“Can you still find your little man in the boat?” My friend’s co-worker asked her this, standing in her cubicle. “You know, as we get older it gets harder to find!”
My friend was confused. “Huh? Little man in the boat? What?”
After much blushing, giggling and talking around the subject, turns out the co-worker was talking about her clitoris!
Wait. What?
Never mind the obvious question of why you’re talking about your clitoris at your good government job. But, how do you get a “little man in the boat” from your clitoris? Okay. I guess I get it. Maybe. If you look at it from a certain angle. And squint.
I’ve never heard of “little man in the boat”, but I have heard terms like “hooded lady”, “love button”, “reset button”, and “passion jellybean”. One more nickname doesn’t bother me.
But what the Hell do you mean it gets harder to find as we get older? I don’t know about y’all, but I have a very up close and personal relationship with my clitoris. We’re homies! We go together!
I’m all, “Hey, Clitoris! What’s up, girl?” And my clit’s all “Hey, Soph! We having any visitors today? No? That’s cool. You and I can just chill with B.O.B. (Battery Operated Boyfriend)!”
I just can’t fathom not being able to find my own clitoris! I mean, the rules of basic hygiene dictate at least daily contact, right? As I ain’t no spring chicken my damn self, the prospect of one day not being able to “find” my clit terrifies me. I mean come on – this is the only human organ whose sole purpose is sexual pleasure. I don’t wanna lose it!
So I did a little research. And I mean a little research. I ain’t got time to spend hours scouring the internet, setting up interviews with doctors, and whatnot. I gotta live. But I did dig a little deeper.
First of all, the little man in the boat is really a thing! Google it, and you’ll see. Lots of people use this expression, apparently. There are memes about it, and even T-shirts! Who knew?
But the big news is that under normal circumstances, the clitoris never ages! Glory be! My hair may turn grey, my boobs may sag and my eyesight may fail … but my glorious clit will never age! Yasss!
Not only will it maintain its sexual peak for the rest of your life, but that little pleasure palace actually grows! With the onset of puberty, your clit starts growing. By age 32 it’s almost 4X bigger than it was. And by menopause, it’ll be 7X bigger. (Source: 9 Interesting Things You May Not Know About The Clitoris by Chiara Laurie, 2/11/13. Alternet.org)
But some women do lose clitoral sensitivity, and while the reasons aren’t necessarily age-related, they can be. For example, certain medications impact hormone levels, which can affect sexual arousal and pleasure. According to HerbalLove, an online herbal remedies and sexual health guide, some birth control pills, can lead to a deficiency of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, freezing up testosterone and causing dysfunction or insensitivity.
Also, other hormone levels, which change with age, can diminish sensitivity. As we get older, our hormones go a little nuts. This can lead to a declining sex drive, vaginal dryness and yes, lessened clitoral sensitivity.
Some experts say that vibrator overuse can decrease sensitivity due to damaged nerves, too. But using that argument, so can too much oral stimulation. I’m definitely not about to tell you to stop receiving oral sex or throw your vibrator away. But if it takes more and more pressure to get off, then nerve damage might be the reason.
So yes, your clitoris can become less sensitive over time, but usually only due to a decrease in certain hormones or from nerve damage. Thankfully, hormones can be regulated medically. And if you’re vibrating so much you’re damaging nerves, you might want to chill a bit. Maybe take up knitting.
But barring any major health challenges, your precious little love button should work just fine for as long as you live. And as for not being able to find it? Well, if it gets bigger with age, I don’t really see that being an issue.
That brings me to another point about our hooded ladies. Most people, men and women, think of the clit as just that little nub near the top of the vulva. But as the medical community has known for decades, it’s so much bigger than that!
That little man in the boat that we see on the outside is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Granted, it’s quite the sensitive little button, containing about 8,000 sensory nerve fibers. That’s way more than anywhere else in the body, and its twice as many as are on the head of a penis.
However, most of the clitoris is on the inside! According to the Museum of Sex, another cool site I found, “(M)ost of the clitoris is subterranean, consisting of two corpora cavernosa (corpus cavernosum when referring to the structure as a whole), two crura (crus when referring to the structure as a whole), and the clitoral vestibules or bulbs. The glans is connected to the body or shaft of the internal clitoris, which is made up of two corpora cavernosa. When erect, the corpora cavernosa encompass the vagina on either side, as if they were wrapping around it giving it a big hug!” There’s more, but I’ll spare you the anatomy lesson.
Bottom line is all these vaginal orgasms we brag about may really be internal clitoral orgasms. Or maybe not. Whatever. All I know is they feel damn good. Look. Your clitoris runs deep, and as it’s the only part of the human anatomy that has no other function than your sexual pleasure, that makes it pretty darn special!
Whatever you call your clitoris, I hope you know yours well. If you don’t, it’s not too late to get acquainted with her. After all, as long as you’re healthy and can manage your hormone levels, your “little man in the boat” will likely be the only organ left that’s working properly when you get old. I don’t know about you, but I find that comforting.
Photo Credits: flickriver.com and redbubble.com