It does not exceed ten centimeters but continues to generate a lot of ink. Sometimes abused, sometimes unrecognized, sometimes hidden, the clitoris comes out of our panties and becomes fashionable : proliferation of Insta accounts, subject of books and exhibitions, posters on the walls and drawings on the sidewalks ... Except that with a quarter fifteen-year-old girls who are still unaware of its existence, the road is still long. In Politics of the Clitoris , historian and sociologist Delphine Gardey deciphers this eminently political body for us. Follow the guide.
The great unknown
If at all times, women have certainly (and fortunately!) Not deprived themselves to enjoy their clitoris , this organ dedicated to pleasure has taken a long time to find a place in anatomical study. Fuzzy and uncertain descriptions in Ancient Greece and then in the Middle Ages , the alleged discovery of the clitoris dates back to the end of the 16th century thanks to the work of Renaissance anatomists. But let everyone calm down, he will once again become a great unknown during the 18th and 19th centuries, the female sex being reduced to a reproductive role.
A disturbing organ
Magic hood vs male domination . By discovering this organ only dedicated to pleasure, men realize not only that women have something between their legs but also that they have inside what they have outside. Add to that an erectile function to that organ and the cup is full. The model of representation is shaken, feminine enjoyment becomes too submersive.
In response to this threat, the patriarchy has cleverly organized a symbolic and psychic repression . Think of the Freudian theory which asserts that clitoral pleasure only belongs to the woman-child or worse, to the clitoridectomies applied to women considered to be alienated until the 1920s.
A political symbol of reconquest
The clitoris is not just a matter of pleasure , it is also political . For Delphine Gardey :
"To regain knowledge about the ways in which we can achieve jouissance, and to recognize that the orgasm can be clitoral, that it can be without penetration, or without male presence, it is to regain significant room for maneuver, for oneself , for the women's group. "
Phew! Carried by the feminist wave, this organ of rebellion is finally coming out of the woods. Symbol of the free woman and well in her body, the advocated clitoris prevents to define the feminine by the lack, just that! A lesson that the national education does not seem to seize since today, only one manual of SVT on eight shows the clitoris on the drawings of anatomy… Free the clit!
Clitoral policy , Delphine Gardey, Textuel, € 15.90
Also discover: 3 toys to climb the curtains
