The G-Spot: What It Is and How to Find It

Few parts of the female body have been debated, explored, and pursued—by men and women—as much as the elusive G-spot. Some experts describe the G-spot as an area of increased sensitivity and erotic pleasure located in the vagina, while others deny its existence entirely.

First, a little background. The G-spot gets its name from one of the first doctors to describe it in medical literature, Ernst Gräfenberg—a German physician and scientist who also studied women’s orgasms and developed an early version of today’s intrauterine device (IUD).

In 1950, Gräfenberg wrote about “an erotic zone [that] could be demonstrated on the anterior wall of the vagina along the course of the urethra,” and that “this particular area was more easily stimulated by the finger than the other areas of the vagina.” It wasn’t until the 1980s, however, that other researchers bestowed his name to the now famous spot.

Gräfenberg wasn't the first to write about this erogenous zone, though. Similar mentions date all the way back to 11th century India, according to a review in the Journal of Sexual Medicine.

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To get up to date on all things G, Health dug deep into the research and spoke with Jennifer Berman, MD, a urologist and female sexual medicine specialist at Berman Women’s Wellness Center in Beverly Hills. Here’s what we learned about what the G-spot really is and you can find it and enjoy it.

The G-spot can be found along the inner front wall of the vagina—the top wall if a woman is laying on her back. “It’s a few inches up, about a third of the way, although it varies from person to person,” says Dr. Berman.

"Every woman is built relatively the same,” she adds, “but our anatomies can be different depending on our age, how many babies we’ve had, and our genetics.” For some women, the G-spot is a bit higher, while for others it may be a closer to the vaginal opening.

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A woman may be able to feel out her own G-spot by hand, says Dr. Berman, by exploring the upper, inner wall of her vagina with a finger or two. “It feels a bit rougher, kind of like an orange peel,” she says, “and sometimes it can be pulled back in the fold, so you might have to fish around a bit.”

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If you're on the hunt for your G-spot and then start to feel uncomfortable stroking or pressing on the anterior wall, or you suddenly feel an urgent need to urinate, don't panic; it's actually normal. Meanwhile, some women touching this area won’t feel anything at all. “But for many women, in the context of sexual relations, it’s extremely pleasurable,” she says.

The G-spot may be easier to pinpoint with erotic toys that are angled upward and designed to (literally) hit the spot. Certain sexual positions, like having a woman on top at a 45-degree angle, can also help. “It can be hard to reach it yourself, so I would encourage women to also experiment with toys and with their partners,” says Dr. Berman.

In 2012, Florida-based gynecologist Adam Ostrzenski, MD, wrote in The Journal of Sexual Medicine that he had identified the G-spot as an actual, physical structure for the first time. He made the discovery during post-mortem research (i.e. dissection) on an 83-year-old woman, and described a “well-delineated sac structure” on the vaginal wall measuring about 8 millimeters long, 3 millimeters thick, and .4 millimeters high.

But because the finding came from a dead woman, and this “sac” was never shown to be active in sexual arousal or orgasms, other doctors have expressed doubts about its significance. A review in the journal Clinical Anatomy points out that “Ostrzenski has an interest in proving the presence of a G-spot that should have been declared, since he runs a cosmetic plastic gynecology clinic where the list of procedures includes G-Spot Augmentation.” (More on that later.)

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Other scientists have refuted the idea that there is anything remarkable about the vaginal wall itself, claiming instead that all touch-related sexual sensations come strictly from nerves in or around the clitoris. Some have even gone as far as to say that the G-spot “belongs in the same category as angels and unicorns.”

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Barry Komisaruk, PhD, distinguished professor of psychology at Rutgers University Newark, says that among sexuality researchers, there’s little doubt that the G-spot—or the G-region, as he refers to it—exists. But it’s not one anatomical entity, he says; rather, it’s “several independently erogenous structures that happen to all be concentrated in the region of the anterior vaginal wall behind the public bone,” all of which can be stimulated by pressure.

Some studies have described the G-spot as a “female prostate,” suggesting that the area may be similar in structure and function to the male organ located between the penis and the bladder. One comparison often made is that both spots—the G-spot in women and the prostate (also consider the "male G-spot") in men—can trigger or contribute to orgasm when stimulated.

There’s another notable similarity between men’s and women’s anatomy in this area, as well. The region often described as the G-spot or G-zone includes two small structures called Skene’s glands. These glands produce a fluid that helps lubricate the female urethra, and are thought to have some of the same components as the male prostate.

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“For some women, stimulation of the G-spot can cause a release of fluids,” says Dr. Berman, a phenomenon sometimes known as female ejaculation. Although it hasn’t been proven, some experts think those Skene’s glands play a role here as well.

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“Upward pressure on the upper curved wall of the vagina puts pressure on these glands,” wrote the authors of a 2015 review in Socioaffective Neuroscience and Psychology, “which can result in secretion of fluid that resembles semen.” Then again, they added, some of that fluid could also be small amounts of urine: “Ultrasounds have shown that the bladder fills during sexual intercourse and contracts in women who ‘squirt’ fluid from the urethra at orgasm,” they wrote.

Some doctors and plastic surgeons offer injections—either of collagen or of stem cells (also called platelet-rich plasma, or PRP)—that they say will make the G-spot area larger and/or more sensitive to touch, thereby enhancing pleasure. But so far, there have been no clinical trials to show that these “G-shot” or “O-shot” procedures actually make a difference, says Dr. Berman.

“There is some anecdotal evidence of women getting these shots and experiencing increased sexual arousal or enhanced orgasms,” she says. “But keep in mind that humans are highly suggestive: Sexual response and sexual chemistry have a lot to do with emotion, and so if these women are paying money for a treatment, they may very well be experiencing a powerful placebo effect.”

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The question of whether vaginal orgasms and clitoral orgasms should truly be classified as different things is still up for debate in the medical world. But many women say that orgasms involving stimulation of their G-spot—either alone, with a vibrator, or with a partner—feels unique, says Dr. Komisaruk.

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“The nerves that convey clitoral sensation are different from the pelvic and vagus nerves that convey vaginal sensation,” says Dr. Komisaruk, “so it is not surprising that the orgasms that are stimulated by one or the other of these nerves feel different from each other.” (He’s demonstrated this difference by studying patients with severed spinal cords: Even when these women had no sensation in their clitoris, they could still experience pleasure—and orgasm—through vaginal stimulation.)

This phenomenon has been reported in medical literature, too. In studies from the 1970s, women described clitoral orgasms as “localized, intense, and physically satisfying,” and vaginal orgasms as “stronger and longer lasting” and “more psychologically satisfying,” with “whole-body sensation” and “throbbing feelings.”

Can’t find your G-spot? Dr. Berman encourages women to keep exploring their bodies and experimenting with what feels good, but she also acknowledges that not all women will feel the same sensations in or around their vaginas—and that not everyone will be able to pinpoint an exact “spot” that feels different from everywhere else.

Luckily, there are plenty of other ways for women to orgasm, and plenty more erogenous zones all over the body. Women are still most likely to orgasm through clitoral stimulation, she says, so that’s a good place to start (and finish!). But some women also become aroused—and may even climax—when their nipples, lips, ears, neck, fingers, or toes are also brought into play.

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