No, the clitoris is not a hole. It is a solid piece of tissue, roughly pea-sized on the outside, located at the top of the vulva. The visible part, called the glans, looks like a small nub of flesh. It has no opening and nothing passes through it. People sometimes confuse it with nearby structures that are openings, specifically the urethral opening (where urine exits) and the vaginal opening, both of which sit below the clitoris.
Where the Clitoris Sits Relative to Other Structures
The vulva has several distinct parts arranged in a specific order from top to bottom. The clitoris sits at the very top, partially covered by a small fold of skin called the clitoral hood. Just below the clitoris is the urethral opening, which is where urine comes out. Below that is the vaginal opening. All three are separate structures with different functions, but they’re close together in a small area, which is a common source of confusion.
The urethral opening is the one most easily mistaken for or confused with the clitoris because they’re right next to each other. But the two look and feel completely different. The clitoris is a raised, solid nub. The urethral opening is a tiny hole, often so small it’s hard to see without a mirror and good lighting.
What the Clitoris Actually Is
What you can see from the outside is only a small fraction of the full clitoris. The visible glans is the tip of a much larger internal structure that extends back into the body. Beneath the surface, the clitoris has a shaft (similar in concept to the shaft of a penis), two legs called crura that branch out like a wishbone, and two bulbs of tissue that flank the vaginal canal. The entire structure, internal and external combined, is several inches long.
The clitoris is the only organ in the human body that exists solely for pleasure. It contains over 10,000 nerve fibers in its dorsal nerve alone, based on a 2022 study from Oregon Health & Science University. The total count is likely higher because smaller nerves branch throughout the tissue beyond what that study measured. This dense concentration of nerve endings is why even light touch on the glans can produce intense sensation.
Why This Confusion Exists
If you’re unsure about basic clitoral anatomy, you’re far from alone, and the reasons are partly historical. For much of the 20th century, the clitoris was downplayed or outright ignored in medical education and popular health information. Freudian psychology in the early 1900s promoted the idea that “mature” female sexual response should come from vaginal penetration rather than clitoral stimulation, despite clear scientific evidence that the clitoris was the primary center of erotic sensation. This wasn’t based on anatomy. It was shaped by cultural anxieties about gender roles, masturbation, and sexuality during a period of major social upheaval between the two World Wars.
Before that era, anatomists had recognized the clitoris as a key structure in female sexual pleasure for centuries. The idea that vaginal orgasm was superior to clitoral orgasm was, as historians have documented, strictly a 20th-century invention with no precedent in earlier European medical or erotic writing. The result was decades of incomplete sex education and anatomy textbooks that either minimized or omitted the clitoris entirely. Many of those gaps persist today.
Identifying Each Part on Your Own Body
If you want to locate these structures yourself, a handheld mirror and good lighting help. Gently part the labia (the outer and inner folds of skin). At the very top where the inner labia meet, you’ll find the clitoral hood, a small flap of skin. Beneath or just behind it is the glans of the clitoris, a small rounded bump. It may be very small or partially hidden under the hood, which is normal since there’s significant variation from person to person.
Moving downward, the urethral opening is a tiny dot or slit. It can be genuinely difficult to spot. Further down is the vaginal opening, which is larger and more obvious. All three are distinct, and none of them should be painful to the touch under normal circumstances. The clitoris will feel firm and sensitive. The urethral and vaginal openings will feel like soft indentations or spaces rather than solid tissue.