In female humans and other mammals, the clitoral hood (also called preputium clitoridis, clitoral prepuce, and clitoral foreskin) is a fold of skin that surrounds and protects the glans of the clitoris; it also covers the external clitoral shaft, develops as part of the labia minora and is homologous with the foreskin (also called the prepuce) in the male reproductive system.
The clitoral hood is composed of mucocutaneous tissues; these tissues are between the mucous membrane and the skin, and they may have immunological importance because they may be a point of entry for mucosal vaccines.
Development and variation
The clitoral hood is formed during the fetal stage by the cellular lamella. Females with hoods covering most of the clitoral glans can often masturbate by stimulating the hood over the clitoral glans; those with smaller, or more compact, structures tend to rub the clitoral glans and hood together. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, FGM was performed on many children in Western countries, including the United States, to discourage masturbation and reduce diseases believed to relate to it.
One modification that females sometimes choose is to have the hood pierced and insert jewelry, both for adornment and physical pleasure. Though less common, other females opt to have their own hood surgically trimmed or removed to permanently expose part or all of the clitoral glans.
Other animals
Regarding the clitoral prepuce in non-primate mammals, there is a similar structure typically referred to as the clitoral sheath, which is homologous to the penile sheath in male mammals.
See also
- Frenulum clitoridis: a frenulum below the clitoris
- Prepuce (disambiguation)