If you grew up in Ireland there’s a good chance you finished your entire education without ever encountering a mention of a clitoris at all, whether in sex ed, English or biology.
These days, things have moved on. In France, at least.
The sexually sophisticated French are forging ahead with plans to make a 3D model of the mysterious clitoris an integral part of their school sex ed programme.
Determined to correct the vague level of importance afforded to the clitoris in school textbooks, sociomedical researcher Odile Fillod has created an open-source, anatomically correct, printable 3D clitoris.
Fillod’s sculpture shows that the clitoris is formed of the same tissue as the penis and divided into crura (or arms), bulbs, foreskin and a head.
French schools have confirmed that they will use the 3D model at primary and secondary levels from this September on.
Fillod told The Guardian:
“It’s important that women have a mental image of what is actually happening in their body when they’re stimulated,
“In understanding the key role of the clitoris, a woman can stop feeling shame, or [that she’s] abnormal if penile-vaginal intercourse doesn’t do the trick for her – given the anatomical data, that is the case for most women.”
“It’s also vital to know that the equivalent of a penis in a woman is not a vagina, it’s her clitoris. Women get erections when they’re excited, only you can’t see them because most of the clitoris is internal. I wanted to show that men and women are not fundamentally different.”
We think it’s a step in the right direction for un-sexist sex ed. In fact, maybe a should all have a 3D model to hand…
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