Heather Little-White, Ph.D., Contributor

When men get together to drink, you can almost be sure that there will be jokes and quips about women. Overheard in a local bar when a group of seasoned rum drinkers were doing a 'round robin' on the question ? 'When you think of woman what first comes to mind' As would be expected, the answers all had sexual connotations in the local jargon. Common among the responses was the slang 'p' word for vagina.

Despite its role in conception, the interior of the vagina has been shrouded with mystery until recently. It was the work of William Masters and Virginia Johnson of the Masters and Johnson Institute in St. Louis, Missouri, that shedlight on a dark situation. Through research, they were able to observe what happened inside the vagina during sexual arousal and intercourse. They arranged for women masturbate to orgasm using an ingenious camera-equipped plastic penis, complete with special cold light to illuminate the mysterious, dark interior.

Lubricate and expand

Masters and Johnson reported that in its normal, unstimulated state the vagina is "a potential rather than an actual space" with its soft walls collapsed together, touching each other. During stimulation in the first stage of the sexual response cycle the vagina starts to lubricate and to expand. Lubrication forms a smooth, glistening covering over the vaginal walls, and is the first physical sign of arousal in women.

As arousal continues, the deepest two-thirds of the vagina blows up almost like a balloon to give a ?tenting? effect, according to Masters and Johnson. The uterus and the cervix slowly pull up, out of harm?s way. If the woman has a retroverted or tipped uterus, the cervix stays in place to be 'battered' by the penis, and sex may eventually become painful. The walls of the vagina also change colour, moving from red to a dark, purplish colour, as result of vasocongestion where blood rushes to the vagina as a result of arousal.

Orgasmic platform

The swelling with blood in the vagina continues the plateau stage of the sexual response cycle to the point where it narrows the vaginal entrance by 50 per cent. As the deeper part of the vagina expands and the outer part narrows this is called the 'orgasmic platform'. Masters and Johnson discovered that this was the area that reacted most dramatically during orgasm. They described the process as "The moment of climax when this whole outer ring begins spasmodically contracting at 0.8-second intervals, anywhere from three to 15 times."

At the highest levels of sexual excitement, Masters and Johnson also found that some women experienced 'super orgasm', with the orgasmic platform exploding into a spastic contraction lasting for two to four seconds, moving downward to the 0.8-second contractions of a normal orgasm.

During the resolution phase of the sexual response cycle, the orgasmic platform drains of blood, the vaginal opening expands and the inner, distended part of the vagina returns to normal. The usual red colour returns in 10 to 15 minutes and the vagina returns to ordinary form. This dramatic process discovered by Masters and Johnson debunks some of the myths that men hold about what actually turns on a woman.

These noted sex researchers claim that one of the greatest misconceptions that men hold about the vagina is that its deep, pounding penetration is what drives women wild during intercourse. The deepest two-thirds of the vagina are practically numb to touch. The research found that the deep vaginal walls have so few internal nerve endings that they are similar to an internal organ. It is the outer third of the vagina and the introitus (vaginal opening, including the lips and clitoris) that are extremely sensitive to touch.

However, sex researchers after Dr. Kinsey's seminal work found that women do find deep vaginal penetration ecstatic, and that it triggers a 'deep' orgasm different from that triggered by clitoral stimulation. Other sex researchers posit that women enjoy the deep muscular orgasmic contractions of the uterus and muscles of the pelvic floor. It is claimed that women miss these sensations when the uterus is removed in a hysterectomy. Others claim that women appear to be responsive to firm pressure on the top front wall of the vagina called the 'G-Spot'.

Vaginas serve the same function for women but they are all different in appearance. The Cherokee Indian name the vagina, tupuli or 'feathered flying serpent' and they believe that the depth and nature of the vagina relate to a woman's entire sexual temperament. For example, a sheep woman has a deep vagina, larger thicker lips with a lower more hooded clitoris. She tends to lubricate heavily and cannot reach orgasm quickly unless she has some heart connection to her partner.

Fanciful writings about cultural interpretations of the vagina demonstrate that each person's body, sexuality and genitalia are unique, and should be celebrated as such by individuals.