The female body - an object of immense beauty - and an object of mystery, as well, it seems.

Unfortunately, for most of us, a woman's body is still shrouded in confusion and mystery. It's no wonder we don't know much about the female body. We've been conditioned to have sex in the dark - under the sheets, so unless we've had a long-term sexual relationship, we probably don't know too much about the female body.

Even being in a long-term relationship where we are comfortable with each other doesn't guarantee that we know a lot, though. Most of us have never had the pleasure of really investigating a woman's genitals up close and personal.

I was surprised to learn about the number of men who cannot identify a clitoris. I was completely shocked when I learned that many women cannot identify their own clitoris, either! In one study of women, 28% had never even examined their own vulvas in a mirror.

Even medical science doesn't know a lot about the female body and sexual response. In the August 22, 2003 edition of 20/20 on ABC, an expert from an OB/GYN organization said we are practically in the dark ages when it comes to female sexuality, in terms of what we know compared to other areas of medicine. She claims on a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being the most), we are at about a 2. We still have a lot to learn.

Many people (especially men) hate to admit we don't know something, especially when it comes to sex. Well, don't be too hard on yourself. How are we supposed to know this stuff? Where do we really learn about the female body? Who teaches us? Nobody does! Most of us men learn about the female body from pictures of naked women that one of our friends stole from his dad's porno stash. But, what do we really learn? Many of the really important parts of the vulva are hidden within the fleshy folds - and there are no accompanying tutorials or anything. Maybe some of us have seen line drawings in sex education text books that don't look anything like real vulvas. Others of us gather misinformation from our friends. Nobody teaches us the real facts about the female body and how to pleasure it when we are younger because we aren't supposed to have sex or talk about it. Yet one day, we are supposed to just somehow magically know about all of the different female body parts – what they are called, where they are located, what they do, and how to bring them pleasure.

And forget about asking someone for help - once we reach a certain age, our inquisitiveness becomes a liability. It's no longer “cool” to ask questions. Doing so will prove to your friends that you are not very experienced, out of the loop, a virgin, or an idiot, so most of us pretend we know it all. We fake it. Well, now is the time to stop faking it and realize that if you want to learn to be a great lover to your partner, you have to know the location and functions of the body parts you are dealing with, whether you're a man or a woman.

Women's bodies come in all kinds of wonderful shapes, sizes, colors, and variations. All are different and can respond differently to the same stimulation. The following is a bit graphic, but it reinforces my point about individualism. I read about a study where they took 10 female corpses and dissected them to study sexual nerve endings. Out of the 10 females, no two were exactly alike. They all had different numbers and concentrations of nerve endings in the breasts and genital region. This could explain why although something feels nice and works for one woman, it isn't a guarantee that all women will find it equally stimulating. Women aren't all made from the same cookie-cutter mold.

Let's examine the female body parts that are commonly associated with sexual activity. We won't be discussing internal organs that are more reproductive in nature rather than sexual, as you can get that information from any anatomy textbook and it isn't our focus here. We will take a look at each body part, discover its purpose, tell you where to find it, tell you what it looks like, talk about the important facts you need to know about it, and then discover how to stimulate it, when applicable. It will be a fun, educational, and experimental journey. So let's start that journey and we give you two ways to do that at Clitical.Com.

You might like to start by taking a look at some of the close up photo's we have HERE. Not all vulva's were created equal and these photo's represent but a mere selection of the infinite variations.

If you would like to get a little more interactive then we offer you a variety of diagrams that can be clicked on so you can identify the various bits and piece that go to make up the amazing female body. You'll find those HERE.

Or why not just try both-))