THE CLITORIDWOMAN" B Y THOMAS J. I~IEYERS, P~.D., M.D.

Per'haps the most ftmd,amental values of h u m a n beings are those t h a t p e r t a i n to men as men and women as w o m e n - - i n o~he.r wor~ls, the most basic scale 'of quaiities by which humans live as the things about a man tlmt makes him think, feel and act like a ~ a n a n d about a wo,man t h a t makes h e r a woman. All other things, even the facto,r,s p,ertainin.g to continued existence, are sec,ondary..SueJh values per~neate t h r o u g h every cell of the body and s a t a r a t e every proces,s of the person's thinldng. I n the process of under,standing men as men and women as women, two m a j o r gro~u~ps of each m a y be identified. The men are known as ~seminals and p,eniles, the women ,as us and elitorids. ~ W h e n an attractive woman passes by, men almost a a t o ~ a t i c a l l y t u r n to look at her. I t is as thongh they are d r a w n uncontrollably to notice her. W ~ e n theT look, they ogle her up, a~d do,~n and ta~e in with sweeping glances ~er appearance, her alothing, her hair, but most of all h e r figure, the curves of her hips and bulst, and the shape of her legs, which a r e m a d e to stand out by her grooming. A strikingly beautiful yeoman, or even one modi,sh~y dressed will c au,se an ~ttentive glade;e, but an ahno~st hypnotic effect is produ.ced by h e r ~ o v e m e n t s . W i t h o u t a catching a n d ~lturing swing, ?~h~egIa~ee she stimulates w i n be brief, and m a y even be cas~ai. But her w all~, her poi~se and carriage a n d the way she ~swings ~er hips may make h e r something that masculinity cannot }gnore. 2 If one stan&s on a bu,sy ~street co.met and v~atches women walk by, only certain ones will he a center of attraction, although most m a y be well dressed. Surprisingly, even girls who a r e not necessarily well gro~o,med will spark spontaneous interest. They are the O,l~es who have the ~4entifying mo.vement mentioned. ~ They somehow have a lilt to the way they present themselves. N.ot only }s there a fascinating rhythln to their bodies, but they meet others, talk, mingle with both men and women, and have an a u r a abou.t *From the ~ e y e r s Clinic, Los Angeles. **A paper by Freud indicates t h a t he recognized this difference in women, but neither he nor any subsequent psychoanalytic author seems to have foKowed up his obsmwations.~

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them that incites comment from more than one p er:so~a p re~s.ent. These women are clito,rid.s, or wome~ who~se lives are developed by a cloud o.f values that a r e predominantly sexual. They a r e the ones of whom W e i n g e r was thinking when he stated " W o m a n is only sexual: man sexual a~d ~something more. ''4 I t w~s Mae,der vcho initiated the c~assifi.catioa of women into the gro.ups of clitorids and ~terines. ~ His description i.s "A woman of the clitorid type loves a man for his own sake. F r o m h e r first love onward, she knows no satis~facti.o.n g r e a t e r than sexual enjo.y~ent, i.e., 'love', a~s it is calted. She seeks a n d o;t~mct~s, the attention of males, arrives at an u n d e r s t a n d i n g with them with the help, of a glance or a gestnre, i~s r e a d y to. play h e r p,art in sexual ~ t r i g u e , a~d is fir~st to re,~ch the ~stage o~f ,sexuM ab,a,ndon. She lavishes ~are and att entio~ ~on her body always with a view of the 'grand.e affaire', as Stendahl called it, the 'love' v ~ e h is her life. She is always on the look-out for mmoroes .adventure; e v e r y t h i n g else is of ,secondary importance. She seeks, or at a n y r a t e allows, the moist intimate relatio.ns with the opposite sex, and lo.ok.s upon this t~s a state of affairs t h a t is obvious and natural, regard_in'g it in the I,~ght of a pa,ssing pleasure, soon to, be renewed, r a t h e r than ~s the poem or ro,mance o,f her life,. She is g~enerally broadminded and of a lively intelligence, has love o,f liberty, individual and SOlcia], being strongly oppo.sed to the doctrines of reslgnation a~d ~sceticism. F a m i l y life, en the other hand, ha~s bnt fe~r att rac~o~rs ~or her." This brief sketch outlines immediately a ~siz~ble group o~ women who are r a t h e r easily recognized. They stand out among o,ther, s when they are clearly endo~wed. I t ~s when other personality values o,bscare the 13ic~t~re t h a t is,ome slt~dy ~s necessary to, ideatify theva. The intan,g~b]e a~tra o,f .sex m a y ~be c~etec~ed ~o a n.ot~aeable degree for these womeCs basic life vahe.s are sexual. T h e r e i.s, howe~cer, the char:acteri,stic hip. ~swing desc,r~bed in an earlier paper. 6 T ~ s m a y be a rhythmic, welLtimed mo,vement, or it m a y be a r a t h e r crude flopping sh~ft. It, is partic~tlarly significant t'hat the general body movement emFhasis is in the 'hips, in contrast to the body r h y t h m .of ute.r~ne ~mme~, v~hieh ~s a generalized, more evenly prop.ortioned, p,rop.u]s~on. T h e r e %s even a certain amount of shoulder s ~ i n g in uterine women, but it is not a fo.cas by any means. In clitorids, the pelvic movement is primary. E v e n hy,ster~cs, when clit.o.I4d, wil~ manifest this primacy, a~s noted by

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Lowen. "The hysterical character has a bo,dy structure in wh~c'h the rigidity of the body is coupled with a sexually alive pelvis. ''7 Tiffs i~s shown still further in women who for one reason o,r an.o~her have a great de,a~l o,f body rigidity; when they are e~itori, ds, they have a swing to the p,elvis, which so,meff~nes has an awkward ~ppearance. Along with the rather typical elitorid swing to the p.elvis, the d i t o r i d will have a knack in dres~s. I t is not necessary that her clothes be expensive, so,mehow she can give herself a chic appearante anyway. It ~s natural for her to be able to give her hair the right curl, and to choo.se the right tint. She can select and wear shoes and s~aeks in a catching al~d modish manner. H e r b o,dy may have defects in morp~ho]ogy, but she can so dress ~t, and move that what deviations from perfection are p re,sent are s,omehow not. n,o~i.c,ed. The growing girl often will show her clitor}d proneness early. She may be a popular girl in s choo~, attr:act ~he boys and often sho~w tendencies ?so: emotional invo,lvemen~t; e~en when ,her teenage developcnent is slow, there will ,still be an interest in boy,s and their attentions. She may lack confidence in herself, but to the boys whom she gets to know she will be affectionate and warmly consklerate. Other clitorid gir~s who lack a cultural background, will :almost brashly seek out boys and e:spouse their act~v}tie:s and interests. They become "Moll:s" of ga,ng me~bers. The cl~torid womai~ loves with everything she ha,s. I t is lqer nature. She has within her .a biologic expectancy of fn]f-filment. There is literally a pattern within her that sets up situations that will at trs~ct men. She wants lose, which she may net .see ~.s other than a romantic experience, though what she know.s as love is phy~sical attae~hment, leading t o n sexugl cu ~lmination. She malt su~ppr:es's actual sexual intercourse until marriage, but this does not mean that sex is no.t a primary objective with her. A frustrated l o,ve affair is a crushing defeat, a eco.mpanied by a feeling of hop eles,s depression. All is lost and nothing .seemingly is able to gssuage a sense of despair. Fo.rtunat.e]y, time heals well, and al~other love takes over as completely as the one that failed. Physiologically each love affair builds a:n expectant co,ngestion in her pelvic organs w ~ e h acMs to. the pain of disappointmerit that comes with fmlstration. With marriage the clitorid becomes a warm and affectionate

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wife. She enjoys ~social contacts, may be ,soio,histicated, and mingle in a group of people of ;similar interests. She may drink with a verve and become the life of the party, especially with m e n - often creating scenes that result in argaments later with her hasband. She will be tasteful in how she furnishes her home axed will seem to be able to make things attractive. There is no great interest in children, bat if they do come along, she will not allow them to interfere with her ~social and p ers,onM life. She may experience ~s~ome gailt over unconsc~oas feelings of resentmexlt against them, and may even seem to be co:Idly indifferent to them. On the other hand, she can b e n go.od mother, giving her children an individaa]ity by refushag to pamper them. Children o~ten are part of the romantic aura c;litor~ds wear. When in love, the clitorid woman gives everything, and the ultimate is to give a child t,o the one she loves. But the child is a product of love of the union of perfect mates, of sex. Thereafter, very often the child .is identified wiiJh the f uther and the love that ties the wife to him. More often, however, the child live.s with ~paren~s who are primarily involved with each other and the needs of the sexuaJ co.nmmnication between them. The extreme olitorid live,s for her hr~sband, and the child will experience a certain amount of neglect and lonelines~s~which is at times compensated for by other relatives or pets. A mother may express real jealousy of children who attract too much of the father's ,attention .or interest. Always .she is reaching for an a lmo,s'G unrealistic perfection of a merging of her natare with her love. Little un'sat~sfi~d yearnings keep her coming cloJser, using all her native feminine potential t.o reach an elusive ideal. T'he clitorJ.d woman can be a perfect ,sexaal partner. She can be passionate, conform,lug, responsive and .sensuous. She may seek anion with her lover and s~bmit with a complete surrender attended by orgastic release that mutually satisfies. I-ter life is a continuing qae,st for love which is expressed sexually. But this ideal is not attained too often. Conntless conditions seem to be in the way. Her .alitorid p otents does not make h e r a natarally awakened .sexuM partner. It d.oe~s no.t necessarily give her the vaginal orgasm, which is con:sidered the u ltimate~ and she may even be f r i e d . Many clitorMs never reach orgasm at inte rco.u~se, and many others even experience seIts:a~ion in the clito~ris only. There are other,s who will respond o,nly ff certain eondition.s

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a r e favorable, and they are not always graceful tosers if intercourse do.es not result in a ~succes.sful culmination. But they are interested and are willing. They can be trained to be ideal sexuM partners, to ,satisfy their men and still too,re. Ideally, men who a r e s,en,s.u~al and seek ,sexual outlets ,are foT~ctlrmte when ,av~al~.eaned clitor~d women are their partners. There must be an attraction on the p a r t o f the woman, but when there is, she has a way about her th,a~t causes ~a glow of ~sexn,al eest~asy, she earl to~uch t~he man, push against him, entwine herself a r o u n d him in a way that structures in him a single i n t e r e s t - - t o p o.ssess her ,sexually. To. sats her, carries an unrivaled r e w a r d in the reiease he ,attains and in the general tranquility that n a t u r e has intended to be th,e re:suit. U n f o r t u n a t e l y fbis ideal is not too frequently realized. Many pro`bler~s interfere. The woman m a y no:t ,be awakened, the m a n m a y be inexperienced, or selfishly preoccupied with 'his own ,sexual inter est's. She m a y have the orgas.tie pro,blems mentioned, and he m a y n~ot ,be ca~a`ble of de,ci~phering 'her needs, rShe anay ,have, a.gg res~sive or repressed d e m a n d s - - w h i l e hi.s appetites and a,bility do no,t ~ a t c h hers. But this mulch may be concluded, the cl~tori~d can be trained close to the ideal p a r t n e r in nearly all cases. Itysterteal wo.rnan are pro,ba,bly frigid elitorids. 8 The r elatior~ship,s between men and women ,are based up,on basic h u m a n needs which are satisfied mutually by t,he interchange. Of a,s much importance to the man, is enhancement of his ego; women are n.ec.e.ssaITf to him for this purloose. T,he elitorid woman ~serves this function ,by inflation o.f his sexual ability, gad thereby hi~s own ~appraisal :of his mgseulinity. In modern communal Hying this is ,almo,sfi an essential for sue ees,s in h u m a n projects. I t is an antidote to `boredom and ,a monotonou~s daily grind. I t makes possi`ble accep.tance of a restricted economic s tat~s, and gives bo.th the m a n and woman ~an a r e a of personal realization that is within the r.axage o.f their o~vn efforts.. T.he harmonious a u r a of the, sexual union exter~gs over m a n y other aspects o,f their lives. The clitor,id can Joe :a. prieel.ess t r e a s u r e to the man Who know:s h e r - - b u t s.he can be a h a r r o w i n g t o r m e n t to ?she mart who ,does not. W h e n a clitorid woman marries a ,seminal man, 9 trot~ble results. In the beginning there is much love and anticipation, :and the signs suggest ,a v e r y happy mar,riage. As time p~asse.s, disi]h,sionm e a t ~sets in. The m a t t e r is one of po.or ~r~der~standing, `bad co~a-

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muniea.tion, .and tmde:sir~ble tuning. She is oriented to a ~o,ntinning romance--with sexual interchange that is just p a r t of their everyday union, wMle hi,s interest in physical affection and intercourse rise,s and falls with a regularity that ~she e,anno,t understand. Soon her diseo.ntent shows itself. She may rebel in her domestic ,dutie.s, fail to do what is expected of her, or resort to some emotional ~syndro.me that delrmnds ~so.me m a j o r adjustmen,t in the .do.me'stie routines. W~thin a few years the marriage ~s in bad shape and often ends in divorce. Other "men are frequent in her life, for her natur'e reaches out for the fulfillmment her husband does not provide. She. "may spend hour,s aml much .mon.ey on per SO.hal grooming and clothing. H e r haslband may praise her, try to show ,her off, but thins .does not see.m to allay the obvious discontent that. is present. At ti.me,s ,she may ,sparkle; this "may be at a time when they entertain, and then she ~s the perfect ho,stess. At t,imes she may drink "more than she sho.nld, and eau,se ,some embarras,s.ment in flirti,n'g with other "men. T~he husband "may resp,ond with ,aggre;ssive resentment, confusio~n and ,diseo.u'rage'ment or outright pri.mitive a~buse. This but aggravates the sitaa.tion. No matter what faults the ~qusband "may have, the one she cannot forgive is his. inability to meet her tom.antic and sexu~al needs. He, on the o ~ e r hand, wo~uld o~verlook all th,e difficulty ~she c:au;ses, if she would 'but fit int,o, his s:exaM pattern and not eo.mplain .so. much. The. tension in ,the marriage. "may grow to the point where the hu'sb,and "may try to solve, it by .absen,ce, o.r l~hy.si,eal abuse c,agsed by her .overs,o,licitude. Many such eo.uples appear in the offices o,f .msrriage eounselogs, gynec.ol(~gists and psychiatrists. Arid a .great many s.ho~ up in at,torneys' suites and flue divorce eo~asts. There is .a form of .e.motional depress,ion tha.t oeeur~s in the frustrated ctitorid woman. This is. often a..mo,s:t re,fracto,ry condition th,a~ .defies all effo~rts .at correction. The symptoms will be a. little d i ~ e r e n t with eae:h ease, some patients are greatly agitated and seek relief from a~y ~soure,e. They frequently are. inco.m.municable .and e.anno~t .or will not dis.elo,s.e the basi, s of their diseo'mf.ort. I t is only with a so'me~vhat p,rolo~nged contact, that the picture unfolds. U n d e r the .surface of the depression is ho.stility; ,and at ti.mes o,~'cri~gl~th~te b~rst, s fo,rth in disputes with h.er hu~sband in the fo,rm ,of verbM o,r a~etual physical vio,lenee. Many real and

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simulated suicide attempts are made by these women, whose desp erat~on can be estimated by the radical means they take to escape. Nearly all s~ch patients seek and demand ob~livion by means of medication, which they carmot use with judgment. One such clitorid lived in a c ontinuin'g depressed state, on a constant client of phe~oba~bit:al ,and other medication, wir ti,ttle or no sur~ eea,s,e for 15 years. ~ e r lmsbar~d died ~s~dde~ly, the dep,relssion ~fted--and it h~s not returned. Yet during all @e treatment she received, she had made no eomplainr against him. An otheT woman in a period of five years made four suicSde attempts, was ,ho,spitalized six times for varying periods, and in between lived on pills and cigarettes..She lexpre,s,sed her rebellion ~gain.st her bus,band by what she .&d not do, rather than ~n: .open protest. With a divorce, this all stopped, and there suddenly appeared a t.remendo.~s .amo.unt os Furpo,sive energy. Still another woman n ~ d e many futile attempts to evade ~ e fr~stragons: of her marri,a.ge .by adopting two. children; she displayed furious domestic activity and periodic h.elpl.ess depres.sions whi& eoul.d only be relieved by remo.ving her frown the home. The n .umber o,f ,sxl.eh .c,ases is great eno.~gh to justify a very careful inquiry into all the d.etails of domestic relations. In varying instances the s,exaal maladju, stments will be revealed as causative. The rather sad part of this situation i~s that the husband is often completely baffled by R., for he cannot see himself as being other than the ~bus.ed partner in the marriage. The persons involved are very often "very nice people." They a:re well liked by their frien&s and have a real appreciation of the finer side os life. Money and po,sition are no pro:ruction from fins synd.rome, :such advantages merely prmcide tl~ose in the str~ggle with more resources to use in their maneuver.s of protest. Alcohol comes into. the pie~re, l~ospitalizt~tion., s~a,s, clubs, family contacts, all are used in some way by the patient. An almost patho~nomonic :sign pointfng to a frustrated dito.rid nature is the r'es~s~arLee of such .depres'si,ce syndromes to the p'roeedures that should be (and ordinarily are) su~ccessful in treating depression. The nature os t~n.eclitorid woman ,builds within bur a self-image which is fal.se in many resp.eet~s, but which carrie,s with it, as Anderson states it, entitlements. ~~ These entitlements are expectantics, which ~n turn lay down an anticipation of wh~t is actually to happ.en? * In other wor:ds, her nature is imbued with values

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that are sexually toned, and which place sexual and romantic fttlfillment at the loeak. The focus of her life is toward the 9ra~tde a~aire, in which s'he can surrender completely to a lover who is able to ravish her perfectly and repeatedly. This transfo.rms her into an almost spiritual entity and lifts ~er from mo~s~ of tJhe har.shnes.s ~o~freality, t,o a position o,f su~oeri~ority in the scale o.f ~s.en.s.uous expe:rience. I~ a,ls,o en,do~s her with a p o~wer, which is greater than anything else in the world. It gives a control over men and material things to the limit)s of her imaginatio,n. Usually a marriage to a penile man who is able to understand her a,4eq~ately, control and satis,fy her, will make her idyllically happy. Not all of her unrealistic entitlements are res~pected, of c.ours,e, but enough expectancies find the right vMences fo,r life to he a very pleasant place. Should the unsatisfied woman find a control over her expectancies, tlmt is, s.ee the cletails of the proce,sse,s at work within, even understand the nature of her husband, sublimate what canno.t be fulfilled, develop a sense of humor and dampen his egocentricity, she can live rather comfortably even in a mismatched marriage with a seminal man. The localizatio.n of her values in her sexual nature, tends to center the physiological effects of frustration in t:he clito.rid woman's pelvis. After repeated unreleased congestion, patho,l.ogy will r:esu]t. A~s a consequen,ce, innumerable gynecological syndromes show up, in these cases. A uterine fibroid, ovarian cysts, persistire and non-infective disc:harges sho.uld arouse suspicion of trouble in the emoti.onal life of the patient, and should stimulate an inquiry in this area. Even repeated bladder .symptoms, especially such symptoms ~s tene:smus, non-infective pruritis, or even unexplained resistant inflections are again clues that should be followed up,. Another point, of interest, is that the skin which is the most exclusive p ar~ of a woman's sexual equipment, will s'how physical effects. One such case would reveM the current status of her frustration level by the relative dryness of her skin. When particut,arly unrhaploy, la~rge red warts would bre,ak o~utover her body. Wi,th relief of her ten~sion this would disappear within a remarkably brief p.eriod. Cohe:n~ ho~s called attention to the place of the face in expre:s.sing femininity. "Not only will the face show the inner nature of the wo~nan in express.ion, but also in

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the textu.re, color and health of the skin. Co,smet&cs can often cever up the sMn blemishes--but aannot very well disto.rt the expre:ssions." Another very co~nn~on symptom found in clitorid ~omen, and one which is in many instan.e,es the result of frt~stration o,f their expectancies, is headache. Again, the char acters refra,ctory nature of the sympto,m--also a s:soeiated with ,depressio,n as has been mentioned--is a feature o,f th.ese headavh'es. It seems almest as if the fact of its etiol~ogy, frustration, is reflected into the result of any attempt at therapy. This is a frustration of the therapist's efforts. Nothing except mas,sive doses of" hypnotics, or analgesics seems to be of any use. Days s.ometimes pass, and the almost unbearable tension in the head p,ersists with little or no surcease. The mystery of these cases is enhanced by an inability to meet any positive event or situation when the .syruptern occurs. The an~swer, of course, is thar the reds,on for the headache, is the pafient'.s reaction to tl~e denial o~f her expectat i o n s - o f her ent.itlements. T~te very severity of the sympto,ms suggests the intensity ,and importance o.f these valu.es in her life. Her sexual nature is roaring in protest at the indignity of denial. Marriage of ,an a~tive penile man to ~a d i t o d d weman 4oes not in itself guar:antee an i&eal union. A human being must be looked up,on as a potential ideal, the full range of whose a s.se~s can be realized only if they are cultivated and matured. T'hey can be brought into full bloom by persistent and patient training and attention. The woman's peculiarities must be respected and given a place in interpersonal interchanges. I-Ier expectancies mast be recognized and app,roached if they are to be ultimately fulfilled. Her values must be per:sonaiized in the man who is arou,sing her, so that .he assumes a pasition of o,mnipotence in her life. His weakness somehow must be minimized, and the focus of her adula~io,ns of him must center upon his masculine nature. This is abso.lately vital if the ma.rriage is to s~c,~eed. A f r~g4d clito,r~d i:s o,ften ,a hys~.eric, a,s was no,ted e,a;rlier; and ,s~e .dem~an4s spevial h~andling, but even here, despite a too,st o~e~sive emotionalism she can be developed a,~d made adaptable. It is neaes.s,ary to have ~a strong penile man to meet the challenge her expectancies present. The strength of his ma,s.eulinity ,seem,s ,to be the .o,ne thing that

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can harnes,s her :and mold her. He represents a stalwart pillar (~f strength in who~se shadow she can relax and grew. 724 So. Park View Street Los Angeles, Calif. 9005.7 REF~I~ENCE.S 1. Freud, Sigmund: Libidinal types. Psycho an. Q~art., 1: 3-6, April 193~. 2. 1Vfeyers, Thomas: The !osychod~mamics of the female pdvis. Dis. Nerv. Sys., 24: 11, 1963. 3. Bauer, B. A. : Woman and Love. Volume II, p. 234. Liveright. New York. 1927. 4. : Op cir., p. 313. 5. Guyon, Ren6: The Ethics o~ Sexual Aats. Pp. 16-20. Knolaf. Nmv York. 1948.. 6. l~eyers: Op. cit., ref. 2. 7. Lowen, Alexander: Physical Dynamics of Character StT~aeture, P. 238. ~rune & Stratton. New York. 1958. 8. : Ibid. 9. l~eyers, Thomas J.: The seminal 'man. Dis. Nerv. Sys., 26: 184-187, l~arch 1965. 10. Andersen, Canfilla: The self image. Ment. ttyg., 36: 230, 1952. 11. Goldstein, Arnold P. : Therapist-Patient Expectancies in Psychotherapy. Macmillan. l~ew York. 1963. 12. Cohen, Sydney: The face of the female, lY[ind, 12: 365-369, December 1963.