Hank: Hello, and welcome to SciShow talk show - the day on SciShow where we talk to cool
people about cool stuff. Today, we have joining us Dr. Lindsey Doe, host of Sexplanations
and sexologist extraordinaire. How's it going?
Dr. Lindsey Doe: Pretty great. How are you?
Hank: I'm good. I'm good. It's been a weird day.
Dr. Lindsey Doe: I'm glad you called me a sexologist because I am going to talk to you
about clits, and I am not a clitorologist.
Hank: K
Dr. Lindsey Doe: Here we go. This is a model. I think I got it for 20 bucks off of Amazon.
Super cheap, but has enough detail to include the circulatory system. And you can see a
clitoris on it, true?
Hank: yes
Dr. Lindsey Doe: But you can't really see the clitoris. And um, I don't know if it's
that they're lazy or they didn't know it, but because a lot of the model shows the internal
parts, they should show the internal part of the clitoris.
Hank: Well it's... I mean, it's a small model, there's not a lot of space to do that with.
I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt.
Dr. Lindsey Doe: Hank-!
Hank: - Is this just an egg? or..
Dr: Lindsey Doe: yeah
Dr. Lindsey Doe: but it's a model of the female reproductive system, the clitoris is clearly
important!
Hank (at the same time): Cause they blew up the egg-
Hank: I agree. I agree with you. Just like the egg is important. They should have over
here a blown up clitoris.
Dr: Lindsey Doe: They should just remove this.
Hank: What is that?
Dr. Lindsey Doe: this is the urethra and the bladder! It doesn't even matter!
(Laughter)
Hank: This isn't part of this!
Dr. Lindsey Doe: No!
Hank: No, that's true.
Dr. Lindsey Doe: So maybe you don't know what the clitoris looks like. Do you know what
the clitoris looks? Like, Can I teach you and your people?
Hank: Yeah, just go ahead.
Dr: Lindsey Doe: Ok, in a lot of the textbook diagrams of female reproductive systems, you
have this tiny little carrot-sized baby carrot nub that maybe goes in what would be about
a centimeter and then just cuts off. and that is the illustrated information that human
sexuality students are getting around the world.
Hank: Hmm.
Dr. Lindsey Doe: even though in 1998 -
Hank: That is not the case...
Dr. Lindsey Doe: It's not the case. We found that this is not the case. THIS -
Hank: Is a wishbone.
Dr. Lindsey Doe: - is the clitoris.
Hank: Is a clitoris?
Dr: Lindsey Doe: Is a clitoris
Dr. Lindsey Doe: we're not going to (laughter) NO!
Hank: I... uh this is not what, in my mind, a clitoris looks like. Cause it has these
tail things. I was not aware of them.
Dr. Lindsey Doe: How could you be? Nobody teaches it! and if we talk about it then you
have the repercussion of profanity - being tagged with using profane language. So, in
an anatomy lesson, you will get something that looks like these.
Hank: ok.
Dr: Lindsey Doe: If you're lucky, there will be labia minora, which are these inner lips;
the vestibule which is, you know, the porch to the vagina, this space here; then there
will be a meatus which is the opening to the urethra, the vaginal introitus, which is the
opening to the vagina; and then up here you may or may not see the clitoral glans or the
head.
hank: Ok.
Dr. Lindsey Doe: And I'm going to point to myself because, when I teach about this, I
use my head as the glans or had of the clitoris. And then covering that - oh yeah! - there's
a hood.
Hank: There's a hood
Dr. Lindsey Doe: Ok, this is called the prepuce. and it covers the shaft of the clitoris; but
the rest of it is actually internal. It goes in the body like... that. (demonstrating on
model)
Hank: and what is the purple thing going on there
Dr: Lindsey Doe: So it's underneath the labia -
Hank: - is that like musculature?
Dr: Lindsey Doe: This is another part of the clitoris: vestibular bulbs
Hank: So there's even more to it.
Dr. Lindsey Doe: There's even more to it.
Hank: oh my god.....Can we... say much about the function of these various parts?
Dr. Lindsey Doe: *sigh* No. They're not sure if it was adaptive or reproductive. What they
do know is that this is the most highly erogenous zone on a biosex female body, and what it
will actually do when (and if) the person becomes aroused is go from this flaccid state
to become more erect. And when it does that and stretches out, the clitoris will actually
pull up under the hood more, right, because it's going like that.
Hank: mhmm, mhmm,
Dr. Lindsey Doe: so it's actually harder to find when it's aroused or harder to find when
you'd be looking for it.
Hank: hmm, that's annoying. (laughter)
Hank: (to crew off-screen) you guys are allowed to laugh!
Dr. Lindsey Doe: Oh man. Yeah. So that's the science of my field at least, is that there
is *so much* that people aren't talking about.
Hank: well um, so what I'm seeing here is. So this is all erogenous tissue.
Dr: Lindsey Doe: Mhmm.
Hank: So then this is wrapping around the whole vagina.
Dr. Lindsey Doe: And this. Yeah
Hank: um, and so...
Dr. Lindsey Doe: Here's a vagina, and I put a little bit of hymen in it for you.
Hank: Oh good. Thanks.
(laughter)
Dr. Lindsey Doe: You're welcome.
Hank: (to crew off-screen) I think it would be better if we could hear you guys laughing,
actually.
(laughter off screen)
Hank: Um, so is that removable or is that just some chewing gum that you put in there.
Dr Lindsey Doe: That is clay that I didn't bake.
Hank: Ok
Dr. Lindsey Doe: But you can -
Hank: Did you make this yourself?
Dr. Lindsey Doe: I did!
Hank: Oh! I don't know why I didn't think that. When I first saw this in your bag before
the show started, I was like "why did she bring a trachea? That's a weird thing to bring
along."
Dr. Lindsey Doe: And then you're like "ah it's a vagina!"
Hank: Ok. What a wonderful thing that you've made.
Dr. Lindsey Doe: Thank you! It can stand up on its own, too.
Hank: Yeah, I mean that it makes sense that there would be erogenous tissue to the sides
of the vagina so that sex was pleasurable.
Dr. Lindsey Doe: Exactly.
Hank: Fascinating. Well, if someone wants to get into studying female anatomy, and learning
more about this - these things that we apparently know very little about, I would encourage
them to do that.
Hank: So we're going to be visited now by an animal. Jessi from Animal Wonders will
be joining us, and I think it's going to be a snake. How do you feel about that?
Dr. Lindsey Doe: Very excited!
Hank: me too!
Hank: Jessi, what have you brought us today?
Jessi: I brought a snake!
Hank: Yeah, you did.
Jessi: This is a Western Hognose Snake
Hank: It's beautiful. I like its patterns
Jessi: Look at its face!
Hank: Yeah, it has really interesting weird... oh it's got a snout!
Jessi: Yeah! Yeah!
Hank: It's got a snout like it's a pig... or a hog!
Jessi: There you go. Exactly. Exactly. A Hognose Snake. they're also called blowsnakes or bluffers
too, but -
Hank: Do they inflate themselves?
Jessi: I'm going to talk about it.
Hank: Well you called them blowsnakes and didn't expect me to mention that?
Jessi: I know. I know. (laughter) So you talked about the pattern first; and what do you think
it's mimicking? it's trying to mimic something. What do you think it's trying to mimic?
Hank: Rocks on the ground?
Jessi: It's camouflage too. but it's trying to mimic another animal.
Hank: oh. A rattle snake?
Jessi:yeah! Exactly!
Dr. Lindsey Doe: well done
Jessi: Yeah they're doing a pretty good job there. So it's going to do a couple o f other
things too - if its really threatened, first thing it's going to do is it's going to inflate
itself.
(hank imitates inflating himself)
Jessi: mostly like.... not like being fat.
Hank: going to be like a see urchin. Puffer fish. Spines will come out.
Jessi: oh geeze - terrifying snake with spines. Um, so it's going to inflate this upper neck
area right here, and it's going to stand up a little bit and look like a cobra. It's also
going to inhale a lot of air and do fake strikes as it exhales very quickly so it will go "whoo
whoo whoo" (imitating rapid exhalations) and it's trying to be scary.
Hank: That sounds scary.
Jessi: It's scary. When he gets nervous sometimes and he's done it when I've been close to him
too. So, it's scary. I can attest to that.
Hank: and I'm sure there are little teeth. This is not a poisonous snake but they will...
ok.. wait...
(laughter)
Jessi: so (laughing) move away! I always joke that 'I wouldn't bring a venomous snake, would
I?" So that striking movement that they're going to do, they actually do with their mouths
closed. So they're not actually going to bite when they strike. It's very rare to get one
of these to strike in defense. If they keep getting messed with after they've struck a
few times, they will go limp. they will flip their body over - see that nice dark under
there - they will actually open their mouth and their tongue will hang out.
Hank: this is the most elaborate fake death ever.
Jessi: They'll convulse a little bit too! Just full on! And they will emit a very foul
smell out of their mouth and also out their cloaca. And they will just lay there and if
you pick the up they'll be limp, and if you try to turn them right side over they will
roll back over. They'll be like "No, I am dead. I am dead."
Hank: I am super dead, see?
Jessi: So they're really cool. they play dead I mean it's really awesome. They're very dramatic.
Hank: How do they have a foul smell that comes out of their mouth?
Jessi: Um, you know, I don't really know. I mean..
Hank: do they have a foul smell gland? I mean my bet is I know how the butt smells bad.
But there's a special way for its mouth to smell bad is interesting to me.
Jessi: I don't know. I don't know.
Hank: ewww. So, they roll over, they smell bad, they hang their tongue out of their mouth
and they convulse. that is a complicated set of fake death.
Jessi: Yeah, they're serious about their acting. yeah. So then they'll wait for a while and
when the predator/danger goes away then they'll-
Hank: Why would the danger go away? They'd be like "oh you're dead, now I don't want
to eat you?"
Jessi: Well it stinks really bad. So it's musking and it's nasty-
Hank: Yeah, recently there was some turkey in my fridge and I opened it up and was like
"ewwww" and then I didn't eat it. So it's like that.
Jessi: I'm glad you didn't eat it.
Hank: Well yeah it seemed like a pretty clear sign - evolutionary sign. There was a lot
of signals telling me not to do that.
Jessi: olfactory...
Jessi: So, we were talking about venom.
Hank: we were.
Jessi: K. so these are colubridae. They're in the colubridae group, which means non-venomous
or not harmful to humans.
Hank: ok.
Jessi: so it is thought - they've gone back and forth back and forth - but right now it's
on on the "we think that they are" slightly venomous. They're a rear fang snake, so it's
not going to be like vipers who inject venom into you.
*pause - talking to the snake* upside down? (laughter) checking out the world that way?
*To Hank* so they kind of chew their venomous saliva into their prey.
Hank: Mhmm
Jessi: so they don't constrict. they just go for it and then they're just chewing on
it for quite a while. It's not a very humane death.
(laughter)
Hank: Well, you know it's the circle of life.
Jessi: Yeah. It's natural
Hank: (to snake) Want to sniff my finger?
Jessi: Venomous snake here. (laughter) You're fine.
Hank: Thanks for bringing him along. Animal wonders! Youtube.com/ - (looking off-screen)
(off-screen) animal wonders
Jessi: W-N-D-R-S
Hank: youtube.com/"there's a link in the description!"
Lindsey from Sexplantations, thank you for sharing your beautiful art and expanding our
understanding of female reproductive anatomy. And what is this thing even doing here? You're
not reproductive!
Dr. Lindsey Doe: bladder!
Hank: Bladder! (to snake) Do you want to...?
Hank: oh yeah... uh and thank you for watching this episode of the SciShow Talk Show. If
you want to keep getting smarter with us you can go to youtube.com/scishow and subscribe!