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Journal of Sociolinguistics 5/2, 2001: 214232

Telling it straight? Dictionary denitions

of women's genitals1
Virginia Braun

Celia Kitzinger

University of Auckland
New Zealand

University of York
United Kingdom

Feminist concerns about the social representation of sex, sexuality, and sexual
organs have included analyses of their representation both in dictionaries and
in medical texts. Drawing on feminist and social constructionist work, we
analysed entries for `clitoris' and `vagina', using entries for `penis' as a
comparison, in 12 medical and 16 English language dictionaries. Both
`vagina' and `clitoris' were overwhelmingly dened by their location in a
female body, whereas the penis was dened in terms of function. Description
of sex/sexuality was frequently omitted from both vaginal and clitoral denitions, and women's genitals continue to be dened in relation to an implicit
penile norm. Three assumptions informed these denitions that female
sexuality is passive (and male sexuality active), that women's genitals are
`absence' (and men's are `presence'), and that genitals are used for heterosexual
sex explicitly coitus. We suggest that these denitions present, as natural
biological fact, common sense sexist and heterosexist assumptions about female
and male bodies and sexualities.

KEYWORDS: Dictionaries, vagina, clitoris, penis, gender ideology,

feminism
Dictionaries have functioned as linguistic legislators which perpetrate the
stereotypes and prejudices of their writers and editors, who are almost exclusively
male.
(Kramarae and Treichler 1990: 155)

Concern about the representation of sex, sexuality and sexual organs has been at
the centre of feminist movements (e.g. Dreifus 1977; Marieskind and Ehrenreich
1975; O'Sullivan 1987). Medical texts have been a common site of analysis of
such representation (e.g. Giacomini et al. 1986; Lawrence and Bendixen 1992;
Moore and Clarke 1995; Petersen 1998; Scully and Bart 1978; Shildrick and
Price 1994; also Martin 1994), which continues to nd entrenched practices of
male-body-as-norm, and of under-representation of women's bodies, and has
demonstrated how cultural imperatives have shaped scientic understandings of
female anatomy (Wooley 1994). The dictionary has also been recognised as a
site of representation, and an extensive feminist literature has focused on
critiquing standard dictionaries as sexist (e.g. Gershuny 1977; Kramarae and
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DICTIONARY DEFINITIONS OF GENITALS

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Treichler 1990; Miller and Swift 1976), as well as producing feminist

alternatives (e.g. Daly and Caputi 1987; Kramarae and Treichler 1985; Mills
1991).
Only one previous study (Willinsky 1987) has specically examined genital
denitions in dictionaries. Comparing denitions of the clitoris, penis and vagina
in eight North American high school dictionaries, Willinsky (1987: 153) noted
the `inadequacy' of denitions of female genitals. His ndings showed that
denitions of the vagina never mentioned either `sex' or `copulation', whereas
the terms `sexual' or `copulation' occurred in all eight denitions for penis.
Similarly, although the penis was always dened as an `organ' (likewise the
clitoris) the vagina never was. Instead, it was a `canal' or `passage' whose
functions were left almost entirely unspecied, and were `something of a
mystery' (Willinsky 1987: 152). In almost half of the dictionaries (3/8), there
was no entry for the clitoris, and of the remaining ve, only one used the term
`sexual' in its denition (the other four compared the clitoris to the penis as in
`homologous to the penis' (Willinsky 1987: 152)). Willinsky (1987: 151)
concluded that while `the penis inscribes sexuality', female sexuality is denied
in denitions of both the vagina and the clitoris.
In this paper, we develop Willinsky's (1987) research through an analysis of
denitions of the clitoris and vagina (using penis as a comparative term)
published in adult English language dictionaries and in medical dictionaries.
We are interested in the construction of particular accounts of anatomy, and
the ideological work these do. Our theoretical framework draws on work
around the social construction of sex and sexuality (e.g. Foucault 1978;
Holland et al. 1994; Laqueur 1990), the women's health movement (e.g.
Dreifus 1977; Marieskind and Ehrenreich 1975; O'Sullivan 1987), and feminist
research on language (e.g. Cameron 1992; Kramarae and Treichler 1990;
Weatherall and Walton 1999). Challenging the assumption that the human
body is natural, knowable, real and essential, we start instead from the position
that it is always a signied body, constructed through cultural representation
and social practices. These representations and practices have eects: as
Holland et al. (1994: 65) note, `young women's understandings of their
bodies are shaped and constrained by the processes of social construction of
gender which provide limited ways in which they can recognize and legitimate
their bodily experiences and practices'.
Dictionaries, while a very specic (and undoubtedly normative) data source,
are worth considering and deconstructing for the values implicit in their
ostensibly neutral denitions. The process of denition is not value-neutral,
and dictionaries `give the values they select stability and authority' (Landau
1985: 269; Gershuny 1977), values which are often socially/politically
conservative. The construction of authorless denitions furthers the seeming
authority and `factual' nature of these denitions (Potter 1996). As `authorities'
on what words mean, dictionaries represent themselves as the place to nd
meaning. There is some (limited) evidence that (young) people do consult
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dictionaries to gain sexual information (Jackson 1999; Janet Holland, personal

communication, March 2000), a process which ts within the dictionary's role
as an `educational instrument' (Adler 1963: 58).
METHOD
A total of 16 English language dictionaries covering eight publishers (coded
D1D16) and 12 medical dictionaries covering 11 publishers (coded MD1
MD12) were selected as a convenience sample (see Table 1). All dictionaries
(desk/concise size and above) were published between 1989 and 1998. The
medical dictionaries were held in Loughborough University's general library,
and the medical libraries at Leicester and Nottingham Universities.2 The
majority of the English language dictionaries were held in the general libraries
at Leicester, Loughborough and Nottingham Universities. The new `up-to-date'
dictionaries released in late 1998 by three major dictionary publishers (Oxford,
Chambers and Collins) were included in the sample, as were three dictionaries
owned by the authors. Two dictionaries (D2, D11) were primarily intended for
use by non-native English speakers. The English language sample covers all
major British publishers (Benson, Benson and Ilson 1986; Loughridge 1990)
and, with the exception of the Readers Digest Dictionary, contains all (British)
dictionaries recommended for quality use (Kabdebo and Armstrong 1997;
Loughridge 1990).
Denitions can be analysed not only in and of themselves, but also in relation
to what is said about other (similar) organs. While we were primarily interested
in denitions of female genitalia (clitoris and vagina), we decided to use
denitions of the penis as a contrast case. The penis, although not entirely
`functionally' equivalent to either clitoris or vagina, shares sexual (and
reproductive) function and meaning with these organs, and sexuality seems
to be the primary coding for all three organs. (Moreover, as we shall show, the
penis is the implicit or explicit point of reference in many clitoris and vagina
denitions.) In analysing entries for each organ, comparisons were made across
organ, across dictionaries, and across dictionary type (medical or English
language). We present our results by `organ' the clitoris, and then the
vagina. Three questions are addressed for each organ: `what is it?', `where is
it?', and `what is it for?'. We then consider assumptions about men and women,
masculinity and femininity, and sexuality, embedded in, and constructed by,
these denitions.
DEFINING THE FEMALE GENITALIA
Before presenting our analysis for each organ, we briey note that medical
dictionaries give signicantly longer denitions for each organ than do English
language dictionaries (see Table 2). Within dictionary type, however, the
number of words devoted to each organ is not signicantly dierent, with the
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Table 1: Dictionaries analysed

Code

English Language Dictionaries

Code

Medical Dictionaries

D1

American Heritage Dictionary of

the English Language (1992)
Cambridge International
Dictionary of Language (1995)
Cassell Concise English Dictionary
(1993)
Cassell Student English Dictionary
(1994)
Chambers 21st Century
Dictionary (1996)
Collins English Dictionary (1998)

MD1

Black's Medical Dictionary (1995)

MD2

Churchill's Illustrated Medical

Dictionary (1989)
Collins Dictionary of Medicine
(1992)
Concise Colour Medical
Dictionary (1998)
Dictionary of Medicine (1993)

Collins English Dictionary and

Thesaurus (1993)
Collins New English Dictionary
(1997)

MD7

Concise Oxford Dictionary of

Current English (1990)
Longman Dictionary of
Contemporary English (1995)
Longman Dictionary of English
Language and Culture (1992)
Longman Dictionary of the
English Language (1991)
New Oxford Dictionary of English
(1998)
Oxford English Dictionary (1989)
The Chamber's Dictionary (1998)
Webster's Ninth New Collegiate
Dictionary (1991)

MD9

D2
D3
D4
D5
D6
D7
D8

D9
D10
D11
D12
D13
D14
D15
D16

MD3
MD4
MD5
MD6

MD8

MD10
MD11
MD12

Dorland's Illustrated Medical

Dictionary (1994)
Melloni's Illustrated Medical
Dictionary (1993)
Miller-Keane Encyclopedia and
Dictionary of Medicine, Nursing,
and Allied Health (1997)
Mosby's Medical, Nursing, and
Allied Health Dictionary (1998)
Stedman's Medical Dictionary
(1995)
Taber's Cyclopedic Medical
Dictionary (1997)
The Oxford Medical Companion
(1994)

Table 2: Mean number of words used in organ denitions, by

dictionary type
Dictionary Type
Medical
English Language
# Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 2001

Clitoris

Vagina

Penis

51
18

72
20

83
18

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exception that medical dictionaries give signicantly shorter denitions for

clitoris (than for penis). Here, however, we are concerned with the content of
the entries themselves.
What is a clitoris?
Eleven of the twelve medical dictionaries contain clitoris entries (only MD12
omits `clitoris' altogether), and in all of them, the clitoris is dened in terms of
the penis. Eight say that the clitoris is `homologous with the penis' (MD2, MD6,
MD7, MD10, MD11), `the female analogue of the penis' (MD3), or `the female
counterpart of the penis' (MD4). One (MD9) specically notes that it is
`homologous to the corpora cavernosa of the penis'. Only half that number
(4/12) make the symmetrical point in denitions of the penis that it is
`homologous with the clitoris in the female' (MD6, MD9, MD11, MD12). (One of
those that does (MD12) is, ironically, the only dictionary which omits denition
of the clitoris.3) According to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED 1989, vol. VII:
342), `homologous' refers (biologically) to `having the same relation to an
original or fundamental type; corresponding in structure (but not necessarily in
function)'.4 English language dictionaries tell a similar yet dierent story of
what a clitoris is. Like the medical dictionaries, the clitoris is dened in terms of
the penis (in 7/16 denitions): the clitoris is `homologous' (D1, D6, D14, D16)
to, `corresponding' (D3, D4) with, or just `like' (D5) the penis. One complete
denition reads: `a homologue of the male penis, present, as a rudimentary
organ, in the females of many of the higher vertebrates' (D14). (Only one (D1)
denes the penis as `homologous' with the clitoris).
Comparison with the penis is made in other ways. The most consistently
noted aspect of the clitoris is its erectile capability: only one of the medical
dictionaries (MD7) does not make some reference to the clitoris being `erectile',
or becoming `erect'. In some instances, the comparison with the penis is overt
(e.g. `like the penis it becomes erect . . . ', MD4). Similarly 10 dierent English
language dictionaries (D1, D3, D4, D5, D6, D7, D9, D12, D13, D15) make
reference to the clitoris as `erectile', or mention `erection'. Even when the term
penis is not included, the comparison is invoked though the inferential linking
of erection with penis.) Dierences in `erection' between clitoris and penis (the
clitoris does not go `rigid', for example, Angier 1999) are ignored. Eight medical
denitions of the penis (MD2, MD3, MD4, MD5, MD7, MD8, MD10, MD11), and
one English language denition (D13), refer to its erectile capability, but never in
comparison to the clitoris.
Clearly then, when comparison is made between clitoris and penis as
`corresponding' or `homologous', the penis is the primary referent the
`norm' with which the female body is compared and contrasted (see also
Moore and Clarke 1995; Petersen 1998). But how far does this ostensible
similarity with the penis extend? The penis is dened in all medical dictionaries,
and 15 of the 16 English language dictionaries (not D2) as an `organ', and
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typically as a male organ. An organ is `a somewhat independent part of the body

that performs a special function or functions' (Dorland's Illustrated Medical
Dictionary 1994: 1189), or is a part of the body `adapted by its structure for a
particular vital function' (OED 1989, vol. X: 918919). However, fewer than
half the medical dictionary denitions (MD1, MD2, MD3, MD5, MD7) use the
word `organ' in their denitions of the clitoris. Instead, nouns like `body' (MD6,
MD8, MD10, MD11) or `structure' (MD9) are used to dene the clitoris. One
(MD4) fails to dene it independently at all, describing it only as `the female
counterpart of the penis'. The clitoris is evidently not considered to be an organ
in the same way that the penis is in these denitions. This is surprising given
that it does indeed perform `a special function' (Dorland's 1994: 1189) that of
female sexual pleasure. Unlike the medical dictionaries, however, English
language dictionaries often dene the clitoris as an `organ': eleven of the 16
clitoris denitions use `organ', while two others use `body' (D3, D4), two use
`part' (D9, D10), and one uses `structure' (D15). English language dictionaries
thus implicitly treat the clitoris as more equivalent to, or like, the penis than
medical dictionaries.
Adjectives are frequently employed to describe the exact state of this `organ',
`body' or `structure' in a way that they are not in penis denitions. In addition
to `erectile', the adjective `small' is used in six of the medical, and 13 of the
English language dictionaries' denitions of the clitoris (D1, D3, D4, D5, D6, D7,
D8, D9, D11, D12, D13, D15, D16, MD1, MD5, MD6, MD7, MD8, MD11).
When the clitoris is considered `small' (a description which mimics, and
reinforces, common sense), the implicit comparison is, again, with the penis.
The two entries (MD10, MD11) which provide an `independent' measurement
of what `small' is disagree. Contrastively, only one (medical) dictionary makes
any reference to size in its denition of the penis (i.e., the penis was not dened
as `large' in comparison to the clitoris). The single reference to penis size claims
that, `contrary to popular myths, the size of the normal penis has no physical
bearing on the male's or female's enjoyment of sexual intercourse' (MD11), and
reassures the reader that `the size of the accid penis does not necessarily
correlate with that of the erect penis'. (There is no mention of the size of `accid'
and `erect' clitorises in this, or other, dictionaries.)
Our data demonstrate that the ostensibly homologous relationship between
the clitoris and the penis does not connote reciprocity instead, the clitoris is
represented as a less developed, or smaller, form of the penis (Lawrence and
Bendixen 1992; Willinsky 1987; see also Moore and Clarke, 1995). This notion
of female genital inferiority reects 2000 years of medical wisdom: from
Aristotle and Galen on, women's bodies (and genitals) have been constructed
as inferior versions of men's bodies. Originally the vagina was considered the
inferior homologue of the penis (Laqueur 1990; Lawrence and Bendixen 1992;
Petersen 1998; Shildrick and Price 1994). Now it appears that the clitoris, in
dictionary denitions at least, invokes a subtle inferiority.
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Where do you nd a clitoris?

All but one of the medical dictionaries, and 14 of the English language
dictionaries, provide information about where the clitoris is located. In medical
dictionaries, it is located `at the top of the female genitalia where the labial folds
meet below the pubic bone' (MD1), or `at the anterior angle of the rima pudendi'
(MD6). Sometimes entries contain the word `hidden' for example, `partially
hidden beneath the anterior extremities of the labia minora' (MD9). In English
language dictionaries, the information is vaguer. Three locate it in relation to the
vagina (e.g. `above the vagina' D2, also D5, D7), while 11 give a vulval location
(e.g. `at the apex of the vulva' D3, D4; `at the front of the vulva' D6, D8, D11,
D15, also D1, D9, D12, D13, D16). Although location information is presumably
included to help the reader solve the mystery of where a clitoris might actually
be found, in English language dictionaries it varies from possibly incorrect to
vague and confusing. By contrast, only four medical dictionary penis denitions
give information about location (and two English language dictionaries (D10,
D11) refer to it as the `outer' sex organ). As these entries typically note that the
penis is anatomically `attached to the pubic arch' (MD2), they function as an
internal description of location rather than as a guide to nding the penis on the
external body, which is what the clitoris denitions appear to do.
What is a clitoris used for?
Roughly half of both the medical (5/11) and the English language (9/16)
denitions make explicit reference to the sexual function of the clitoris. It is `the
main erogenic centre' (MD3), which is a (`highly' or `sexually') `sensitive' (D5, D6,
D7, D8, D13, MD1, MD4, MD11) `part of a woman's outer sexual organs where
she can feel sexual pleasure' (D10, also D2). It is `a centre of sexual sensation in
females' (D11, D12) that `can be excited by sexual activity' (MD5) and `may be the
focus of orgasm' (MD1). The lack of `function' information in the remaining half of
our dictionary sample (13 dictionaries) is a bizarre omission, as the clitoris has no
function other than to give sexual pleasure (Masters and Johnson 1966). This
omission can be contrasted with the fact that only two dictionaries (MD1, MD5)
dened the penis without mentioning sexual function. The exclusion of the sexual
aspect of the clitoris, then, does not reect an avoidance of sexuality across these
denitions generally (see also Willinsky 1987). According to these denitions, the
clitoris is less marked for sex and sexual pleasure than the penis, despite the fact
that (unlike the penis) sexual pleasure is its only function.
What is a vagina?
The question `is it an organ?' is also pertinent in relation to vaginal denitions.
The genitalia are `reproductive organs' (Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary
1997: 1355), and the vagina is included in listings of these, as an organ
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(Dorland's 1994).5 Given these understandings, the vagina clearly could be

dened as an organ, but virtually never is, a nding that mirrors Willinsky's
(1987) results. Only three denitions in the entire set of 28 refer to the vagina
as an organ in any way: two juxtapose a general denition of `vagina' with the
specic denition for the vagina `a sheath, a sheath-like envelope or organ; the
genital passage of a female . . . ' (D3, D4), and one notes that `it serves as the
organ of copulation' (MD2, emphasis added). These ndings can be clearly
contrasted to the penis, which is dened as an organ in all but one denition
(D2). Since organs are linked to specialised function, penis denitions suggest
function (and activity) in a way that vagina denitions do not.
Instead, the terms used to describe the vagina are `passage' (D1, D3, D4, D8,
D10, D11, D12, D15, MD1, MD5, MD12), `canal' (D5, D6, D7, D9, D14, D16,
MD6, MD8, MD9, MD10), `tube' (D2, D13, MD2, MD3, MD4, MD11), and
`structure' (MD7). In 16 dictionary entries, various adjectives are used (alone or
in combination) to describe these nouns: `genital' (MD10, D3, D4, D15),
`muscular' (MD1, MD4, D5, D13), `bromuscular' (MD2, MD3), `tubular'
(MD7, D12), `musculomembranous' (MD7, MD11), `membranous' (D14),
`dilatable' (MD2), `sheath-like' (MD12), and `moist' (D6). From this variation,
there is clearly no agreed-upon description of what the vagina is actually like.
Common across almost all of these denitions is the representation of the
vagina as an open space, rather than as a body part adapted for particular
functions. Only two denitions challenge the representation of the vagina as
`space', by noting that `the canal is actually a potential space; the walls usually
touch' (MD9, also MD11). Such detail comes from medical dictionaries, some of
which include detailed anatomical descriptions in their denitions. While four
other medical dictionaries comment that the vagina `stretches readily' (MD3,
MD5, MD8, MD12), specically in relation to childbirth, and one mentions `easy
distensibility' (MD11), such descriptions do not necessarily disrupt the construction of the vagina as an existing space.
Willinsky (1987: 153) made the observation that `lexicographers have felt
compelled to give this canal [the vagina] a direction, yet a direction which they
cannot seem to agree on'. This is also evident in our sample. Eleven denitions
of the vagina contend that it `leads from the cervix of the uterus to the exterior
of the body' (D5, D2, D6, D7, D8, D12, D15, D16, MD2, MD4, MD10). Another
12 (D1, D3, D4, D10, D11, D13, D14, MD1, MD6, MD7, MD8, MD9) describe it
as `extending from the vulva to the cervix uteri' (MD6). Only four denitions are
non-directional (D9, MD5, MD11, MD12), using words like `between', while one
(MD3) does not dene the vagina in these terms at all. This directional feature of
vagina denitions only makes sense in relation to various potential `functions'
that the vagina might be involved in (Morgan 1972). When described as
leading towards the uterus, `penetration' is implicitly highlighted it is a
`passage' into the body. When described as leading to the vulva, childbirth and/
or menstruation are implicitly highlighted it is a `passage' out of the body.
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Where do you nd a vagina?

The vagina is overwhelmingly dened by where it is on the female body: `the
muscular tube leading from the external genitals to the cervix of the uterus'
(D13, emphasis added). In these denitions, the vagina relies on other parts of
female reproductive anatomy, and does not have an `existence' separate from
the body parts between which it exists (vulva and cervix). Like in denitions of
the clitoris, location information forms a signicant part of the denition,
compared to denitions of the penis. On average, 12 words (of 20, about
60%) relate to location in English language denitions (this increases to 16
words, or about 80%, if information about `being in women/female mammals' is
included). The previously noted absence of location information in penis
denitions suggests that the penis, unlike the vagina, need not rely on its
local (bodily) context for denition or meaning. Only one (medical) dictionary
mentions scrotum/testicles, commenting that `the subcutaneous fascia of the
penis is directly continuous with that of the scrotum, which contains the testes'
(MD9). Such `location' information relates to anatomy rather than external
bodily geography, and to be comparable to vagina denitions it would need to
read: `the penis hangs in front of the testicles (when accid)'. Dictionary
denitions thus construct the penis as more `independent' than the vagina
(or indeed the clitoris) both conceptually, and from the surrounding body
which is represented as embedded in that body.
What is a vagina used for?
Medical and English language dictionaries dier signicantly in their description
of vaginal function. What the vagina is actually or potentially used for is left a
mystery in English language dictionary denitions. Not one single entry
contains any information as to function (although function is suggested in ve
references to `genital/s', D3, D4, D8, D13, D15, two to `the reproductive
system', D5, D12, and two to the `outer sexual organs', D10, D11). Unlike
location, which features signicantly, function remains unaccounted for.
Perhaps the `function' of the vagina is common sense everyone knows
what it does and so is not included. However, people are confused about
what the word `vagina' even refers to (Braun and Kitzinger in press), let alone
what it does: some women apparently believe that they urinate from their
vagina (Gartrell and Mosbacher 1984). Moreover, the `functions' of the penis
are surely as, if not more, common sense as functions of the vagina, yet
reference to sex is in all 16 English language denitions of the penis indeed,
the penis apparently is `the male organ of copulation' (D6) and to urination in
all but two (D12, D16). Thus the denition of what a penis is is not separated
from what it does. Functionality is built into the very meaning of the term/
organ, and sexual activity is mapped directly onto it: `the male organ is marked
by a sexuality which the female appears to be denied' (Willinsky 1987: 148). It
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seems that the crucial information about the vagina in English language
denitions is location and description, while for penis denitions, it is function.
This suggests that the `function' of the vagina is relatively unimportant,
compared with its location or with the function of the penis.
Overall, medical dictionaries do provide the reader with some information
about what a vagina is (potentially) used for only three (MD7, MD9, MD10) do
not mention function.6 Of the nine that include such information, seven
explicitly highlight penile penetration: the vagina `acts as a receptacle for the
penis in coitus' (e.g. MD3), which, to some extent, maps onto the noted
`openness' of descriptions of the vagina. One (MD2) notes that the vagina
`serves as the organ of copulation', with no explicit reference to a penis, but the
term copulation itself invokes a penis (e.g. see Black's Medical Dictionary 1992;
Collins New English Dictionary 1997). Coitus is included in all denitions which
describe function except MD5, and is the only function given in one third of the
denitions. The second most commonly noted function is childbirth, with ve
denitions making explicit reference to the vagina as the `birth canal' (MD3,
also MD4, MD5, MD8, MD11). Four note that `semen is ejaculated into the
upper part' (MD1, MD4, MD8, MD11), and two note that it is a `passage . . . for
the discharge of the menstrual ow' (MD8, MD11). This relatively infrequent
noting of these possible or indeed `usual' functions (and the total exclusion of
others such as secretions during sexual arousal; contraction during orgasm)
can be starkly contrasted with the frequent noting of both copulation and
urination in relation to the penis, as noted earlier. The diculty in considering
alternate `functions' for the vagina demonstrates the pervasiveness of a
particular version, centred around heterosexual coitus.

CHALLENGING GENITAL DEFINITIONS

These dictionary denitions provide a particular version of what female (and
male) genitals are, where they are located, and what they are used for. In many
ways they remain remarkably similar to those found by Willinsky (1987) over a
decade ago, in that they continue to present sexist accounts of both the clitoris
(particularly in medical dictionaries) and of the vagina (most strikingly in
English language dictionaries). Sex and sexuality are inscribed on the penis it
remains `the organ of copulation' but never, in English language denitions,
on the vagina, and only sometimes on the clitoris: only half the denitions of the
clitoris the organ designed solely for sexual pleasure mention or even imply
sexuality. Indeed, both the vagina and clitoris are overwhelmingly `organs' of
location, i.e. their denition and meaning is primarily derived from their location
in a female body. Moreover, the vagina and clitoris continue to be dened in
relation to an implicit penile norm they are either a homologue of the penis,
small in comparison to the penis, or the receptacle for the penis. It seems that
`the drive to see all genital organs with reference to man is . . . deeply embedded
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in language' (Laqueur 1990: 97) and, as we have shown, in dictionary

denitions.
It is also worth considering the remarkable similarity of these late 20th
Century dictionary denitions of the penis and clitoris with those contained in
the major French medical reference text from the late 19th Century. Laqueur
(1989: 97) commented that this work `describes the clitoris as an erectile organ
situated at the upper end of the vulva which has the same structure as the
corpus cavernosum of the penis, the same erotic functions, but lacks a urethra'.
Similarly, the vagina was dened `simply as the passage from the vulva to the
uterus which serves to evacuate the menses, contain the male organ during
copulation and expel the product of fecundation' (Laqueur 1989: 97). We are
not suggesting that anatomy per se (i.e. material bodies) would change, because
we cannot talk about anatomy per se: anatomy (as it is meaningful, as we
understand and interpret it) is socially constructed (Moore and Clarke 1995).
`Ideology', rather than `biology', changes (Lorber 1998), and changes the way
we see things. What is compelling is that the perceived signicance of the
clitoris and vagina, their described roles and functions, has apparently remained
the same despite enormous social change, particularly around female
sexuality.
In the following three sections, we consider the ways these dictionary
denitions not only dene their objects, but dene them in ways that reinforce a
particular ideology of men and women, masculinity and femininity, and sexuality
centred around activity/passivity, absence/presence, and heterosexuality/
heterosexism. Drawing on other writings, we demonstrate the prevalence of
these assumptions in other socio-cultural contexts, and reveal and disrupt the
normative and ideological positioning of dictionary denitions by looking at
alternative accounts in this instance feminist writings (see also Moore and
Clarke 1995).
Activity/Passivity
The implicit model of the vagina and penis disseminated by current dictionary
denitions both English language and medical is one of respective passivity
and activity. When described almost entirely in terms of location, the vagina is
`passive' it only exists because of where it is and what is around it. Where
vaginal `function' is described, it is usually the passive one of `receiving' the
penis. Verbs commonly used in denitions of the vagina reinforce such
passivity. The vagina `receives' (`receives the penis', MD1, MD4, MD6, MD8,
MD12), `serves' (`serves as a passageway through which the fetus is delivered',
MD11, also MD2), and `allows' (`allow the passage of the newborn child' MD4,
MD5). The most active things the vagina does are `stretch' (MD3, MD5, MD8)
and in just one `secrete' (MD8). The penis, in contrast, is dened by its
functions urination, copulation and ejaculation. The `active' penis `ejaculates'
(MD1) or `discharges' (MD8) spermatozoa which actively `swim' (MD8) through
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the cervical canal, `enter' (MD8) the uterus and `fertilize' the ovum (MD1,
MD4). A vagina which receives, serves and allows, oers only passive imagery
of heterosex, fertilization and childbirth, constructing the woman's body as a
passive passage for the active penis/spermatozoa (going in) and the active baby
(going out).
We are not the rst to comment on the `passivity' of the vagina. Even the
term itself from the Latin `vagina' meaning sheath or scabbard `represents
the vagina as a passive receptacle awaiting penetration as a scabbard awaits a
sword' (Kitzinger 1983: 38). And an ideology of respective passivity and activity
pervades western societies' notions of sex, sexuality and genitalia (e.g. Jackson
1999): men, masculinity and male sexuality embody activity; women, femininity and female sexuality embody passivity. This ideology is also built into the
scientic language of biological reproduction the active sperm, the passive egg
(Martin 1991). The supposed `neutral' representation of a `biological' process is
infused with cultural stereotypes that, by linking nature/culture so elementally,
reinforce the naturalness of the stereotypes themselves (Martin 1991), and it is
subsequently `dicult to see how our current scientic ideas are infused by
cultural assumptions' (Martin 1994: 213). Martin (1991: 500) maintains that
one feminist challenge is `to wake up the sleeping metaphors in science', and
notes alternative ways to describe fertilisation. The egg and sperm can be seen
as equally (but dierently, interactively) active: `evidence shows that the egg
and sperm do interact on more mutual terms, making biology's refusal to
portray them in that way all the more disturbing' (Martin 1991: 499).
We need to be equally critical with the notion of passivity and activity
embedded in dictionary denitions women's and men's genitalia they only
oer one possible (albeit dominant) representation. Disruptions to the construction of passive vagina/active penis do exist. Feminists writing about heterosex,
for example, have rewritten heterosexual `penetration' as `enclosure' (Ramazanoglu 1989). Germaine Greer (1999: 39) `attempted to provide a dierent
version of female receptivity by speaking of the vagina as if it were active, as if it
sucked on the penis and emptied it out rather than simply receiving the
ejaculate'. Others have similarly described a sexually active vagina `plumping
up and opening . . . like a bud bursting into full ower' (Kitzinger 1983: 48), or
`ballooning outward' (Loulan 1984: 3536).7 In childbirth the vagina does not
passively `allow' passage for the baby: rather, `in giving birth a woman often
discovers the female knowledge that the vagina can be powerful and active . . .
can actively open up, like the great, eshy petals of a peony, to give birth'
(Kitzinger 1994: 250). Such examples, which oer a version that directly
contradicts the story the dictionary tells, serve to demonstrate the situated
nature of all accounts; that what is ostensibly a neutral denition is rather an
ideological story.

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Absence/Presence
`Absence' is most strikingly evident in the one dictionary which does not include
an entry for the clitoris (see also Willinsky 1987), but notions of `absence' and
`presence' are also subtly encoded in dictionary denitions themselves. Denitions of the clitoris in medical dictionaries contain signicantly fewer words, on
average, than either vagina or penis (see Table 2). Vagina (and clitoris)
denitions provide considerable location information, in contrast to denitions
of the penis, suggesting that we need to be informed about where this `canal' or
`tube' (or `organ' or `body') actually is on the female body. The frequency of this
feature in denitions suggests that the vagina (and, indeed, the clitoris) do not
occupy the same conceptual space as the penis: the penis, being conceptually
present, needs no such explanation. Both the clitoris and vagina are also `absent'
in comparison to the penis, which functions as the norm from which they dier,
the `present' object in relation to which they are dened. The emphasis on (lack
of) size in denitions of the clitoris suggests a partial absence not only is it
`partially hidden', but it is also `small', not like the present, visible, `large' penis.
The construction of female genitals as `absence' has been noted in other
contexts (e.g. see Braun and Kitzinger in press; Braun and Wilkinson 2001).
Studying representations of the clitoris in medical illustrations of female
genitalia throughout the 20th Century, for example, Moore and Clarke
(1995) found that in some, the clitoris was not present, or, if present, not
labelled. Certainly, the dierent parts of the clitoris were generally not identied
(see also Downer 1980). They describe this practice as `clitoral deletionvisual
clitoridectomy' (1995: 284, see also Kulish 1991: 516). In psychoanalytic
discourse, women's genitals have been constructed as lacking the male (penile)
presence (Penfold and Walker 1984). As Shildrick and Price (1994: 176) note,
`women are castrated men, their bodies marked by lack, and what is hidden is
just a hole. . . . For men the phallus, real and symbolic, has become the signier
of presence and of wholeness'.
In feminist writings, in contrast, the clitoris is transgured from a small
homologue of the penis into a complex, detailed, and much larger system, and
`the raison d'etre of other organs' (Moore and Clarke 1995: 280; see also
Federation of Feminist Health Centers 1981). Loulan (1984: 31), for instance,
identied that most representations of the clitoris show only its `visible-to-thenaked-eye part, the tip of the iceberg' and instead, `the clitoris runs all the way
through the pelvic platform from pubic bone to anus. The clitoris is made up of
taut wire-like tissue surrounded by spongy tissue, nerves and blood vessels'. The
vagina as absence has also been challenged. Recent books/performances such
as The Vagina Monologues (Ensler 1998) and Cunt: A Declaration of Independence
(Muscio 1998) follow a tradition of representing women's genitals as present
and active such as the works of artist Judy Chicago (Ardener 1987) and
masturbation educator Betty Dodson (1974), and Anne Severson's vulval lm,
Near the Big Chakra (Schwichtenberg 1980).
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Heterosexuality/Heterosexism
Heterosexuality is the taken-for-granted (but not unchallenged) norm of sex and
sexual relationships. Institutions and accounts that represent heterosexuality as
the only sexuality obscure other sexualities, and are therefore heterosexist
(Braun 2000). Heterosexism is written into the denitions that describe a sexual
`function' for the vagina. As the only sexual aspects of the vagina involve it
`receiving' the penis in sexual intercourse, `sex' is both limited to heterosex and
within heterosex, to coitus. The construction of the vagina as `designed to t the
penis' (Moore and Clarke 1995: 285; Gavey, McPhillips and Braun 1999),
where the `penis is to vagina as plug is to socket' (Wilton 1996: 104) is found in
a wide range of contexts. This construction of vaginas and penises as
functionally intended for each other means that lesbian sex (and indeed gay
male sex) becomes unimaginable, or what is imagined is deemed inferior. One
author commented, `like their male counterparts, lesbians are handicapped by
having only half the pieces of the anatomical jigsaw puzzle' (Reuben 1970, cited
in Creith 1996: 6). Although there is a `range of possibilities for vaginal
penetration ngers, toes, tongues and thumbs, for example' (Kitzinger and
Wilkinson 1994: 333), lesbian penetration is often described as involving the
use of ` ``phallic objects'' or ``penis-substitutes'' ' (Richardson 1992: 190).
Richardson (1992: 190) challenges this by suggesting that `from a dierent
point of view we could dene a penis as a nger/vibrator/dildo substitute'.
Denitions of the clitoris are not explicitly heterosexist in the way vagina
denitions are. Where sexuality is described in relation to the clitoris, there is no
mention of a sexual partner, either male or female. While a lesbian reading of
the denition is presumably not intended, given the heterosexual norm, it is not
precluded by the denition itself, in the way it is from vagina denitions.
However, denitions of the penis, while not all mentioning a vagina, are
heterosexist. As noted earlier, the `copulation' that the penis is `the male
organ of ' is dened as penis-into-vagina heterosex in dictionaries. Heterosexuality is also explicit in the three of the denitions referring to ejaculation
of semen in a vagina. In these denitions, sex is again limited not only to
heterosex, but also to coitus.
CONCLUSION
In this paper, we have analysed the content of English language and medical
dictionary denitions of clitoris and vagina, using penis as a contrastive case.
These `organs' share some similarities and have some dierences the clitoris
and penis share sexual pleasure, the penis and vagina share sexual `function',
and a role in reproduction. The penis diers from both in terms of urination.
However, the sexual `function' of all three organs is the primary meaning
attributed to each in dictionary denitions (although, as we noted, not always
to either vagina or clitoris), and the penis thus oers a useful comparison point
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for both vagina and clitoris denitions. Moreover, the penis was a frequent
reference point in clitoris and vagina denitions. It might be interesting in
future to consider a wider range of genital part denitions, such as testicles and
vulva, to see whether the assumptions we have identied for vagina, clitoris and
penis still hold.
Dictionaries are a (carefully) constructed data source, and have been noted
for their conservative values. However, they retain a cultural presence as an
authority on what words mean, be it to the general public, or to the medical
profession. Medical dictionary denitions tended to be longer, and often
contained detailed anatomical descriptions for each organ, but what is notable
is that there were very few major dierences between medical and English
language dictionary denitions (only that the clitoris was more frequently
identied as an organ in English language dictionaries and no functional
information was included in vagina denitions in English language dictionaries). These similarities demonstrate that the inuence of cultural values is
widespread, even in the `scientic' realm of the medical dictionary.
From our theoretical framework, no account is `neutral' each constructs its
object in particular ways that foreground certain meanings and preclude others.
While dictionary denitions ostensibly impart a neutral, value-free truth about
genitals, we would concur with Willinsky (1987: 147) that they remain a form
of politics and `subtlely (sic) encode the dominant ideology of gender'. On the
basis of our analysis, and our contrasts with other possible accounts, we nd
that both medical and English language dictionary denitions reinforce a
(historically hegemonic) ideology of gender (dichotomised) and sexual relations.
Overall, they reinscribe notions of absence and passivity in relation to women
and their genitals, and of presence and activity in relation to men's. In this
sense, `masculinity and `femininity' are written onto the genitals. Likewise,
heterosexuality is written into the denition of what a vagina is (and what a
penis is). We would argue that there is nothing `biological' or `functional' about
the assumptions embedded in dierent denitions, but rather they reect wider
socio-cultural constructions around male and female genitals, and persons.
These dictionary denitions of women's (and men's) genitals re-present a
historical common sense account of traditional malefemale sex role stereotypes
embodied in the genitals as natural `fact'.

NOTES
1. This work was undertaken while both authors were based in the Department of
Social Sciences, Loughborough University, United Kingdom. We would like to thank
Victoria Clarke, Meredith Cohen, Sonja Ellis, Sara-Jane Finlay, Jonathan Potter, Sue
Wilkinson and Suzanne Zeedyk for helpful contributions to this paper.
2. One medical dictionary (Segan 1994) which did not contain an entry for clitoris,
penis, or vagina was obviously not included.
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3. This is a signicant improvement on Willinsky's (1987) nding that three of his

eight dictionaries did not include clitoris entries. However, this might also reect the
dierences in sample, and the dierent audiences these dictionaries are intended for.
(The omission of an entry for the clitoris in MD12 is presumably an oversight, since
it is cross-referenced in the penis denition.)
4. In contrast, `analogy' refers to `resemblance of form or function between organs that
are essentially dierent (in dierent species)' (OED 1989 vol. I: 432). Thus to
describe the clitoris as analogous to the penis seems incorrect.
5. However, in Taber's (1997: 1355) description of the reproductive organs, both the
vagina and penis are dened not as organs per se, but as `accessory structures'.
6. The vagina denitions in MD7 and MD10 were the shortest of all the medical
dictionaries, although MD9's denition was the third longest.
7. An interesting ip-side is the-active-vagina-as-dangerous, even deadly, as evidenced
in the widespread vagina dentata motif the vagina equipped with sharp teeth (e.g.
Beit-Hallahmi 1985).

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Address correspondence to:

Virginia Braun
Department of Psychology
The University of Auckland
Private Bag 92019
Auckland
New Zealand
v.braun@auckland.ac.nz

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