8w8r7z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343658/original/file-20200624-56928-8w8r7z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343658/original/file-20200624-56928-8w8r7z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343658/original/file-20200624-56928-8w8r7z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=587&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343658/original/file-20200624-56928-8w8r7z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=587&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343658/original/file-20200624-56928-8w8r7z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=587&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A monogenean, <em>Pseudorhabdosynochus regius</em>, drawn by the authors. Left: whole body; right: hard parts.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Chaabane & Justine</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In this aspect <em>Pseudorhabdosynochus</em> is certainly not disappointing, and for three reasons:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>All its species are hermaphrodite, so for each individual there are two complete sets of sexual organs, one male and one female.</p></li>
<li><p>The genitalia are sclerotised: although the body of the worm is soft, the genitalia are made of hardened proteins.</p></li>
<li><p>The variety of sexual structures is outstanding.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>All <em>Pseudorhabdosynochus</em> species have a male copulatory organ that is a highly specialised pump that inserts sperm into the female genitalia. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11230-008-9171-5">How it exactly works is unknown</a>: after all, this male organ, which is impressive when looked with a microscope, is about 100 micrometres in size – a tenth of a millimetre.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343661/original/file-20200624-56958-wllspq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343661/original/file-20200624-56958-wllspq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343661/original/file-20200624-56958-wllspq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=285&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343661/original/file-20200624-56958-wllspq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=285&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343661/original/file-20200624-56958-wllspq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=285&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343661/original/file-20200624-56958-wllspq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343661/original/file-20200624-56958-wllspq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343661/original/file-20200624-56958-wllspq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The diversity of vaginae. Left: a general diagram of the vagina and its various parts; right: the vaginae of several species of <em>Pseudorhabdosynochus</em>, drawn with the same colours.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Chaabane & Justine</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Moreover, species of <em>Pseudorhabdosynochus</em> are incredibly diverse in the structure of their vagina. It’s a complex sclerotised structure, with a “trumpet” followed by several “canals” and “chambers”; each species has a unique morphology. How the sperm travel through this vagina is again unknown – this is a very small structure, generally one-thirtieth of a millimetre. It is likely that these complex structures play a major role in the differentiation of species.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
À lire aussi :
<a href="https://theconversation.com/understanding-the-evolution-of-parasitic-worms-by-studying-their-spermatozoa-93026">Understanding the evolution of parasitic worms by studying their spermatozoa</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Parasites on the gills of groupers in the Mediterranean</h2>
<p>Previous results had shown that the groupers in warm sea, including coral reefs, harboured a <a href="https://folia.paru.cas.cz/artkey/fol-201004-0001_an_annotated_list_of_parasites_isopoda_copepoda_monogenea_digenea_cestoda_and_nematoda_collected_in_group.php">rich fauna of parasites</a>, especially monogeneans on fish gills. When we decided to study monogeneans of Mediterranean groupers, there were <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/parasite/2015005">only seven species</a> of <em>Pseudorhabdosynochus</em> known from the five endemic grouper species.</p>
<p>We sampled fish from the fish markets of Tunisia and sometimes from nearby Libya. Groupers are among the most sought-after fish in this part of the world, and thus expensive. However, a single big grouper can harbour hundreds of monogeneans, so a few fish provide ample work for the passionate parasitologist (and, occasionally, opportunities for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunisian_cuisine">nice meals</a>).</p>
<p>We found that groupers in the Mediterranean sea have a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0171392">dozen species</a> of <em>Pseudorhabdosynochus</em>. We could even describe <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0159886">three new species</a>, i.e., species that were never seen by previous researchers. For these we assigned new names; one is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0159886"><em>Pseudorhabdosynochus hayet</em></a>, from the mottled grouper. Although species names are technically Latin, this one is of Arabic origin – <em>hayet</em>, meaning life.</p>
<h2>A parasite species with a puzzling distribution</h2>
<p>The species we found on the Haifa grouper had a few surprises in store. This is a rare fish species found only occasionally at fish markets. Its Latin name is <em>Hyporthodus haifensis</em>; the genus <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyporthodus"><em>Hyporthodus</em></a> gathers a few species of deep-sea rare groupers. No monogenean had ever been reported from this fish, so, when we found one, we first thought that it was a new species. Therefore, <a href="https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2233">we compared it with other species found in the world</a>. To our surprise, it was identical to <em>Pseudorhabdosynochus sulamericanus</em>, a species from the western Atlantic. This species was previously reported from grouper species of the genus <em>Hyporthodus</em> off <a href="https://doi.org/10.1023%2FA%3A1006232029426">Brazil</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1051/parasite/2015024">Florida</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341907/original/file-20200615-65947-a7re0n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341907/original/file-20200615-65947-a7re0n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341907/original/file-20200615-65947-a7re0n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341907/original/file-20200615-65947-a7re0n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341907/original/file-20200615-65947-a7re0n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341907/original/file-20200615-65947-a7re0n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=681&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341907/original/file-20200615-65947-a7re0n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=681&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341907/original/file-20200615-65947-a7re0n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=681&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The surprising distribution of <em>Pseudorhabdosynochus sulamericanus</em> (asterisks), found both along the American coasts and in the Mediterranean. The coloured lines along the coasts represent the known distribution of deep-sea groupers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Chaabane et al</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It was disappointing that a species of monogenean from the Mediterranean had a name evocating South America (that’s what <em>sulamericanus</em> means). Moreover, it was hard to understand how species of fish separated by 6,000 kilometres of open ocean could share the same parasite species. We considered several explanations. One is simply that ichthyologists know very little of the biology of deep-sea groupers: it could be that the three grouper species from the American and African sides of the Atlantic have opportunities to exchange parasites, somewhere in the Atlantic.</p>
<h2>Are parasites responsible for the disappearance of Mediterranean groupers?</h2>
<p>In the 1950s, diving pioneer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Cousteau">Jacques Cousteau</a> reported huge groupers living quietly just <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Silent_World:_A_Story_of_Undersea_Discovery_and_Adventure">close to beaches and harbours along the French coast</a>. Alas, groupers are now rare along the European shores of the Mediterranean, decimated by overfishing and pollution.</p>
<p>We can’t point our fingers at monogeneans, however – the influence of these tiny parasites on these big groupers is probably infinitesimal. Even if hundreds of them are on the gills of a fish, they probably have almost or no consequence on its health.</p>
<p>The situation, however, is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudorhabdosynochus#Pathology_and_control_in_mariculture">very different in aquaculture</a>. When groupers are reared in a small pond of seawater, monogeneans can proliferate exponentially and species of <em>Pseudorhabdosynochus</em> are a well-known cause of death. In nature, groupers are often solitary animals, separated from their congeners by large areas of clean, monogenean-free, seawater; groupers have invented <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_distancing">social distancing</a>. Unfortunately, that’s not the case for farm-raised groupers, sometimes with fatal consequences. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>This article is published in collaboration with researchers from ISYEB (Institut de Systématique, Évolution, Biodiversité, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Sorbonne Universités). Every month they propose a scientific chronicle of biodiversity: “En direct des espèces”. Objective: to understand the interest of describing new species and cataloguing living things.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/141332/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jean-Lou Justine has received funding from the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris (PARSUDMED) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Paris (BIOPARMED-ENVIMED). He is editor-in-chief of the journal Parasite in which some of the articles mentioned in this text have been published.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amira Chaabane ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>Mediterranean groupers are not alone: they are home to a wide variety of parasites.Amira Chaabane, Independant researcher, Muséum national d’histoire naturelle (MNHN)Jean-Lou Justine, Professeur, UMR ISYEB (Institut de Systématique, Évolution, Biodiversité), Muséum national d’histoire naturelle (MNHN)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1300782020-01-21T17:30:36Z2020-01-21T17:30:36ZWhen did the vulva become obscene?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310449/original/file-20200116-181653-1pzeab2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C17%2C1497%2C1028&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Statuette of a female vulve called Baubo, terracotta, from Priene, Asia Minor, 4th century BC.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/ArtefactPorn/comments/7fifnk/statue_of_baubo_goddess_of_lewd_jokes_ca_400_bce/">Reddit</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In September 2019, a French ad for feminine hygiene products featuring taboo-breaking representations of vulvas and menstruation <a href="https://www.telerama.fr/television/sur-youtube,-la-vulve-sous-le-feu-des-commentaires,n6437136.php">sparked controversy</a>. Yet in a cultural context in France, phallic symbols rarely cause a fuss. What explains this difference in treatment?</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296231/original/file-20191009-3867-xogc12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296231/original/file-20191009-3867-xogc12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1327&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296231/original/file-20191009-3867-xogc12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1327&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296231/original/file-20191009-3867-xogc12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1327&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296231/original/file-20191009-3867-xogc12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1668&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296231/original/file-20191009-3867-xogc12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1668&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296231/original/file-20191009-3867-xogc12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1668&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The goddess Ishtar, vase from Larsa, c. 1900 BC.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Musée du Louvre</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Images of male genitalia in art and advertising rarely cause a stir – we’re used to them. Male statues have been flaunting their (fairly realistic) penises in public parks for centuries, and <a href="http://www.culturepub.fr/videos/perrier-bouteille-phallique/">Perrier often centers its ads on phallic-shaped bottles</a>.</p>
<p>In contrast, vulval symbols are conspicuous by their absence. No wonder, then, that the Nana brand’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch&v=0k-_4WloY6Y">“Viva la Vulva”</a> campaign is causing a stir. The phallus is seen as a powerful image, whereas the vulva is upsetting to many. But this has not always been the case.</p>
<h2>The divine vulva of Ishtar: a fertility symbol</h2>
<p>In the third millennium BC, the Sumerians, inhabitants of present-day Iraq, worshipped the goddess Ishtar. Poetic texts refer to the goddess’ wet vulva, fertilized by the sperm of her mortal husband, Dumuzi, the shepherd king.</p>
<p>The goddess addresses her lover <a href="https://www.babelio.com/livres/Kramer-Lerotisme-sacre/444260">as follows</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Who will plow my high field?<br>
Who will plow my wet ground?<br>
As for me, the young woman,<br>
who will plow my vulva?<br>
Who will station the ox there?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The oxen pulling the plow refer to the king’s phallus; the vulva represents the ground to be sown. Ishtar’s royal lover answers, “I, Dumuzi the King, will plow your vulva.” At fever pitch of excitement, the goddess cries, “Then plow my vulva, man of my heart!”</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296237/original/file-20191009-3910-ocs3qa.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296237/original/file-20191009-3910-ocs3qa.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296237/original/file-20191009-3910-ocs3qa.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=984&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296237/original/file-20191009-3910-ocs3qa.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=984&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296237/original/file-20191009-3910-ocs3qa.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=984&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296237/original/file-20191009-3910-ocs3qa.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1237&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296237/original/file-20191009-3910-ocs3qa.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1237&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296237/original/file-20191009-3910-ocs3qa.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1237&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hathor, bronze statuette, 8th century BC.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdfplus/10.1086/685672">Brooklyn Museum</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>They make love, and when Dumuzi ejaculates, plants are seeded all around and begin to grow. The vulva plays a positive role in this story; it is complementary to the phallus, equally necessary to the fertilization of the land.</p>
<p>In ancient Egypt, the vulva was seen as a source of happiness and regeneration. The sun god Ra was the source of light on Earth, but he sometimes showed signs of weakness, endangering all of humankind. Fortunately, the beautiful goddess Hathor had the bright idea of undressing in front of him and showing her vulva. Ra laughed joyfully at the sight and <a href="https://www.academia.edu/1529326/_Rire_f%C3%A9condit%C3%A9_et_d%C3%A9voilement_rituel_du_sexe_f%C3%A9minin_d_Hathor_%C3%A0_Baub%C3%B4_un_parcours_revisit%C3%A9_dans_Et_in_Aegypto_et_ad_Aegyptum_Recueil_d_%C3%A9tudes_d%C3%A9di%C3%A9es_%C3%A0_Jean%E2%80%91Claude_Grenier_Annie_Gasse_Fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric_Servajean_et_Christophe_Thiers_%C3%A9ds._CENiM_5_vol._4_Montpellier_2012_p._755-772">recovered all his dazzle</a>. A valuable vulva indeed…</p>
<h2>In Greece and Rome: the vulva vanishes</h2>
<p>The vulva fell out of favour in the ancient Greek and Roman world. Artists often depicted the phallus, but the vulva is almost nowhere to be seen. Gods and heroes flaunt their penises, but goddesses tend to be robed; even when nude, like Aphrodite, they have perfectly smooth pubic triangles, with no clitoris or labia. The vulva was lost to censorship.</p>
<p>By contrast, the phallus – <em>phallos</em> in Greek or <em>fascinus</em> in Latin – was revered. Believed to have magical powers, it was exhibited and worshipped as an idol capable of protecting the city and its inhabitants from harm, and putting thieves and intruders to flight.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296240/original/file-20191009-3910-1jzdj02.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296240/original/file-20191009-3910-1jzdj02.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296240/original/file-20191009-3910-1jzdj02.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=940&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296240/original/file-20191009-3910-1jzdj02.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=940&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296240/original/file-20191009-3910-1jzdj02.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=940&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296240/original/file-20191009-3910-1jzdj02.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1182&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296240/original/file-20191009-3910-1jzdj02.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1182&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296240/original/file-20191009-3910-1jzdj02.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1182&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"><em>Hic habitat Felicitas</em>, ‘Here dwells happiness,’ terracotta relief, 1st century AD.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pomp%C3%A9%C3%AF_HIC_HABITAT_FELICITAS.jpg">Archeological Museum, Naples</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is why the Athenians held the annual Dionysia festival, where a <a href="https://www.babelio.com/livres/Sissa-La-vie-quotidienne-des-dieux-grecs/114518">solemn procession of citizens called <em>phallophoroi</em></a> carried giant carved wooden phalluses. Erect penises made of wood or clay were also installed on street corners and at the entrances to stores and houses.</p>
<p>A sign found over the entrance of a bakery in Pompeii shows a <em>fascinus</em>, framed by an inscription proclaiming “Here dwells happiness” (<em>Hic habitat felicitas</em>). Phallic scarecrows were thought to be <a href="https://www.historia.fr/le-sexe-%C3%A0%C2%A0-rome">apotropaic</a> (able to ward off evil), and Greeks and Romans wore bronze penis-shaped pendants. In all these different forms, the phallus was always synonymous with strength, happiness and prosperity.</p>
<h2>The vulva, for women only</h2>
<p>In Greek art, depictions of the vulva – believed to <a href="http://pur-editions.fr/detail.php?idOuv=3869">boost female fertility</a> – are only found on objects intended for women.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296241/original/file-20191009-3846-13735cd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296241/original/file-20191009-3846-13735cd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1309&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296241/original/file-20191009-3846-13735cd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1309&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296241/original/file-20191009-3846-13735cd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1309&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296241/original/file-20191009-3846-13735cd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1645&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296241/original/file-20191009-3846-13735cd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1645&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296241/original/file-20191009-3846-13735cd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1645&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Figurine of a vulva-woman known as Baubo, terracotta, Priene, Asia Minor, 4th century AD.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Statuettes of pregnant women touching their vulvas have been found in Egypt. Other figurines of vulva-women, found in Asia Minor, were probably worn by pregnant women as protective amulets. The ethnologist and psychoanalyst Georges Devereux associated these headless figurines, whose faces are engraved on their bellies, with the myth of the priestess Baubo, who <a href="https://www.babelio.com/livres/Devereux-Baubo-la-vulve-mythique/346685">showed her vulva to Demeter</a> to distract the goddess from her grief at the loss of her daughter.</p>
<p>Like Ra in the Egyptian story of Hathor, Demeter reacted by laughing–but Baubo showed her vulva as a gesture of female solidarity, with no erotic intention.</p>
<p>The denigration of the vulva outside the female sphere is illustrated by the birth of the goddess Athena, who was growing in Zeus’ skull. One day, Zeus had such a headache that he begged the god Hephaestus to split open his skull with a hammer and chisel. Hephaestus complied, <a href="https://www.babelio.com/livres/Bonnard-Le-complexe-de-Zeus--Representations-de-la-patern/404952">carving out a sort of improvised vulva</a>.</p>
<p>The goddess Athena, in full armour, sprang out from this crack – so the lord of the gods was able to give birth to his daughter, proving the vulva’s worthlessness. This myth is a fantasy of male birth-giving – procreation in which the vulva plays no part.</p>
<h2>The “taut sex” of the nymphomaniac</h2>
<p>But the most hostile ancient representations of the vulva are found in Latin texts. Roman authors imagined nymphomaniac characters, women gripped by uncontrollable sexual frenzy. One such example is Messalina, wife of the emperor Claudius (reigned AD 41-54). After her death, she became the heroine of a sinister legend portraying her as <a href="https://www.babelio.com/livres/Castorio-Messaline-la-putain-imperiale/784076">sexually insatiable</a>.</p>
<p>The poet Juvenal described her orgiastic behaviour in his <em>Satires</em>, recounting how the young empress left the splendour of the palace under cover of night, venturing out in secret to <a href="http://remacle.org/bloodwolf/satire/juvenal/satire6b.htm">gratify her lust in a sordid Roman brothel</a> (Juvénal, <em>Satires</em> VI, 116-130).</p>
<p>All night long, Messalina took lover after lover, only stopping when the brothel closed its doors. She returned to the palace with her “taut sex still burning” (<em>adhuc ardens rigidae tentigine vulvae</em>), exhausted but “not satisfied” (<em>sed non satiata</em>, the famous expression that inspired <a href="https://fleursdumal.org/poem/123">Baudelaire’s poem of the same name</a>).</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311198/original/file-20200121-117927-18oilpj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311198/original/file-20200121-117927-18oilpj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311198/original/file-20200121-117927-18oilpj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311198/original/file-20200121-117927-18oilpj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311198/original/file-20200121-117927-18oilpj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=594&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311198/original/file-20200121-117927-18oilpj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=594&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311198/original/file-20200121-117927-18oilpj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=594&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"><em>The Death Of Valeria Messalina</em> by Victor Biennoury (1823–1893).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Death_Of_Valeria_Messalina_by_V.Biennoury.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Her lust never satisfied, Messalina involved her entourage in her excesses. According to Pliny the Elder, she challenged a prostitute to a 24-hour sex competition, which she won with a score of 25 partners (<em>Natural History</em> 10, 83, 172).</p>
<p>In addition to her endless string of lovers, Messalina was reputed to always initiate her sexual encounters, revolutionising the codes of phallocratic Roman society. She was portrayed as a tireless sexual predator and a dominant woman who behaved like a man – outrageous in Roman eyes.</p>
<p>Claudius was told of his wife’s shocking behaviour and ordered her execution – the only way of quenching her sexual thirst.</p>
<h2>So what is obscenity?</h2>
<p>Obscenity is a social construction that varies according to time and place. In Hindu mythology, the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/yoni"><em>yoni</em> is the symbol of the fertility goddess Shakti</a>, who was was revered as far back as 4000 BC. It was seen as equal to its male counterpart, the <em>lingam</em>, and together they were the source of all existence. A similar mythology is present in Japan with the concepts of <em>yin</em> and <em>yang</em>, representing female and male energies. At the same time, the country still considers images of vulvas to be obscene from a legal point of view, as demonstrated by the <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/05/09/national/crime-legal/vagina-artist-convicted-of-obscenity-court-acknowledges-pop-art-motive/#.XicqzX-2mCg">2014 conviction of the artist Megumi Igarashi</a>.</p>
<p>But thanks to the influence the influence of female artists – and even advertisers – the vulva is back in the 21st century.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LyMHNvEkvwU?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<hr>
<p><em>Translated from the French by Sally Laruelle of <a href="http://www.fastforword.fr/en">Fast ForWord</a> and Leighton Kille of The Conversation France.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/130078/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christian-Georges Schwentzel ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>An ad alluding to the vulva is sparking controversy, but there are few objections to phallic symbols. What explains this difference in treatment?Christian-Georges Schwentzel, Professeur d'histoire ancienne, Université de LorraineLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1251352019-12-09T01:11:07Z2019-12-09T01:11:07Z‘How do I clean my penis?’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305101/original/file-20191204-70167-1dlj45h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=538%2C0%2C2958%2C2000&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wes Mountain/The Conversation</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><blockquote>
<p>Growing up, no one ever gave me the rundown on how or what I should do to keep my penis clean […] I’ve never read any reliable answer beyond washing it with water. Do I use soap? Any soap? How normal is smegma? If my penis gets itchy from smegma should I go see a doctor? If so, my GP or a urologist? — Anonymous</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Key points</h2>
<ul>
<li>clean under the foreskin, using soap, but not too much</li>
<li>smegma is normal</li>
<li>if you have any concerns, see your GP.</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/i-need-to-know-66587"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290837/original/file-20190904-175686-polw3q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=90&fit=crop&dpr=2" width="100%"></a></p>
<p>It’s a shame some people think talking about cleaning and caring for our genitals is embarrassing or taboo. We probably know more about hair care than penis care.</p>
<p>The penis is simply another part of our anatomy, so cleaning should be relatively straight forward.</p>
<p>If you’ve been circumcised, where your foreskin was removed soon after birth, your penis will look something like the one in the diagram (below, right), with the head (or glans) always exposed.</p>
<p>But if you have a foreskin (below left and centre), there are some extra things to think about when washing, which we’ll get to soon.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305077/original/file-20191204-70116-1vv28db.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305077/original/file-20191204-70116-1vv28db.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305077/original/file-20191204-70116-1vv28db.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305077/original/file-20191204-70116-1vv28db.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305077/original/file-20191204-70116-1vv28db.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305077/original/file-20191204-70116-1vv28db.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305077/original/file-20191204-70116-1vv28db.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Foreskin facts</h2>
<p>But first, some foreskin facts. From around the time you turn five, your foreskin <a href="http://www.cirp.org/library/hygiene/camille1/">separates</a> from the head of your penis, bit by bit. This allows you to pull back your foreskin (retract it). In some boys, the foreskin can stay partially stuck to the head of the penis until puberty.</p>
<p>You should <a href="https://www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/boyhood-studies/1/2/bhs010206.xml">never forcibly pull back</a> your foreskin. That’ll be painful, you could bleed, you could scar, or have other complications.</p>
<h2>OK, now for the washing part</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.cirp.org/library/hygiene/camille1/">Once your foreskin separates easily from the glans</a>, gently retract and clean underneath the foreskin with each bath or shower. Then, after washing, pull the foreskin forward to its normal position.</p>
<p>When it’s time to dry off, retract the foreskin again so you can dry the head of the penis with a towel. Then, you guessed it, pull the foreskin forward to its normal position.</p>
<p>It’s OK to clean with soap whether you have a foreskin or not. But generally, too much soap is worse than none at all. Excessive cleaning removes essential body oils that would normally keep our skin moist and reduce friction. If you have sensitive skin, you can use a soap-free wash from the chemist.</p>
<h2>What about smegma?</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/smegma">Smegma</a> is a thick, whitish discharge consisting of a build-up of dead skin cells, oil and other fluids under the foreskin. And it’s very useful. It protects and lubricates the penis. </p>
<p>Some people have oilier skin than others and <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1046/j.1464-410x.1999.0830s1034.x">tend to have more smegma</a>.
So some smegma is normal, but if you have too much or it becomes smelly, you may need to clean more.</p>
<h2>Things to watch out for (and when to see your GP)</h2>
<p>If the head of your penis becomes painful, red, itchy and has a discharge, you may have a treatable condition called <a href="https://www.mshc.org.au/SexualHealthInformation/SexualHealthFactSheets/BALANITIS/tabid/134/Default.aspx#.XcJiPfZuKUk">balanitis</a>.</p>
<p>It’s more common if you have a foreskin. And the bacteria and fungus that cause it like the warm and moist conditions under there.</p>
<p>Skin disorders, infection, poor hygiene, friction from sexual activity, and using too much soap all <a href="https://www.dermnetnz.org/topics/balanitis/">cause the condition</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-make-your-next-sexual-health-check-less-erm-awkward-72498">How to make your next sexual health check less, erm ... awkward</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>You can clear a mild case with good hygiene and simple treatments, such as an antiseptic or antifungal cream. You can buy these from any pharmacy. In addition to the medication, the cream itself helps protect and moisturise the inflammed skin. </p>
<p>If you have balanitis you may need to be more careful than usual to avoid urine irritating your inflamed skin. Retract your foreskin when you urinate. Dry the head of the penis gently after you finish.</p>
<p>If your penis is still inflamed after a week of these simple measures it’s <a href="https://www.aafp.org/afp/2018/0115/p102.html">best to see your GP</a>. They can then investigate other causes, such as <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK537143/">psoriasis or an allergy</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/125135/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David King does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It’s a surprisingly common question. Here’s what you need to know.David King, Senior Lecturer in General Practice, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1125132019-02-28T19:26:06Z2019-02-28T19:26:06ZWhat do normal labia look like? Sometimes doctors are the wrong people to ask<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261376/original/file-20190228-150721-1io417n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Some doctors' websites make false claims to encourage women to have genital cosmetic surgery.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/9X5xYDr-j1M">rawpixel</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Women’s genitals are as diverse as our faces, as you can see in the <a href="http://www.labialibrary.org.au/">Labia Library</a> photo gallery. We are accustomed to some faces being accepted as “beautiful”, and know that the standard varies across time and culture. We may be less familiar with the idea that similar judgements are made about the vulva. </p>
<p>The vulva includes the inner lips (labia minora) and outer lips (labia majora), the clitoris, and the vaginal opening. Labia can be long or short, wrinkled or smooth, dark or light. One side is often longer than the other, consistent with the asymmetry of most body parts. The exterior of the clitoris can be pea-sized or as big as a thumb. </p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261375/original/file-20190228-150718-edzs9x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261375/original/file-20190228-150718-edzs9x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=589&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261375/original/file-20190228-150718-edzs9x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=589&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261375/original/file-20190228-150718-edzs9x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=589&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261375/original/file-20190228-150718-edzs9x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=741&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261375/original/file-20190228-150718-edzs9x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=741&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261375/original/file-20190228-150718-edzs9x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=741&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wes Mountain/The Conversation</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>Just as some people seek cosmetic surgery on visible parts of their bodies, women have resorted to cosmetic surgery on their genitals to make them resemble an ideal. The <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00224490903308404">Western ideal vulva</a> is represented by the Barbie doll: “a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13691058.2013.780639">clean slit</a>”.</p>
<p>More than <a href="https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/6/9/e013010">half of GPs surveyed</a> in 2016 reported being consulted by women and girls wanting genital cosmetic surgery. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-normal-anyway-gps-should-discourage-women-from-unnecessary-genital-surgery-45650">What's normal, anyway? GPs should discourage women from unnecessary genital surgery</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>But what do women see when they search for cosmetic surgery?</p>
<p>Doctors <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17405904.2013.813772">advertise online</a>, offering procedures including labiaplasty to reduce the labia minora, reduction of the clitoral hood, and plumping up of the labia majora. </p>
<p>Our research team wanted to learn what was in popular websites advertising Australian clinics, and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13691058.2019.1574029?af=R&journalCode=tchs20">analysed 31 websites</a> in 2016. The same or similar websites came up in our search this week.</p>
<p>Websites gave a strong impression that female genitals diverging from the “ideal” need surgery. Although most websites acknowledged that vulvas were naturally diverse, they used language that pathologised any appearance other than a Barbie doll. </p>
<p>Visible labia minora were described as “hypertrophic” (showing excessive growth), which sounds like a medical diagnosis. According to one doctor:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The primary goal of labiaplasty is to reduce the size of the labia by surgically removing excess skin and shaping it into a more youthful and attractive form.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Websites didn’t say why it was better to be youthful than mature in sexuality or sexual organs. “Youthful” implies a yearning for women who are compliant and self-effacing, with no alarming sexual organs and presumably sexual needs. </p>
<p>Websites also emphasised the need to be “feminine”, with a “neat” and “tidy” vulva, conjuring up images of a 1950s housewife. These doctors reinforced the idea of binary sex, in which women must look undeniably female, with no visible clitoris. One website claimed a protruding clitoris “can feel and appear like a very small penis, which can cause deep insecurity and sexual anxiety”. </p>
<p>“Excess, floppy or uneven Labia Minora” justified cosmetic surgery, as did psychological, emotional, and physical discomfort. These were often described as “symptoms” requiring surgery to improve women’s health and well-being. According to one website: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The truth is that relationships, exercise, even dressing can be negatively impacted by a large inner or outer labia.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>A typical “patient testimonial” claimed that, after labiaplasty, “Suddenly empowered, I felt more womanly than ever.” </p>
<p>Large labia minora were said to be “unhealthy and unhygienic”. Women were warned that, should “symptoms” be left “untreated”, they would worsen and “contribute to an unpleasant smell developing in the sensitive area”. </p>
<p>Only one website talked about the lack of evidence to support claims about hygiene:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>There is no evidence to suggest that labiaplasty surgery can reduce problems with recurrent thrush or address hygiene concerns or problems.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It was also claimed on some sites that women’s sex life would improve because they would no longer be anxious about the way their genitals looked, and because cutting off visible labia minora would make women more attractive: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>It will be very apparent to your sexual partner that the external structure of the labia will have been altered visually—namely they’ll be smaller and better aligned. Your sexual partner will clearly notice this change for the better.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Some websites claimed cosmetic surgery had nothing to do with fashion or social pressure and everything to do with individual choice:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Labiaplasty is an individual consideration. It is not merely the domain of strippers or porn stars. It can improve the physical and psychological quality of life for women who [are] affected by genital irregularities. […] Part of being a woman is not ‘putting up with it’ but taking control by having access to choice.“</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The sales pitch emphasised that labiaplasty was "simple,” “safe and pain-free”, “one-hour surgery”. </p>
<p>The websites’ primary interest appeared to be commercial. While most doctors showed awareness of at least some ethical practices (including risks or side-effects, usually described as “rare”), few gave evidence of practising ethically, such as performing surgery only on adults. </p>
<p>Only two warned of potential loss of sensation or the harmful effects of scarring. </p>
<p>Three websites did recommend that women seek a second opinion and another required a recommendation from an independent doctor. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261377/original/file-20190228-150702-1taf28s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261377/original/file-20190228-150702-1taf28s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261377/original/file-20190228-150702-1taf28s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261377/original/file-20190228-150702-1taf28s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261377/original/file-20190228-150702-1taf28s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261377/original/file-20190228-150702-1taf28s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261377/original/file-20190228-150702-1taf28s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Genital cosmetic surgery can cause loss of sensation and scarring.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/scrub-nurse-preparing-medical-instruments-operation-247562539">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Of course, doctors may practise ethically without giving details on their websites. However, it could be considered poor ethical practice to persuade women they need surgery on genitals showing no evidence of abnormality. </p>
<p>Medical organisations point to the lack of “high-quality evidence” to support female genital surgery for cosmetic reasons. The <a href="http://www.ranzcog.edu.au/college-statements-guidelines.html#gynaecology">Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists</a>, for example, dismisses claims cosmetic genital surgery enhances sexual function or women’s self-image. The college has also raised concern that such surgery may exploit vulnerable women. </p>
<p>While supporting genital surgery for female anatomy following trauma, mutilation or congenital anomalies, the <a href="http://afmw.org.au/news/818-afmw-position-statement-on-female-genital-cosmetic-surgery">Australian Federation of Medical Women</a> opposes the promotion of surgical techniques that make unproven claims about sexual satisfaction or attractiveness:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>promoting and performing such surgery carries significant risks of physical and psychological harm to women and girls. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Because these websites represent GPs and surgeons, they carry the weight of professional and scientific respectability, which gives power to their message: women’s most intimate bodies need to be shaped to conform to fashion or beauty ideals. </p>
<p>The first principle of medicine is to do no harm. Encouraging women to cut off bits of their genitals to suit a fashion trend or social constructions of womanhood has at least the potential for harm. The time has come for stricter regulation and monitoring of medical advertisements rather than of women’s bodies.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/vulvas-periods-and-leaks-women-need-the-right-words-to-seek-help-for-conditions-down-there-53638">Vulvas, periods and leaks: women need the right words to seek help for conditions 'down there'</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This research was conducted by Kimberley Chibnall during her honours year towards the degree of Bachelor of Health Science, under the supervision of Maggie Kirkman and Karalyn McDonald.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/112513/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maggie Kirkman received funding for this research from the Australian Research Council (LP130100025) with partners Jean Hailes for Women’s Health, Women’s Health Victoria, Family Planning Victoria, the Australian Federation of Medical Women, and Monash Health.
Maggie Kirkman is a member of the Australian Psychological Society</span></em></p>Some doctors’ websites give the impression that women’s genitals that diverge from the “ideal” need surgery. This is nonsense – genitals are as diverse as our faces.Maggie Kirkman, Senior Research Fellow, Jean Hailes Research Unit, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/843882017-11-03T13:28:41Z2017-11-03T13:28:41ZHow to overcome phallus-obsessed, toxic masculinity<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192240/original/file-20171027-13340-1il9ja6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Svetlana Turchenick/Shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Masculinity is often, these days, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/oct/23/toxic-masculinity-men-privilege-emotions-rizzle-kicks">described as “toxic”</a>. In May, Hillary Clinton spoke at a gala where “toxic masculinity” <a href="https://theslot.jezebel.com/hillary-clinton-reminded-planned-parenthood-gala-to-re-1794881267">cocktails</a> were reported to have been served. Toxic masculinity even has its own <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxic_masculinity">Wikipedia entry</a>.</p>
<p>Against this, attempts to change masculinity are growing. Bestsellers by <a href="https://www.bitebackpublishing.com/books/be-a-man">Chris Hemmings</a>, artist <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/oct/23/descent-of-man-masculinity-grayson-perry-review-a-mans-man-is-yesterdays-hero-gender-role">Grayson Perry</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/aug/20/robert-webb-autobiography-how-not-to-be-a-boy-peep-show">Robert Webb</a> interrogate their own biographies to challenge what it means to be a man and identify the damage that can be done through the pursuit of stereotypes that cut men off from others, their feelings and understandings – and indeed from their own experience. This hurts more than just men as individuals. It is also implicitly institutionalised by the places where we work – where men still usually dominate. </p>
<p>But why is it so hard to release men from the dominant understanding of what it is to be masculine? How do we make it acceptable for men not to reproduce patriarchal behaviours – to allow them to adopt more emotionally resonant and “tender” forms of masculinity? It’s hard because what it means to be masculine – strong, brave, power-hungry, in control, unemotional unless angry or in competition – is just an expression of one hegemonic metaphorical form: penis-obsessed and power-hungry phallic masculinity. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/190663/original/file-20171017-30394-d7n0x5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/190663/original/file-20171017-30394-d7n0x5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190663/original/file-20171017-30394-d7n0x5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190663/original/file-20171017-30394-d7n0x5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190663/original/file-20171017-30394-d7n0x5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190663/original/file-20171017-30394-d7n0x5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190663/original/file-20171017-30394-d7n0x5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Penguin</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But the powerful phallus has never been the only masculine metaphor available. Throughout history, two alternative metaphors – based around the testes and semen – offered fruitful alternatives to bring out very different sides of masculinity. </p>
<p>Over the past decade, <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0018726714558146">we have researched</a> all three metaphors, looking at how they impact on organisations, working in the background to shape what people pay attention to, how they act as a consequence – and what they feel about the result. We consulted historical texts and archaeological sources, anthropological studies, medical papers, psychoanalytic accounts, popular literature, studies of contemporary masculinity and contributions to the sociology of organisations. We charted a way through these incredibly varied masculine forms, identifying more caring and creative alternatives to build on Perry’s call for tenderness.</p>
<h2>Phallic masculinity</h2>
<p>Phallic masculinity underpins the social formation of patriarchy. Yet its early manifestations were not equated with the lust for power that defines it today. The earliest phallic objects, found in southern Germany, are some 28,000 years old. </p>
<p>Initially, the phallus was more associated with natural fertility. The Egyptian God Min, for example shows an ample erection in the left hand and an agricultural flail in the right. In some cultures it was seen as a bridge or means of relational connection rather than domination. For the ancient Greeks, the penis had creative associations, seen as a sort of Merlin’s wand. The ever-ready Priapus was also the god of vegetable gardens, beehives, flocks and vineyards. Being “a dick”, then, was not necessarily pejorative in those times. But unless you were a god and it went with your responsibilities, a large phallus was regarded as excessive and crude.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/190661/original/file-20171017-30390-1a7x4qq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/190661/original/file-20171017-30390-1a7x4qq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190661/original/file-20171017-30390-1a7x4qq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190661/original/file-20171017-30390-1a7x4qq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190661/original/file-20171017-30390-1a7x4qq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=661&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190661/original/file-20171017-30390-1a7x4qq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=661&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190661/original/file-20171017-30390-1a7x4qq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=661&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">First-century (Roman) sculpture of Priapus.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mus%C3%A9e_Picardie_Arch%C3%A9o_03.jpg#/media/File:Mus%C3%A9e_Picardie_Arch%C3%A9o_03.jpg">Musée Picardie Archéo</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For the Romans, the phallus became more of a power-centred battering ram. A large Roman phallus was a sign of status, the ability to protect and vanquish evil. This can be seen in statues and amulets of the period, a view that embedded itself in Western cultures. Male gods displaced Earth-mother deities, and the dominance of the phallus was enacted less through physical displays of power and more from symbolic displays of control.</p>
<p>Despite the obsession with control, a phallic understanding of masculinity is not always entirely negative. Benign patriarchy, for example, could be seen as well-intentioned benevolent discipline (“tough love”). At their best, such patriarchs tempered control with a touch of care and charity, even generosity. The control element might be subtle and imperceptible. But today, being “a dick” is hardly associated with tender emotions. Phallic metaphors have now become largely negative – associated with tight hierarchical control, intense competition and obsessive zero tolerance of error.</p>
<h2>Testicular masculinity</h2>
<p>Before the Romans, metaphors that involved the testicles dictated what was understood by masculinity just as much as phallic ones. Testicles were associated with fertility, strength and energy in early religious texts. </p>
<p>But the testicles of the sexually potent Egyptian god Seth came to represent savage, undifferentiated elemental forces. And these required taming. By the Roman period, the “family jewels” began to be seen as the source of passions that distracted from divine motivations and masculine phallic control.</p>
<p>This led to the development of castration cults. Devotees would run through the streets cutting off their own equipment as they went, throwing it into nearby houses. Catching a set was supposedly a blessing, like a bizarre bride’s bouquet. Amazingly, these cults were so popular they had to be banned in some countries. A surviving practice was even found in a central Russian Coptic sect – the <a href="https://www.rbth.com/politics_and_society/2016/08/25/the-skoptsy-the-story-of-the-russian-sect-that-maimed-for-its-beliefs_624175">Skoptsy</a> – as late as the 1960s.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/190665/original/file-20171017-30379-nmfs5t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/190665/original/file-20171017-30379-nmfs5t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190665/original/file-20171017-30379-nmfs5t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190665/original/file-20171017-30379-nmfs5t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190665/original/file-20171017-30379-nmfs5t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=642&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190665/original/file-20171017-30379-nmfs5t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=642&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190665/original/file-20171017-30379-nmfs5t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=642&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Skoptsy man and woman.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skoptsy#/media/File:Skoptsy_man_and_woman.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Today’s testicles are symbolically associated with bravery and confidence, “having the balls” to do something. Classic coaching behaviour, for example, aims to develop a capacity in others to have the machismo or <em>“cojones”</em> to assert oneself. This supports initiative and develops individual resilience, familiar in teams. But the same metaphor can encourage a more divisive competitive environment. General “clubbiness” can degenerate into rivalry. Cheating, ostensive display and addictive risk taking all feed off “the testosterone in the room”.</p>
<h2>Seminal masculinity</h2>
<p>In a postmodern world, perhaps the traditionally perceived virtues of both phallic and testicular masculinity are less relevant. A more creative alternative may be needed. Semen has long been seen as a “precious fluid” – a source of renewal. Think of the biblical Onan, who was sentenced to death by God as punishment for coitus interruptus. Tribes in New Guinea, meanwhile, had a <a href="https://sexselvesandsociety.wordpress.com/2014/04/25/semen-sippin-sambians/">semen-swallowing ritual</a> for young males to acquire the strength and wisdom of their elders. </p>
<p>In the West, ideas about semen bifurcated in recent centuries. For 18th-century physician Samuel Tissot, loss of semen depleted bodily vitality and even jettisoned one’s capacity to reason. Admirers of this perspective included Napoleon, Kant and Voltaire. Tissot’s influence extended well into the 20th century. The 19th-century American poet Walt Whitman, on the other hand, thought of semen as a renewable resource, symbolic of boundless creativity.</p>
<p>Today, we’re familiar with the idea of a seminal contribution – a “seed” that inspires new departures in knowledge, culture and style, whether it’s Böhr or the Beatles. Such inspiration is what seminal masculinity at its best offers. </p>
<p>But the problem with inspiration is that it requires a leadership style that disseminates and leaves its seeds to grow relatively autonomously, with a little supportive curation. And so it loses its creative power when attached to phallic conservation. Original academics, for example, are disciplined by the peer review process to honour their masters. Likewise, entrepreneurs are brought to book by dragons. Donald Trump and Alan Sugar, as businessmen, do not strike us as being seminal. Neither was Hugh Hefner. Well, not in the way we mean.</p>
<h2>Tender masculinity</h2>
<p>But of course, not all men conform to the phallic archetype. Hemmings, Perry and Webb give us plenty of examples of how they can be damaged when they do. But what prevents them from breaking out of this archetype are the deeply entrenched modes of thought that underlie the behaviours they report.</p>
<p><a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0018726714558146">Our research</a> lays bare the metaphorical anatomy of masculinity and provides a more sophisticated lens through which to reconfigure it. Perry offers us a petrol-head metaphor: “men need to look inside themselves (open the bonnet), become more aware of their feelings (read the manual), and start adapting (upgrade)”. We don’t disagree with the sentiment behind this, but it’s still essentially phallic imagery: control, follow instructions, replace, fix, adjust, improve. It’s well meant, but it’s not collaborative, and it’s not relational. Don’t mention your tools.</p>
<p>Masculinity is not a matter of one metaphor displacing another. It’s a weave of all three. We need to understand that weave and reflect on it. Then we can set the conditions for greater emphasis on the seminal and a more collaborative embrace of the feminine.</p>
<p>There’s an old adage that unless behaviour changes nothing changes. But unless the way we think changes, new behaviours tend to revert to type. New practices need new modes of representation, new ways of thinking. Constructing a more tender and adaptable form of masculinity is not a matter of winning, or of refusing to compete. Instead, we must learn to speak differently.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/84388/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Throughout history, metaphors based around the testes and semen brought out very different sides of masculinity.Stephen A. Linstead, Professor of Critical Management, University of YorkGarance Maréchal, Lecturer in Strategic Management, University of LiverpoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/783862017-05-26T02:41:26Z2017-05-26T02:41:26ZCodswallop: how to stop boxing deaths and brain injury with a simple rule<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171071/original/file-20170525-23232-fywpqm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">If hitting below the belt, not the head, was the aim, then brain damage from boxing would disappear overnight.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/544977346?src=rFryrWFdcHig3OGjqdz6Wg-2-20&size=medium_jpg">from www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-19/david-browne-inquest-boxing-inspector-speaks-at-coronial-inquest/8542760">coronial inquest</a> in Sydney into the death by subdural haematoma (brain bleed) of 28-year-old boxer Davey Browne has yet again seen the same <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/sport/boxing/boxing-referee-not-trained-to-identify-serious-head-injury-davey-browne-inquest-20170524-gwbwdy.html">predictable response</a> about how we might prevent such outcomes in the future.</p>
<p>Solutions proposed by boxing officials, administrators and pundits are framed about when exactly a fight should be stopped, more even matching of boxers, greater latitude for trainers to throw in the towel and limiting pre-bout weight loss.</p>
<p>These solutions are as meaningful as if the Titanic’s owners had removed splinters from the liner’s handrails to reduce death and injury.</p>
<p>By 2015 there have been reportedly <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/news/sporting-scene/an-obsessive-chronicle-of-deaths-in-the-ring">2036 known boxing matches</a> where a competitor had died.</p>
<h2>What’s the point of boxing?</h2>
<p>In boxing, the main objective is to hit your opponent as directly and as hard as you can in the head, rendering them unconscious. The punch that knocks a boxer down so fast they can’t stand up within 10 seconds is what the crowds are baying for. It’s what pulls the crowds in and sees massive ticket prices for ringside seats in the hope of the glorious climax of a man being knocked out.</p>
<p>According to an <a href="http://www.medicaldaily.com/out-cold-what-happens-brain-when-we-get-knocked-out-331470">article</a> on what happens when boxers are knocked unconscious, a professional boxer’s punch can generate speeds of about 40-50 kilometres per hour.</p>
<p>The article continues, quoting research published in the journal <a href="http://www.neurology.org/content/70/10/771">Neurology</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A neurochemical reaction begins in the brain cells that cause cell death. The more cells that die, the fewer brain tissue you have … It may explain why people who suffer from head injuries are never quite the same afterward. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>How common is this?</h2>
<p>We don’t have much <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2034695/">good quality data</a> about how commonly boxers suffer brain injury and later impairment. The few studies available don’t separate amateur and professional boxing. Professional boxing matches can last 12 rounds, while amateur matches last three. Amateurs also wear headgear, while professionals don’t.</p>
<p><a href="http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/417443">This study</a> of 30 professional boxers found the following range of impairment (from none to severe): 11 boxers were had normal brain function, with no signs of impairment, 12 had mild deficits, four were moderately impaired and three had signs of severe impairment. Boxers who had 12 or more professional bouts had significantly higher levels of brain injury.</p>
<h2>An obvious solution</h2>
<p>Fouls in boxing consist of hitting below the belt, holding, tripping, kicking, head butting, wrestling, biting, spitting on, or pushing your opponent.</p>
<p>If we reversed the rules on fouls to make a punch to the head a foul and a punch below the belt (aimed at the <a href="http://lingomash.com/slang-meanings/15660/slang-meaning-of-cods">cods</a> or testicles), a scoring shot, the brain injury problem would be resolved. Boxing might consider a change of name to “codswalloping”.</p>
<p>Every boy and man who has playing a body-contact sport has experienced the instantly sickening feeling being hit, kneed or bumped in their “<a href="http://www.cockneyrhymingslang.co.uk/slang/alternatives/210">orchestra stalls</a>”.</p>
<p>For those who have never had the experience, <a href="http://www.womenshealthmag.com/sex-and-love/getting-hit-in-the-balls">here</a> are five men’s eloquent accounts of the unforgettable, deeply imprinted sensation.</p>
<p>A blow to the head can cause concussion, brain injury and occasionally death. But a blow to the groin, while instantly and nauseatingly painful, may occasionally cause minor trauma that needs surgical correction, and infertility. Yet, it is extremely unlikely to cause major trauma or death.</p>
<p><a href="http://laws.worldrugby.org/?law=10&language=EN">Rugby union</a> and <a href="https://playnrl.com/referee/laws-of-the-game/">league</a> have long banned tackling around the head and head locking, and in <a href="http://www.afl.com.au/afl-hq/laws-of-the-game">AFL</a>, any contact with opponents’ heads is instantly penalised. Crowds get this. Yet in boxing, the crowd bays for the maximum risk of damage.</p>
<p>The spectacle of grown men trying to thump each other in the crotch would also have boundless comedic appeal. Evasive stepping and hip swivelling would emerge in those most adept at defensive codswalloping. Codswalloping with the Stars would be an instant TV viewing magnet.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-04/ama-calls-for-ban-on-boxing-at-olympics-commonwealth-games/6751424">Australian</a>, <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/87267.stm">British</a> and <a href="https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-statement-on-boxing/">World</a> medical associations have often called for boxing to be banned. Let’s get serious with boxing reform.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This is Simon Chapman’s 100th article for The Conversation. His articles have been read more than 2.6 million times.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/78386/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<h4 class="border">Disclosure</h4><p class="fine-print"><em><span>When he was about 12, Simon Chapman earned a few pounds in coins thrown into the ring as spectators watched him fight a friend at Jimmy Sharman's boxing tent at the Bathurst show in a preliminary, warm-up bout.</span></em></p>Forget tinkering with the rules of boxing. It’s time for a wholesale change. Let’s make hits to the groin the aim of the game and ban hits to the head.Simon Chapman, Emeritus Professor in Public Health, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/691902016-11-23T00:02:22Z2016-11-23T00:02:22ZStudy finds some female fish evolve bigger brains when males have bigger genitals<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/147002/original/image-20161122-21727-yu2rke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Despite what you might think, evolution rarely happens because something is good for a species. Instead, natural selection favours genetic variants that are good for the individuals that possess them. This leads to a much more complicated and messy world, with different selective forces pushing in many directions, even within a single species.</p>
<p>One prominent consequence of this is “sexual conflict”. This is the term evolutionary biologists use when one sex evolves a feature that gives benefits to the sex carrying it, but disadvantages the other sex, which in turn develops its own adaptations to counter this. Sexual conflict seems to explain some of the most bizarre manifestations of reproductive biology that we know of. The <a href="http://www.nature.com/news/2009/091223/full/news.2009.1159.html">enormous, curly penises</a> of some duck species or the tendency of male bed bugs to <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/98/10/5683.full">punch holes</a> in their partners’ abdominal walls to inseminate them are good examples of this.</p>
<p>Now a new study has suggested that, in some species, this conflict between the sexes can have some surprising results. Specifically, avoiding conflict with males can cause females to evolve bigger brains.</p>
<p>To understand the effects of sexual conflict, sometimes it can help to think about evolution in other antagonistic systems. In 2010, Japanese researcher Michio Kondoh showed that brain size evolution <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2435.2009.01631.x/abstract">can depend on predator-prey conflicts</a>.</p>
<p>Both avoiding predators and catching prey demand brain power. By studying several hundred species of fish, Kondoh showed that prey eaten by large-brained predators tend to have larger brains themselves. It seems that both predator and prey tend to evolve towards higher cognitive functioning to give themselves an edge in their competition.</p>
<p>Recently, <a href="http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/lookup/doi/10.1098/rspb.2016.1796">a team of Swedish and Australian researchers</a> led by Séverine Buechel from Stockholm University, noticed that predator-prey conflict is, in some ways, like sexual conflict. This is because it features two antagonistic partners constantly evolving to better outwit the other. The researchers wondered if, like predator-prey conflict, sexual conflict might also affect the evolution of brain size.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/147025/original/image-20161122-11000-u7gph6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/147025/original/image-20161122-11000-u7gph6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/147025/original/image-20161122-11000-u7gph6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/147025/original/image-20161122-11000-u7gph6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/147025/original/image-20161122-11000-u7gph6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/147025/original/image-20161122-11000-u7gph6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/147025/original/image-20161122-11000-u7gph6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mosquitofish: surprisingly violent.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To test this idea, they carried out a laboratory evolution experiment using a fish called the eastern mosquitofish, a relative of the guppy originally found in the Southern US. <a href="https://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/FactSheet.aspx?SpeciesID=846">Male mosquitofish</a> are particularly unpleasant. Unlike many fish, these animals reproduce by fertilising eggs inside the female’s body. But instead of wooing a female and trying to impress her with his prowess, the male mosquitofish simply sneaks up on her and tries to force her to mate.</p>
<p>The male fertilises the female’s eggs using a tubular structure called a gonopodium, a modified anal fin that the male attempts to insert into the unwilling female. Not to put too fine a point on it, it’s basically rape. Unsurprisingly, this is not good for the females, who are continually being harassed and have little control over the parenthood of their own offspring.</p>
<p>Beuchel and her colleagues bred lines of fish where the males either had especially long gonopodia or especially short ones, as well as control lines where they didn’t select for gonopodia size. Those with longer gonopodia would have an advantage in their attempts at coercive mating and so experience greater levels of sexual conflict.</p>
<p>After nine generations of evolution in the laboratory, the researchers measured the sizes of the brains of the male and female fish from all their selection lines and from unselected control lines. They found that in the lines where males were selected to have longer gonopodia, the females had evolved larger brains that were around 6% heavier than the brains of females from the other lines.</p>
<h2>Bigger brains, better reproduction</h2>
<p>What seems to be happening is that, when sexual conflict is most intense, females who can use their brains to avoid coercive mating are actually the most successful at reproducing. This could be because these clever females are harassed less and can get on with things like feeding, or because they are better able to select the best quality males to father their offspring.</p>
<p>These results suggest that conflict between the sexes can, at least in this case, cause the evolution of larger brains. But how general might this process be? Species where the males are this boorish and aggressive towards females are, thankfully, infrequent, and there are plenty other important evolutionary factors which can also lead to the evolution of bigger brains. For example, living in large, complicated social groups seems to require bigger brains (the <a href="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/humans-evolved-big-brains-to-be-social-122425811/">so-called “social brain hypothesis”</a>).</p>
<p>In particular, trying to understand human intelligence in terms of sexual conflict would be premature and could lead to some very unwelcome misunderstandings. Having said that, low-level sexual conflict is not rare in the animal kingdom. So we might well have to look more closely at the battle of the sexes if we want a full understanding of the evolution of big brains.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/69190/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rob Knell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It’s a watery battle of the sexes.Rob Knell, Senior Lecturer, Queen Mary University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/590212016-05-16T09:07:54Z2016-05-16T09:07:54ZHere’s a new way to look at your vagina – it might just save your life<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/121576/original/image-20160506-32040-rwy5du.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Wearable tech is heading between women's legs.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ko-Le Chen/TeresaAlmeida</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Oh vagina, how do I name thee? Let me count the ways. From private parts to lady bits, clunge to chuff, fanny to minge, yoni to yum yum, the list of names given to female genitalia is <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/01/sweden-girls-genitals-feminist-invention-snippa-vagina">seemingly endless</a> and often verging on the ridiculous. </p>
<p>With vaginal metaphors and euphemisms depicting female genitalia as scary, ugly or off limits, it’s not surprising a large number of women and girls struggle to identify parts of their own genitalia – with just <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2739552/Just-HALF-women-locate-vagina-diagram-female-reproductive-system.html">half of women surveyed able to correctly locate the vagina</a> on a diagram of the female reproductive system.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/121577/original/image-20160506-32047-1dxli9e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/121577/original/image-20160506-32047-1dxli9e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/121577/original/image-20160506-32047-1dxli9e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=856&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121577/original/image-20160506-32047-1dxli9e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=856&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121577/original/image-20160506-32047-1dxli9e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=856&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121577/original/image-20160506-32047-1dxli9e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1076&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121577/original/image-20160506-32047-1dxli9e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1076&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121577/original/image-20160506-32047-1dxli9e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1076&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Labella in action.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But <a href="http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2858187&CFID=784022429&CFTOKEN=33468873">our recent research</a> is hoping to change all this. We have designed a phone app called <a href="http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2858119&CFID=784022429&CFTOKEN=33468873">Labella</a>, which combines a piece of underwear and a mobile phone – allowing the user to get to know their own anatomy through the medium of a smart phone.</p>
<p>Initially designed with a wide range of women in mind, future developments will be aimed at young women, providing them with an educational tool which will enable them to get to know their bodies in a way that feels comfortable and knowledge driven.</p>
<h2>Knowing what’s normal</h2>
<p>Being inadequately informed about the appearance and function of female anatomy, along with the social taboo surrounding female genitalia has led to many women feeling uncomfortable when it comes to <a href="http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/vagina-health/Pages/vagina-health.aspx">caring for</a> and being aware of their intimate parts. Because realistically how can women understand these parts of their bodies when we don’t even know how to name them properly?</p>
<p>Given this attitude towards female genitalia, it’s unsurprising then that we know so little about the clitoris given it’s not in textbooks or even <a href="http://femmagazine.com/2014/11/29/sex-ed-in-schools-and-the-mysterious-down-there/">covered in sex education</a>. And with <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/teen-labiaplasty-surgery-is-on-the-rise-as-adolescents-worry-about-appearance-and-symmetry-a7006081.html">labia surgery now the latest trend among teenage girls</a>, it’s clear the worlds of <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3562856/The-number-teenage-girls-getting-surgery-designer-vaginas-DOUBLES-year-doctors-blame-porn-poor-sex-education.html">porn and advertising</a> have collided, leaving women with yet more insecurities about their bodies – this time focused on the vagina.</p>
<p><a href="https://nursingclio.org/2016/01/21/clio-reads-a-review-of-it-hurts-down-there-the-bodily-imaginaries-of-female-genital-pain/">Research</a> shows that women tend to avoid “contact” with their genitalia unless they are experiencing pain. With further research showing that women still <a href="https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1G1-154816846/talking-about-down-there-the-politics-of-publicizing">avoid talking about their “private parts”</a> even among other women. What this essentially means is that women are not talking about their genitals because of society’s views of vaginas – mainly as something sexualised and shrouded in mystery.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/121579/original/image-20160506-32044-meqkjb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/121579/original/image-20160506-32044-meqkjb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/121579/original/image-20160506-32044-meqkjb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=153&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121579/original/image-20160506-32044-meqkjb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=153&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121579/original/image-20160506-32044-meqkjb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=153&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121579/original/image-20160506-32044-meqkjb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=192&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121579/original/image-20160506-32044-meqkjb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=192&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121579/original/image-20160506-32044-meqkjb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=192&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">How Labella looks on the screen.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Take urinary incontinence, the involuntary loss of urine that is <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00v1279">estimated to affect up to a third of women in the UK alone</a>. Incontinence is generally accepted as a consequence of childbirth and or ageing. It is regarded as “<a href="https://www.caring.com/questions/adult-incontinence">normal</a>”, just as menstruation is once a month and menopause once in every lifetime, and yet no one really talks about it. </p>
<h2>Tech to the rescue?</h2>
<p>Clinical health care has seen few technological breakthroughs in either its interventions or devices, which can be seen in the use of <a href="http://dspace.lafayette.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10385/589/Rossmann-Ambidextrous-vol10-2008.pdf?sequence=1">the Graves and Pederson “duckbill” specula</a>. This device was originally designed in 1878 and it remains in use today. Cervical screenings or smear tests use <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/11/why-no-one-can-design-a-better-speculum/382534/">this vaginal speculum</a> to dilate the vaginal walls to enable inspection of the cervix – which are meant to be quick and easy tests to carry out. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/121581/original/image-20160506-32047-alu7vz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/121581/original/image-20160506-32047-alu7vz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121581/original/image-20160506-32047-alu7vz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121581/original/image-20160506-32047-alu7vz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121581/original/image-20160506-32047-alu7vz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=695&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121581/original/image-20160506-32047-alu7vz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=695&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121581/original/image-20160506-32047-alu7vz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=695&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Up close and personal.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But it is often considered to be <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/sex/theres-something-wrong-with-my-vagina-but-im-too-scared-to-see-the-doctor/">unpleasant, embarrassing, fearful and even painful</a> by a lot of women. These are probably some of the reasons why so many women are skipping smear tests – with <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2926486/Cervical-cancer-rates-35s-soar-60-number-having-smear-tests-falls-time-low.html">millions of British women failing to attend their screenings</a> every year.</p>
<p>The vagina persists as an “uncomfortable” social and personal topic, perpetuating a culture of shame, secrecy, and lack of awareness, which can be (broadly) damaging to <a href="https://theconversation.com/vulvas-periods-and-leaks-women-need-the-right-words-to-seek-help-for-conditions-down-there-53638">genital integrity and health</a>. </p>
<p>While this discomfort might contribute to the estrangement between women and their genitalia, <a href="https://www.academia.edu/6962248/Vulnerable_Vulvas_Female_Genital_Integrity_in_Health_and_Disease">“having the knowledge and ability to make bodily and verbal distinctions”</a> is critical to women’s reproductive health and sexual well-being. </p>
<p>We hope that Labella will have a role to play in helping to break this cycle of bodily taboos that are barriers to knowledge and self care, while also improving women’s comfort and esteem within a clinical environment – such as at their next smear test.</p>
<p>This development could help to break some of the societal shame that surrounds the female anatomy and could even lead to a decline in the number of women getting diagnosed with cervical cancer. It is the most <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2016/01/27/cervical-cancer-cases-increase-in-the-uk-_n_9086202.html">common cancer among young women</a>, and is thought to be on the rise due to the number of women missing their smear appointments where early signs of pre-cancerous cells can often be found and treated.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/59021/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Teresa Almeida does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Developers are using wearable tech to help women and girls better understand their bodies.Teresa Almeida, PHD candidate, Newcastle UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.