Being a Teen (8 page)

The clitoris is full of nerve endings that make it very sensitive, like a boy’s penis. Touching and rubbing the clitoris can make a girl or woman feel good throughout her genital and reproductive area. It is her main source of sexual pleasure and orgasm, the wonderful release of sexual tension that can follow sexual arousal. Whereas a penis is a multitasker, used for peeing, sexual intercourse, and making babies, the clitoris’s only purpose is for pleasure!

Urethra

The first opening below the clitoris is to the urethra. The urethra is not a sex organ, but the tube that carries urine from the
bladder,
where it is stored, out of the body. Urine
¹⁰
is the liquid waste left over from food and drink that the body does not use. In females urine is the only fluid that travels through this tube. It may look like an upside down
V
with tiny slits on either side of it. The slits are the openings for tiny glands that make fluid to keep the area moist.

Vagina

The second opening is to the vagina. The vagina is a stretchy, muscular passageway that connects the uterus—a sexual and reproductive organ inside the female body—to the outside. During puberty, it nearly doubles in length until it is three to five inches long.

Although the muscular walls of the vagina keep it closed most of the time, they also stretch. Like a balloon, the vagina can enlarge enormously during childbirth. During sexual intercourse, the male penis fits into the vagina, and when a baby is born, the flexible vaginal muscles help push it out.

At times two different fluids come out of the vagina. One is a daily discharge that cleans it, and the other is the mixture of blood and tissue that leaves the female body monthly during menstruation.
¹¹

Hymen

The vaginal opening may be partly covered by a piece of skin called the
hymen.
¹²
In young girls, it is very thin, and during puberty it becomes thicker and can develop ruffles and folds. Otherwise it’s hard to describe what it looks like. The reason is that the hymen naturally stretches and tears when you are very active, such as playing sports or riding horses or bikes, when you explore your vagina with your finger, or when, during
your period, you use a tampon. Your hymen can have a few large openings or several smaller ones.

Today, because girls tend to be very active, the hymen has usually torn before they have sexual intercourse. In some cultures around the world, a girl must have an intact hymen to prove her virginity. The hymen is then broken during intercourse (when the penis enters the vagina). These days, certainly in the United States, a girl’s virginity is not determined by her having an intact hymen. As I said, it is too common for the hymen to stretch due to normal activity for that to be a reliable indicator of virginity.

Sometimes parents will bring a girl to the doctor asking if she is a virgin. In many cultures, even today in the United States, parents believe a doctor can tell if a girl is a virgin or not. This is not possible! No doctor should tell you that a physical exam can determine whether you are a virgin.

When your hymen stretches, you may not feel anything, or you may feel some soreness or have a little bleeding. All of the hymen may finally go away, or a fringe of tissue may be left around the edges of the vaginal opening.

Anus

Farther back behind the vagina is the
anus,
¹³
the small entrance to the
rectum
through which bowel movements (also called
feces,
¹⁴
or
stool
or “poop”) leave the body. In both males and females, the food material that the body does not need travels into the rectum and out the anus as a bowel movement.

During puberty the skin around the anus may darken, and you may get some pubic hair growing there. But the anus isn’t part of the vulva—it’s just very close to it. To avoid getting an infection in your vagina, after you have a bowel movement, reach around behind you and wipe yourself from front to back.

The Internal Reproductive Organs

The major reproductive organs inside the female body are two
ovaries,
¹⁵
two
Fallopian tubes,
¹⁶
the
uterus
¹⁷
with its
cervix,
¹⁸
and the vagina. As you read the following descriptions, look at the picture, which shows how these organs look after puberty.

Ovaries

On each side above the uterus is an ovary. Each is the shape of a large almond. The ovaries contain a female’s sex cells. These cells are also called “eggs,” or the Latin word
ova
—one cell is called an
ovum
.
¹⁹

Ova (Eggs)

The ovaries of each baby girl contain one to two million egg cells, but they are not yet fertile—that is, able to produce babies. When the girl reaches puberty, she has between 300,000 and 400,000 egg cells that are mature enough to become babies.

Usually an adult woman makes a ripe
ovum
(one egg) one time each month. The egg develops in one of her ovaries, and
when it is mature, it will leave the ovary and go into the Fallopian or uterine tube. This process is called
ovulation.
²⁰

Fallopian Tubes

The Fallopian tubes are named after Gabriele Falloppio, the Italian scientist who discovered them. Each tube is three to four inches long and about the diameter of a spaghetti strand. One end drapes over each ovary, and because of their shape, Falloppio called them “the trumpets of the uterus.” The ends have
fimbriae,
which is Latin for “fringes.” The fimbriae, which look like tentacles or feathers, connect the ovaries to the uterus.

The fallopian tubes are the passageways through which eggs travel from the ovaries to the uterus. The tubes are lined with tiny hairs called
cilia,
which means “eyelashes.” The cilia wave back and forth to move the eggs along to the uterus.

Uterus

The uterus is sometimes called the womb. Inside the uterus is a lining called the
endometrium,
²¹
which you’ll learn more about in
Chapter 9
.

The fertilized egg lives in this cushionlike endometrial lining and receives food for about nine months as it develops into a fetus and then a baby. As the fetus grows, the uterus stretches and makes the mother’s belly look big. After the mother gives birth, the uterus shrinks back to its usual size, which is about the size of your fist.

Cervix

The cervix, or “neck,” is the narrow bottom of the uterus that sits at the top of the vagina. The cervix normally has a very small opening, about the size of the tip of a pencil. During
childbirth, the cervix begins to dilate (or open) when it is time for the baby to be born. When the uterus begins to contract and the mother pushes the baby out, the cervix stretches from the size of the tip of a pencil to about four or five inches across.

Menstruation

If, however, an egg is not fertilized, it breaks down and flows out of the woman’s vagina together with blood and tissue. This is called menstruation or “having a period.” (More about menstruation in
Chapter 9
)

Sexual Intercourse and Conception

Sexual intercourse is how a man and a woman can make a baby. It can be a beautiful, exciting, loving act that gives pleasure to both partners, even if they are not planning to make a baby.

This is how sexual intercourse can lead to conception: The man’s erect penis goes inside the woman’s vagina, which, if she is excited enough, has become lubricated and more slippery, allowing the penis to slide in easily. After a period of lovemaking, during which the penis moves in and out of the vagina, the man ejaculates, sending millions of sperm swimming up the vagina and into the uterus.

If one of those sperm reaches the uterus and enters the egg within twenty-four hours of when the egg left the ovary,
fertilization
takes place, the egg becomes planted in the uterus, and a baby will begin to grow.

Reasons to See a Doctor

• You are seven or younger and have started puberty. Young girls may have pubic hair or hair in their armpits. It may be normal, depending on when the other women in your family started puberty, but it’s best to ask to see your doctor to have it checked out. Breast development before age eight is considered too early.

• You have no signs of puberty by thirteen or fourteen, or you have not started a period within two years of starting breast development.

•
Your periods are very heavy or prolonged. Most teens use four to five pads or tampons per day during the first few days of their period, and fewer pads or tampons afterwards. If you are using more than that, or if you are bleeding with clots, you may have a bleeding disorder that requires treatment. Heavy periods can be the first sign of a bleeding disorder.

• Your periods are not regular within six months of starting to menstruate.

• You have very painful periods, which cause you to miss school or activities, or are associated with vomiting.

• You are unable to insert a tampon.

• You have vaginal discharge (fluid from the vagina) that smells bad, is itchy, thick, or green or yellow.

• You have painful blisters, lumps or bumps, rashes, or growths on your genitals.

• You have pain with urination or with intercourse.