Menopause is defined as the point in time exactly twelve months after a female has had her last menstrual period, or shedding of the lining of the uterus. As a female ages, the hormone levels that drive menstruation decrease, beginning the process of perimenopause, which eventually leads to menopause and can result in various symptoms including depression, difficulty sleeping, and hot flashes, or abrupt feelings of heat typically in the upper body. Once a female reaches menopause, those symptoms typically subside, but after menopause, the risk of other health conditions such as osteoporosis, or brittle bones, increases. At least since the fourth century BCE, researchers understood that menopause occurred in females but held many negative ideas and misconceptions about the process, which resulted in stigma that left females uninformed about what happened to their bodies as they aged. Research on and perceptions towards menopause evolved over the twentieth century, and as of 2024, researchers understand it as a typical part of aging and development in females, marking the end of their reproductive years.
The Gräfenberg spot, or the G-spot, is thought to be an area in the anterior, or front, vaginal wall that contributes to sexual pleasure. Ernst Gräfenberg became one of the first individuals to discuss the G-spot in 1950, and he claimed that the area is a distinct part of the vagina that plays a key role in orgasm. In 1981, researchers echoed Gräfenberg’s conclusion about the area’s existence and function, and they named it the Gräfenberg spot, or G-spot, after him. As of 2024, the media often portrays the G-spot as an area that is well-characterized, but scientific data on the G-spot is actually fairly inconclusive. Though researchers agree that the G-spot contributes to sexual pleasure in some individuals, they continue to debate about its functions and characteristics. Scientific debate about the G-spot produced research that has helped people to better understand the anatomical elements of the female orgasm, thus improving medical knowledge of female sexual health and pleasure.