Editing Female ejaculation (section)

===Controversy and feminist criticism===
The debate in the current literature focuses on three threads: the existence of female ejaculation, its source(s) and composition, and its relationship to theories of female sexuality.<ref name=bell/> This debate has been influenced by popular culture, pornography, and physio-chemical and behavioral studies. There is some resistance from feminists to what has been perceived as a male lens in interpreting the data and construct.{{according to whom|date=June 2015}} Often the debate is also tied to the existence of the G-spot;<ref name="chalker02">{{cite journal |author=Chalker R |title=The G-spot: some missing pieces of the puzzle |journal=Am. J. Obstet. Gynecol. |volume=187 |issue=2 |pages=518–9; author reply 520 |date=August 2002 |pmid=12193956 |doi= 10.1067/mob.2002.125884|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name=sundahl>{{cite book | author = Sundahl, D. | title = Female Ejaculation and the G-Spot: Not your mother's orgasm book! | isbn = 978-0-89793-380-3 | date = February 2003 | publisher = Hunter House Publishers | url = https://www.turnerpublishing.com/books/detail/female-ejaculation-and-the-g-spot | url-status=dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070810052559/http://www.hunterhouse.com/shopexd.asp?id=367&bc=no | archive-date = 2007-08-10 }}</ref>
stimulation of the anterior vaginal wall simultaneously stimulates the para-urethral tissue (the site of the [[Skene's gland]]s and ducts, and a proposed likely source of ejaculation fluid), and so has been suggested as the trigger of ejaculation. These tissues, surrounding the distal urethra, and anterior to the vagina, have a common embryological origin to the prostatic tissue in the male.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Longo VJ |title=The female prostate |journal=Urology |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=108–9 |date=July 1982 |pmid=7202277 |doi= 10.1016/0090-4295(82)90556-8}}</ref><ref name=zaviacicwhipple/>

==== Debate on the existence of ejaculation ====
In an extensive survey, Darling and colleagues claim support for the existence of ejaculation,<ref name="darling"/> while in a sharply critical response, Alzate<ref name=alzate85/><ref>Alzate H. Hoch Z. The "G-Spot" and "Female Ejaculation": A current appraisal. J Sex Marital Therapy 12: 217, 1986</ref> states that direct experimentation fails to provide any evidence.<ref>{{cite journal | title = Vaginal erogeneity, "female ejaculation," and the "Grafenberg spot" | author = Alzate H |date=December 1990 | volume = 19 | issue = 6 | pages = 607–11 |pmid=2082864 | journal = Archives of Sexual Behavior | doi = 10.1007/bf01542469 | s2cid = 189876845 }}</ref> Alzate states:

{{blockquote|the ignorance and/or confusion still prevalent among women about the anatomy and physiology of their sexual organs may make them mistake either vaginal lubrication or stress urinary incontinence for an "ejaculation."}}

[[Shannon Bell]] argues that the debate is confused by the discussion of two separate phenomena.{{specify|date=January 2011}} She comments that Alzate simply dismisses women's subjective experiences in favour of rigorous scientific proof, and is typical of male sexologists withholding the validity of experience from women. Bell's critique lies at the heart of feminist concerns about this debate, namely a tendency to "disregard, reinterpret, and overwrite women's subjective descriptions." For some, she states, it is more a matter of belief than of physiology. Bell further questions why feminists have not been more outspoken in defense of women's control over female ejaculation, pointing out that the literature frames the discussion in only five separate ways; procreation, sexual pleasure, deviance, pathology, and a scientific mystery.<ref name="bell"/>

The discussion entered popular culture in 1982 with the publication of the best-selling book ''[[The G Spot and Other Recent Discoveries About Human Sexuality]],'' by Ladas, Whipple, and Perry.<ref name="Holt, Rinehart, and Winston">{{cite book |author1=Ladas, AK |author2=Whipple, B |author3=Perry, JD | year = 1982 | title = The G spot: And other discoveries about human sexuality |url=https://archive.org/details/gspototherrece00lada |url-access=registration | location = New York | publisher = Holt, Rinehart, and Winston|isbn=9780030618314 }}</ref> The book discussed female ejaculation and brought the issue back into discussions of women's sexuality both in the medical community and among the general public.<ref name="chalker"/><ref name="santamaria"/><ref name="hines">{{cite journal |author =Hines, T |s2cid=32381437 |date=August 2001 |title =The G-Spot: A modern gynecologic myth |journal =Am. J. Obstet. Gynecol. |volume =185 |issue =2 |pages =359–62 | pmid = 11518892 |doi =10.1067/mob.2001.115995}}</ref> This was a popular account of three papers by the authors, the previous year, at the suggestion of Alice Khan Ladas.<ref name="belzer">{{cite journal |author =Belzer, EG.|year =1981|title =Orgasmic expulsions of women: a review and heuristic inquiry |journal =Journal of Sex Research |volume =17 |issue =1|pages =1–13 |doi =10.1080/00224498109551093}}</ref><ref name="addiego">{{cite journal |author1=Addiego, F |author2=Belzer, EG |author3=Comolli, J |author4=Moger, W |author5=Perry, JD |author6=Whipple, B. |year =1981|title =Female ejaculation: a case study |journal =Journal of Sex Research |volume =17 |issue =1|pages =13–21 |doi =10.1080/00224498109551094}}</ref><ref name="perry">{{cite journal |author1=Perry, JD |author2=Whipple, B. |year =1981|title =Pelvic muscle strength of female ejaculators: evidence in support of a new theory of orgasm |journal =Journal of Sex Research |volume =17 |issue =1|pages =22–39 |doi =10.1080/00224498109551095}}</ref> Rebecca Chalker notes that this book was largely met with scorn, skepticism and disbelief.<ref name="chalker">{{cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=m3m3_Uq8qWkC&pg=PA91 | author = Chalker, Rebecca | title = The Clitoral Truth: The secret world at your fingertips | publisher = Seven Stories | location = New York| year = 2002 | isbn = 978-1-58322-473-1}}</ref> The chapter on 'Female Ejaculation' is largely based on anecdotal testimony, and illustrates another issue in the debate, the weight placed on anecdotes and small numbers of observations rather than biomedical investigation or clinical trials. Importantly, a number of the women stated that they had been diagnosed with urinary incontinence.

==== Debate on women's pleasure in their sexuality ====
The book by Ladas, Whipple, and Perry.<ref name="Holt, Rinehart, and Winston"/> advances another feminist theory: that because women's pleasure in their sexuality has been historically excluded, the pleasure of ejaculation has been either discounted or appropriated by health professionals as a physiological phenomenon.<ref name="whipple02">
{{cite journal |vauthors=Whipple B, Perry JD |title=The G-spot: a modern gynecologic myth |journal=Am. J. Obstet. Gynecol. |volume=187 |issue=2 |pages=519; author reply 520 |date=August 2002 |pmid=12193957 |doi= 10.1067/mob.2002.125883|doi-access=free }}</ref> Whipple continued to publicise her discoveries, including a 9 min video made in 1981 ''Orgasmic Expulsions of Fluid in the Sexually Stimulated Female''.<ref>Whipple, Beverly (consultant), Schoen, Mark (filmmaker). "Orgasmic expulsions of fluid in the sexually stimulated female." Film available from Focus International, Inc., 1776 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10019.</ref> In 1984, the ''Journal of Sex Research'' described the debate surrounding female ejaculation as 'heated'.<ref name=heath/>
Josephine Sevely then followed up her 1978 study by publishing "Eve's Secrets: A new theory of female sexuality" in 1987, emphasising an integrated rather than fragmented approach to understanding [[female sexuality]], with the clitoris, vagina and urethra depicted as a single sexual organ.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Ingelman-Sundberg A |title=The anterior vaginal wall as an organ for the transmission of active forces to the urethra and the clitoris |journal=Int Urogynecol J Pelvic Floor Dysfunct |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=50–1 |year=1997 |pmid=9260097 |doi= 10.1007/BF01920294|s2cid=21987189 }}</ref><ref name=gravina/> This not only challenged the traditional fragmentation of female sexuality into clitoral vs. vaginal sensation, but also sexualised the urethra.<ref name=bell/>

The continuing debate is further illustrated in the angry exchange of letters between the author and researchers in the ''American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology'' in 2002 following the publication of 'The G-spot: A modern gynecological myth' by Terence Hines,<ref name="hines"/> articles and book chapters continue to appear with subtitles such as "Fact or Fantasy" (2002).<ref name="chalker"/> As of 2007,<ref name="wimpissinger"/><ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Rabinerson D, Horowitz E |title=[G-spot and female ejaculation: fiction or reality?] |language=he |journal=Harefuah |volume=146 |issue=2 |pages=145–7, 163 |date=February 2007 |pmid=17352286 }}</ref> and 2008<ref name=gravina>{{cite journal |author=Gravina GL |title=Measurement of the thickness of the urethrovaginal space in women with or without vaginal orgasm |journal=J Sex Med |volume=5 |issue=3 |pages=610–8 |date=March 2008 |pmid=18221286 |doi=10.1111/j.1743-6109.2007.00739.x |url= https://art.torvergata.it/bitstream/2108/8798/2/J_SEX_MED_2008.pdf|author2=Brandetti F |author3=Martini P |display-authors=3 |last4=Carosa |first4=Eleonora |last5=Di Stasi |first5=Savino M. |last6=Morano |first6=Susanna |last7=Lenzi |first7=Andrea |last8=Jannini |first8=Emmanuele A.|hdl=2108/8798 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> the existence of a female prostate and of ejaculation are a matter of debate.

==== Debate on the terminology ====
The terminology (such as female prostate and female ejaculation) invoke images of the female as merely an imitation of the male, mapping the female body onto the male, as if, like the [[Galen]]ic view, it was incomplete.<ref name=connell>Connell SM. Aristotle and Galen on sex difference and reproduction: a new approach to an ancient rivalry. Studies In History and Philosophy of Science Part A 31(3): 405–27, September 2000.</ref> Furthermore, overemphasis of ejaculation may induce performance anxiety.<ref name="chalker"/> For the reason that 'sameness' has been construed as a male perspective, some feminists reject the term ejaculation. Others argue it should be retained as a distinctive feminine characteristic distinguishable from the male, and imbued with different properties and purpose. A third concern is that of the increasing 'medicalisation' of women's sexuality, as expressed by Leonore Tiefer which finds its most extreme manifestation in the concept of [[female sexual dysfunction]].<ref>{{cite journal |author=Moynihan R |title=The marketing of a disease: female sexual dysfunction |journal=BMJ |volume=330 |issue=7484 |pages=192–4 |date=January 2005 |pmid=15661785 |pmc=545000 |doi=10.1136/bmj.330.7484.192 }}</ref>
Tiefer has expressed concern that overemphasising ejaculation will drive women who might feel inadequate to seek medical attention (see Health implications below),<ref name=chalker/> as has the [[Boston Women's Health Book Collective|Boston Women's Health Collective]].<ref>Boston Women's Health Collective. [[Our Bodies, Ourselves|Our Bodies, Our Selves]]. Simon and Schuster NY 1984, page 171</ref> Other criticism comes from [[Barbara Ehrenreich]]<ref>Ehrenreich B, Hess E, Jacobs G. Re-making love, the feminization of sex. Anchor Press NY 1986, page 185</ref> and colleagues who see this new sexuality as one that privileges the male in control, penile retention and body position, but this is denied by others.<ref name=bell/>