French, British Wrestle Over G-Spot

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Do British scientists doubt the existence of the G-spot because of their national character? French gynecologists have hinted as much. The fierce fight all started with a study. King's College London researchers asked female twins (Yes, twins. It's science--no giggling allowed) whether they thought they had a G-spot. They found having identical genes apparently has no bearing on whether both girls both report having G-spots, causing the scientists to conclude that "there is no physiological or physical basis" for them.

The French Response  The study sparked an international outcry. In the U.S., a Daily Beast op-ed proclaimed Yes, There Is a G-Spot, while French gynecologists attacking the accursed "Protestant, liberal, Anglo-Saxon" approach towards female sexuality. This last was reported in The Guardian along with other choice quotes from French experts meeting to rebut the study. Even choicer quotes appear in French publications like L'Express. (Key phrase: "polemics of the vagina.") Of course, the French think little more of American sexuality.  Odile Buisson, the source of the "Protestant, liberal, Anglo-Saxon" quote, says "the last study done in the United States showed that about 65% [of women] knew how to find their G-spots. In France ... the number was at least 80%."

The British Counter-Attack  "There are a handful of subjects," reports Lizzy Davies beginning her Guardian piece on the subject, "among them cricket, the weather and the art of downing pints through a funnel--on which the French deign to allow the English a degree of authority. Sex, however, is not one of them." Suzanne Moore in The Daily Mail is more pointed.


The French have called British research based on genetics and observation too absolute. Theirs, of course, is much more mysterious. We can't find our collective G-Spot also because of our Protestant pragmatism. We have the wrong attitude towards sex.

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.