Her Campus Logo Her Campus Logo
Culture > News

The Shape of Your Vagina Could Impact Your Orgasm

According to a recent study, a woman’s potential for orgasm is related to the distance between her clitoris and vaginal opening. This is related to fetal development, specifically the amount of androgen (a male sex hormone) that the fetus receives during gestation. Greater amounts of androgen cause the clitoris to move farther from the vagina, and the greater distance makes achieving orgasm more difficult.


Experts commenting on the study suggest that, if women are having difficulty reaching climax during sex, they should measure the distance between their vaginal opening and clitoris to potentially explain this complication. The “‘magic number’” that will yield the most intense and greatest number of orgasms “is 2.5 centimeters—slightly less than 1 inch,” according to experts.

It’s not the end of the world, though! “Traditional” sex, that is, penetration alone, might not be the means to an orgasmic end, but there are plenty of alternatives that should do the trick! The female orgasm is hard earned and well deserved, and we definitely owe it to ourselves to get all the satisfaction we can handle.

Take this as an opportunity to brush up on your self-pleasure, and remember that your body knows what it’s doing! Don’t “focus on something that will never change anatomically,” OBGYN Dr. Maureen Whelihan told Healthday. Find alternatives that work for you and your body and it will soon be raining orgasms!

Margeaux Biché

Columbia Barnard

Margeaux Biché is a current senior at Barnard College living in New York City. During her freshman year, she studied at the George Washington University in D.C., where she wrote for The GW Hatchet. She is a Women's, Gender & Sexuality Studies major and is passionate about social justice. While she does not know exactly where she'll take her degree, she hopes she can contribute to the advancement of marginalized peoples through legal and/or activist work. Chocolate covered pretzels are her favorite food, Rihanna is her favorite musician and her go-to talent is her ability to wiggle her ears. Margeaux loves dogs, hiking and her hometown basketball team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, all of which are oft-featured on her Instagram account. Twitter | LinkedIn