The anatomically correct depiction of the female sex organs has rarely made it into school books. But something is happening – also in Germany.
Most adolescents reach sexual maturity between the ages of 11 and 14. At that point at the latest, topics such as the first kiss or sexual intercourse become relevant for the first time. Despite sexual education, questions about sexuality often remain unanswered.
So most boys and girls know what a penis looks like from an early age. However, a significant proportion of adolescents and adults are unfamiliar with the anatomy of the clitoris.
A study at the Lucerne Cantonal Hospital in Switzerland shows how great the social interest in this topic is, even beyond adolescence: It showed that the anatomical diversity is too great to determine a “normal” size of the vulva. After the results were published in a report in the Swiss newspaper “20 Minuten”, there was international media coverage, which showed that the complexity and diversity of the topic made a social discourse necessary.
In most textbooks in Germany, the clitoris is not shown correctly. There is now resistance to this.
French initiatives advocated clitoral illustrations in textbooks
(Photo: CC0 / Pixabay / LustySecrets)
A few years ago, a petition by activist Julia Pietri, together with feminist associations in France, called for a change to correctly depict the clitoris. However, the government has so far rejected the power to act. It is important to abolish gender inequality by taking action against discrimination against women and the division into strong and weak sexes.
Nevertheless, something has happened. As the first publisher in France, Magnard has been showing the female genitalia including the clitoris in its textbooks since 2017. As the co-author and biology teacher Béatrice Salviat emphasizes to the TAZ, this was “a conscious decision” so that girls “get a better picture of themselves through the realistic depiction of the clitoris”. Four more publishers followed in 2019.
Publishers in Germany are following suit
In Germany, public interest in the subject is significantly lower than in the neighboring country. There are neither petitions nor studies dealing with the clitoris in textbooks. Federalism makes matters worse, so that each federal state can use different textbooks with different content. In addition, although the Conference of Ministers of Education issues recommendations for the federal states, there is no uniform curriculum. Thus, as in France, responsibility for the content is left to the publishers.
As a result, there is not only a deficit in the illustrations of the female clitoris in French textbooks: even the German publishers who publish the textbooks only have a minority of correct depictions.
In 2020, according to the TAZ, only the publications by Cornelsen for 8th grade students in Bavaria showed the clitoris as a whole. A change will only come into force slowly, since the textbook publishers have “editorial freedom” according to the TAZ and cannot dictate their content. In the meantime, Cornelsen has also extended the correct presentation to his other books. Westermann and Klett are now following suit.
Other publishers either show the clitoris as a bump that is not shown in its actual size. At Cornelsen, for example, as the TAZ writes, one speaks of “a erectile tissue that is similar to the glans of the penis in its function” and is therefore important for sexual arousal.
Utopia thinks: Discussions about the clitoris could lead to a rethink
(Photo: Klett)
As a result of the findings, there are more and more discussions about the technically correct presentation of the clitoris. This sparks a discourse that also deals with gender equality – an undertaking worth supporting. It is to be hoped that other publishers will follow suit and present the clitoris correctly in their textbooks.
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