The cervix is the lower, narrow part of the uterus. It is the passageway between the uterus and vagina, which allows sperm to enter the uterus for conception, seals the uterus during pregnancy, and widens (expands) to allow the baby to pass through the birth canal during delivery.
While the role of the cervix in reproduction is well established, little is known about its potential role in sexual response/pleasure. The authors of a new study tried to change that by conducting an online survey of 307 women: 72 with a history of gynecological surgery and 235 without a history of gynecological surgery.
These participants, who were recruited through online advertisements, were asked to provide information about their demographics and health history, the types of sexual stimulation they found pleasurable, the locations of sexual sensations, their sexual function and pleasure, and their comfort. discussing sexual health with a health care provider.
Most of the women in this study identified as heterosexual and were between 21 and 30 years old. About a quarter of the participants (23.5%) had undergone a gynecological procedure, with the loop electrosurgical excision procedure (LEEP) being the most commonly reported procedure. LEEP involves removing cancerous or precancerous cells from the cervix with a loop of wire heated by electricity, resulting in the loss of part of the cervix while effectively treating the condition.
For this research, participants were asked to indicate the locations of pleasurable and painful sensations during sexual activity on labeled images. They were also asked to rate the amount of pleasure they felt from each of the following types of stimulation: clitoral stimulation, vaginal stimulation (defined as “when something goes inside your vagina”), deep vaginal stimulation (“when something goes inside the vagina your beyond the length of your fingers”), and cervical stimulation (“when something goes inside your vagina and touches the cervix at the end of your vagina”). Finally, participants completed the 6-item Female Sexual Functioning Index (FSFI).
The researchers found that most women (70.8%) found clitoral stimulation to be the most pleasurable, 16.9% favored deep vaginal stimulation, 10.4% vaginal stimulation, and 0.3% stimulation of the cervix. Five participants did not answer this question.
Although only 0.3% of participants found cervical stimulation to be the most pleasurable type of stimulation, 16.3% said they experienced pleasurable sensations from cervical stimulation.
In addition, women in the gynecological procedure group reported higher rates of pain and lower rates of pleasure in the external genitalia, vagina, deep vagina, anterior and posterior vaginal walls, and clitoris than women in the no-gynecological procedure group. In addition, sub-analysis of the gynecological surgery group revealed that those who underwent cervical surgery specifically reported significant pain with cervical and clitoral stimulation. Those who had undergone gynecological surgery (of any type) reported decreased desire, arousal and lubrication and increased avoidance of sex due to vaginal dryness than other women.
While further research needs to be done to build on this study, the results suggest that cervical stimulation is pleasurable for many women and gynecological procedures can have a detrimental effect on a woman’s sexual function.
For more information on this topic, read these posts from The Journal of Sexual Medicine.
Female clitoris, vagina and cervix mapped to sensory cortex: fMRI evidence
Sexual function after electrosurgical loop excision procedure for cervical dysplasia
Bibliographical references:
Giovannetti, O., Tomalty, D., Gilmore, S., Pattison, A., Komisaruk, B., Goldstein, S., Hannan, J., Goldstein, I., Pukall, C., & Adams, MA ( 2023). The contribution of the cervix to sexual response: an online survey. The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 20(1), 49-56.
