How many nerve fibers in the human clitoris? Fall 2022 study suggests 9,852 to 11,086 fibers are in the human clitoris (study made possible by trans men)

An important anatomical part involved in the orgasm process for people with a clitoris is the clitoris itself. Yet, until Fall 2022, we had no idea of the number of nerve fibers in the human clitoris. 

A Google search of “How many nerve endings in the penis and clitoris?” will yield millions of articles stating that the “penis has 4000 and the clitoris has 8000.” However, as activist Jessica Pin (who started the conversion on this topic) points out, this claim is from studies of livestock described in “The Clitoris” by Thomas Lowry; no such study has (until circa Fall 2022) looked at the nerve count in humans. Also, the original description says “nerve fibers” and not “nerve endings.” 

STUDY 

Dr. Bahir Edouard Elias, a plastic, esthetic and reconstructive surgeon specializing in the field of surgical reconstruction for female genital mutilation, reported their findings of a study on the human clitoris at conference (https://twitter.com/drrachelrubin/status/1585696488742875138).

Their study suggests that the clitoris has between 9,852 to 11,086 fibers. The new research was made possible by seven transmasculine patients who underwent phalloplasty’s and volunteered to donate samples of their clitoral tissue. These donated tissues were then preserved, stained blue, and magnified 1000 times under a microscope. This allowed image-analysis software to count the individual nerve fibers.

Finding the number of nerve fibers is an important part of being about to assess the nerve count of people following a labiaplasty, gender-affirming surgery, cancer-related procedure, or reparative surgery after an injury. This number could one day be used to test the efficacy of nerve-sparing surgeries.

While the study still needs peer-reviewed, it is the only data at the moment. The data was reposted in many blogs and subreddits where you can get the reception of the general public. For a layperson response, check out a post about it on here, here, and here for a general Google search of subreddits and blogs mentioning this study.

NO MATTER HOW MANY NERVE ENDINGS ONE PERSON HAS, THIS DOES NOT MEAN THEY RECEIVE MORE PLEASURE THE MORE THEY HAVE

Many feminists view the findings of the cow study (that clitoris-owners have twice as many nerve fibers than penis-owners) empowering. However, Dr. Carol Queen, an American author, editor, sociologist, and sexologist active in the sex-positive feminism movement, says it feeds into sexist stereotypes of clitoris-owners.

Dr. Queen makes many good points:

• It may turn out that the clitoris and the penis may have roughly the same number of nerve fibers as the two organs developed from the same structure in the womb.
• “Even if the clitoris did have twice as many nerve endings as the penis, this would not mean that women’ sexual experiences are more intense. The mouth, hands and feet have more nerve endings than the genitals, but that doesn’t mean they provide more sexual pleasure” (kinkly.com, para. 8) 
• “The belief that cis women’s primary sexual organ has twice as many nerve endings as cis men’s might sound empowering, but it encourages the view that women’s sexuality is fundamentally different from men’s” (kinkly.com, para. 9)
• It reinforces the“general belief that female pleasure is more intense than male pleasure, which is often backed up with the clitoris-has-8,000-nerve-endingsstatistic. This is part of a more general view that women feel things more intensely – that the world is just too much for them to handle. That women are less rational, more animalistic, more prone to drama and hysteria. While men can remain in control of themselves during sex and at all times, the stereotype goes, women are overcome with overwhelming feelings” (kinkly.com, para. 10) 
• It reinforces “the belief that all women have multiple orgasms. It serves to exoticize women’s sexuality as something completely alien to men. We should be emphasizing our sexual similarities (the clitoris and penis really do start off the same) so that men relate to women as human beings, not exotic animals” (para. 11) 

NERVE FIBER COUNT IS ONLY ONE PIECE OF THE PUZZLE 

Nerve endings, after all, are only one part of the complex biological system and the complex phenomenon of orgasm. No matter how many nerve fibers one has and how sensitive one’s clitoris or penis or other erogenous body part might be, there are many internal and external factors that may change their responsiveness (For more info, check out the post of the complexity of orgasm). Everyone might not have about 10000 nerve endings. Their nerves might or might not respond to stimulation in their clitoris. They might have 10000 nerve endings but not experience an orgasm or sexual pleasure.  So remember: Nerve fiber count is only one piece of the puzzle.

WHAT ABOUT PEOPLE WITH NEOVAGINAS AND PENISES? 

As of January 2023, there has been similar study done on a sample neovagina or penis. Most of the research has been done on the foreskin, and most were flawed studies that were funded or motivated by anti-circumcision sentiment. While some anti-circumcision activists claim that the uncircumcised foreskin of the penis alone has 20,000 to 100,000 nerve endings, the researchers used a flawed method to calculate the number of nerve their foreskin sample (This post covers it well.).

According to one article, the same researcher, Dr. Blair Peters, aims to do a count on the glans penis as well. I reached out to Dr. Blair Peters, and they responded that the study of the number of nerve fibers in the penis is in progress! The result should be in within the next year or so! 

DISCUSSION 

If you heard the findings of the cow study (8000 nerves in clitoris | 4000 nerves in penis), where did you first hear that?