Female Ejaculation is characterized as an expulsion of fluid from or near the vagina during or before an orgasm. It is also known colloquially as squirting or [1]gushing, although these are considered to be [2]different phenomena in some research publications. To date, there have been no conclusive or major studies relating to female ejaculation. Much of the problem in arriving at a consensus relates to a failure to adopt generally agreed-on definitions or research methodology. Research has used highly selected individuals, case studies, or very small numbers of subjects, making generalization difficult. Most of the research into the nature of the fluid focuses on determining whether it is or contains urine. Some believe the fluid is secreted by the paraurethral ducts through and around the human female urethra, but the exact source and nature of the fluid continue to be a topic of debate among medical professionals, which is also related to doubts over the existence of the G-spot. Reports In questionnaire surveys, 35–50% of women report that they have at some time experienced the gushing [3][4][5]of fluid during orgasm. Other studies find anywhere from 10–69%, depending on the definitions [6][7]and methods used. For instance Kratochvíl (1994) surveyed 200 women and found that 6% reported ejaculating, an additional 13% had some experience and about 60% reported release of fluid without [8]actual gushing. Reports on the volume of fluid [9]expelled vary considerably starting from amounts that would be imperceptible to a woman, to mean [10]values of 1–5 ml. The suggestion that women can expel fluid from their genital area as part of sexual arousal has been described by women"s health writer Rebecca Chalker as "one of the most hotly debated questions in [11]modern sexology". Female ejaculation has been discussed in anatomical, medical, and biological literature throughout recorded history. The reasons for the interest in female ejaculation has been [12]questioned by feminist writers. Western literature 16th to 18th century In the 16th century, the Dutch physician Laevinius Lemnius, referred to how a woman "draws forth the [13]man"s seed and casts her own with it". In the 17th century, François Mauriceau described glands at the urethral meatus that "pour out great quantities of saline liquor during coition, which increases the heat [14]and enjoyment of women". This century saw an increasing understanding of female sexual anatomy [15]and function, in particular the work of the Bartholin family in Denmark. De Graaf In the 17th century, the Dutch anatomist Regnier de Graaf wrote an influential treatise on the reproductive organs Concerning the Generative Organs of Women which is much cited in the literature on this topic. De Graaf discussed the original controversy but [16][17]supported the Aristotelian view. He identified the source as the glandular structures and ducts surrounding the urethra. [VI:66-7]The urethra is lined by a thin membrane. In the lower part, near the outlet of the urinary passage, this membrane is pierced by large ducts, or lacunae, through which pituito-serous matter occasionally discharges in considerable quantities. Between this very thin membrane and the fleshy fibres we have just described there is, along the whole duct of the urethra, a whitish membranous substance about one finger-breadth thick which completely surrounds the urethral canal... The substance could be called quite aptly the female "prostatae" or "corpus glandulosum", "glandulous body"...The function of the "prostatae" is to generate a pituito-serous juice which makes women more libidinous with its pungency and saltiness and lubricates their sexual parts in agreeable fashion during coitus. [VII:81] The discharge from the female "prostatae" causes as much pleasure as does that from the male "prostatae" He identified [XIII:212] the various controversies regarding the ejaculate and its origin, but stated he believed that this fluid "which rushes out with such impetus during venereal combat or libidinous imagining" was derived from a number of sources, including the vagina, urinary tract, cervix and uterus. He appears to identify Skene"s ducts, when he writes [XIII: 213] "those [ducts] which are visible around the orifice of the neck of the vagina and the outlet of the urinary passage receive their fluid from the female "parastatae", or rather the thick membranous body around the urinary passage." However he appears not to distinguish between the lubrication of the perineum during arousal and an orgasmic ejaculate when he refers to liquid "which in libidinous women often rushes out at the mere sight of a handsome man." Further on [XIII:214] he refers to "liquid as usually comes from the pudenda in one gush." However, his prime purpose was to distinguish between generative fluid and pleasurable fluid, in his stand on the Aristotelian semen controversy. 19th century Krafft-Ebing"s study of sexual perversion, Psychopathia Sexualis (1886), describes female ejaculation under the heading "Congenital Sexual Inversion in Women" as a perversion related to [18]neurasthenia and homosexuality. the intersexual gratification among ...women seems to be reduced to kissing and embraces, which seems to satisfy those of weak sexual instinct, but produces in sexually neurasthenic females ejaculation It is also described by Freud in pathological terms in his study of Dora (1905), where he relates it to [19]hysteria. The pride taken by women in the appearance of their genitals is quite a special feature of their vanity; and disorders of genitals which they think calculated to inspire feelings of repugnance or even disgust have an incredible power of humiliating them, of lowering their self-esteem, and of making them irritable, sensitive, and distrustful. An abnormal secretion of the mucous membrane of the vagina is looked upon as source of disgust. However, women"s writing of that time portrayed this in more positive terms. Thus we find Almeda Sperry writing to Emma Goldman in 1918, about the [12][20]"rhythmic spurt of your love juices". Anatomical knowledge was also advanced by Alexander Skene"s description of para-urethral or periurethral glands (glands around the urethra) in 1880, which have been variously claimed to be one source of the fluids in the ejaculate, and now [commonly referred to as the Skene"s glands.
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