Orgasm in the Female-Female Urethra-Paraurethral Glands-

Orgasm in the Female

As in the male, vision, hearing, smell, touch, and other psychic stimuli gradually build up the intensity of sexual excitement. During this process, the vaginal walls become moist because of transudation of fluid through the congested mucous membrane. In addition, the greater vestibular glands at the vaginal orifice secrete a lubricating mucus.

The upper part of the vagina, which resides in the pelvic cavity, is supplied by the hypogastric plexuses and is sensitive only to stretch. The region of the vaginal orifice, the labia minora, and the clitoris are extremely sensitive to touch and are supplied by the ilioinguinal nerves and the dorsal nerves of the clitoris.

Appropriate sexual stimulation of these sensitive areas, reinforced by afferent nervous impulses from the breasts and other regions, results in a climax of pleasurable sensory impulses reaching the central nervous system. Impulses then pass down the spinal cord to the sympathetic outflow (T1 to L2).

The nervous impulses that pass to the genital organs are thought to leave the cord at the first and second lumbar segments in preganglionic sympathetic fibers. Many of these fibers synapse with postganglionic neurons in the 1st and 2nd lumbar ganglia; other fibers may synapse in ganglia in the lower lumbar or pelvic parts of the sympathetic trunks. The postganglionic fibers are then distributed to the smooth muscle of the vaginal wall, which rhythmically contracts. In addition, nervous impulses travel in the pudendal nerve (S2, 3, and 4) to reach the bulbospongiosus and ischiocavernosus muscles, which also undergo rhythmic contraction. In many women, a single orgasm brings about sexual contentment, but other women require a series of orgasms to feel replete.

Female Urethra

The female urethra is about 1.5 in. (3.8 cm) long. It extends from the neck of the bladder to the external meatus, where it opens into the vestibule about 1 in. (2.5 cm) below the clitoris. It traverses the sphincter urethrae and lies immediately in front of the vagina. At the sides of the external urethral meatus are the small openings of the ducts of the paraurethral glands. The urethra can be dilated relatively easily
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Paraurethral Glands

The paraurethral glands, which correspond to the prostate in the male, open into the vestibule by small ducts on either side of the urethral orifice.