What She Said — Betty Dodson Draws The Clitoral Map

Once you hear Betty's voice, you're hooked. And now, to see her magic hands at work!  Her full-length DVDs are just as irresistible—  once you see her sex workshops in progress, there's no turning back.

I, too, have been raving for decades about the book Betty mentions at the beginning of this video: New View of a Woman's Body.

The illustrations and a great deal of the NVWB research is by Suzann Gage, a get-down-on-your-knees-and-thank-her pioneer genius of the women's movement. Suzann is so modest and community-oriented, that she would never admit that, but it's TRUE. She was our first sexual-health columnist at On Our Backs many years ago, and her writing from that time seems as fresh as ever; in part because this knowledge is still so obscured, trivialized, and truncated.

Why do people still want to "pretend" not to know the nature of a woman's clitoris, after all this time? It's not a tiny pebble, it's not a spot, it's not an elevator button. Women have as much erectile tissue as men, as Betty and Suzann explain... why is that still such a secret?

I feel like I've talked myself hoarse about this subject for years, but now I'm just going to take a lozenge and point them to this video! (You should see my bad drawings I've been doing at college campus talks... I'm hopeless).

Betty does a superb job in this video of illustrating and explaining the clitoral body. The other illustrations of NVWB that blew my mind, are Suzann's drawings of what happens to the clitoris, the sexual response cycle, as a woman is reaching climax, orgasming, and cooling off. Maybe Betty will do "Part Deux" sometime!

Comments

[Sandrino]

Great video, I'd love to see more of Betty's work. This kind of basic human anatomy should be taught in our schools. We shouldn't be finding out about this as adults.

[Uncle Sean]

I always kind of liked that it was a mystery. That no one really talked about it, what it did, and what I needed to do to it. It meant I needed to do some investigating ... explore the fascinating world of the female naughty bits. I learned pretty quickly that the hard hat with the flashlight on it wasn't an appropriate way to go exploring, but I think if I knew more about the clitoris I wouldn't have been as interested in it. It would just have been "oh ho hum there's your clitoris." Well, maybe not. I am more interested by investigating something I don't understand and learning about it's function in practice than getting a whole bunch of information up front. That's the way I function, so the clitoris' current state of secrecy works for me, but then I don't have one and don't need to understand it on the same level as someone who does, so there really should be more information available for those in possession of one or more clitorii.
Really cool video by the way, the way she draws about it and the voice-over really work well together. Thanks for sharing.

[Laurie D. T. Mann]

Susie wrote:
Women have as much erectile tissue as men...

I thought it was that the clitoris has as many nerves as the penis, but much more concentrated.

En how! ;->

[Rowan]

I recently wrote a blog about Betty and included a link to this video. I also included it as a valentine to my female friends. I love how Betty draws a big heart around her diagram at the end. So cute.

You're right about her voice. It's very engaging.

[C.S. Lewiston]

Back during my early-adult years, I read an intelligent and thought-provoking (but neither strident nor banner-waving) article in some magazine or other by Betty D. about the status of women and female sexuality. Of course she also discussed her uncannily positive view of masturbation for women. I wondered why no one had written similar things directed at men? (Hey, we don't need it when we've got "speed seduction", right?)

"...This kind of basic human anatomy should be taught in our schools. We shouldn't be finding out about this as adults."

You forget, Sandrino, this is James Dobson's and Pat Robertson's America.

[Rachael]

Thank you, Susie, for posting this video we did for Betty! We are so happy to hear all the wonderful feedback it has received. Be on the look out for a couple of documentaries we are putting out there: One regarding Betty. The other regarding Abstinence-only-until-marriage programs.

[LustyLioness]

You are so right, CS!

It's truly a blessing that the Idiot in Charge can't stay in office *another* eight years. That's all it would take to send us into some kind of scientific dark age.

The current administration's denial of so many scientific facts is just insane. I can't fathom the denial of global warming, either. I mean, it was 87 here (near Sac) today. IN WINTER.

It's downright criminal that our children's teachers have to teach outright lies! Teachers are mandated to tell students that all premarital sex will cause emotional damage and condoms fail more often than they work. Someone should file a class action suit on behalf of all children of teens against this administration for enforcing the teaching of disinformation.

Surely a science teacher that taught children that the world is flat and the moon is made of green cheese would be fired. Why is sexuality information any different?

[Jane]

when I was in graduate school I found a book in the library, The Complete Clitoris, which reprinted a number of classical physiological texts on the structure of the clitoris.

The enervation of the area is truly amazing, and it's so cool that the clitoris is the only part of the male or female body that exists solely for pleasure. We women are so lucky!

If anyone finds that book, scoop it up and read it! I've never seen it since.

[grendelkhan]

The diagram on Wikipedia made me think of a Pokemon. (The newer version looks less Pokemonish.)

[The Beautiful Kind]

This video was SOO much better than Bob Ross' "happy little trees" art instruction!!! I have to go hug my clit now.