Becky asks: What does the “G” in “G-spot” stand for?

The “G” in G-Spot stands for “Gräfenberg”, after famed gynecologist Dr. Ernst Gräfenberg, who, among other things, had the “G-spot” named after him and invented the first known Ring IUD birth control device, the “Gräfenberg ring”.

Dr. Ernst Gräfenberg was born in Germany on September 18, 1881 and received his doctorate on March 10, 1905. In 1910, he started working as a gynecologist in Berlin and soon became the chief gynecologist at Berlin University. When Hitler assumed power in Germany and Nazism was rampant, Gräfenberg, who was a Jew, was forced to resign.

His friends and family tried to persuade him to leave Germany at the time, but he refused. Gräfenberg thought that because several of his patients were wives of high ranking Nazi officers, he would be safe. This wasn’t the case and in 1937 he was arrested.

In 1940, Margaret Sanger paid a ransom for his release and he left Germany to settle down in New York City, where he once again established a successful gynecologist practice.

It was at this time that Gräfenberg researched the subject of urethral stimulation and, while it wasn’t the main point of the study he was doing, he stated: “An erotic zone always could be demonstrated on the anterior wall of the vagina along the course of the urethra”.

Dutch physician Regnier de Graaf in the 17th century had previously noted this erogenous zone. He also noted that when stimulated properly in this area, the woman would often ejaculate. His theory was that this was some sort of female prostate. Despite de Graaf’s earlier theories on this region, Gräfenberg is usually given credit for its “discovery” and the name “G-spot”, after Gräfenberg, was coined in the 1981 paper “Female Ejaculation: a case study” published in the Journal of Sex Research.

It was one year later that the G-Spot name and the region itself gained widespread popularity amongst the general public after the book, The G Spot and Other Recent Discoveries About Human Sexuality by Alice Kahn Ladas and Beverly Whipple came out in 1982.

Bonus Fact: