After realising that there were loads of words out there to describe male masturbation (we won't list them all here), Sweden has fought back - and created a word for women, too
Here's a fun game: how many words or phrases can you come up with to describe male masturbation? (Hint: A lot of them seem to begin with the letter 'j'. Or 'w'. Or 'b'.)
Now, how many can you think of that describe female self-stimulation?
Yep, it's suddenly not quite as simple.
But instead of pretending that that's OK (and just dealing with the lack of female-friendly language by just not talking about the idea that women masturbate at all) Sweden has decided that enough is enough.
After all, if we want to live in a world where women are treated equally to men, it's absolutely crucial that we have the words to do so. But somehow, the idea of female masturbation has become a taboo subject - while men can talk openly about getting themselves off - and that just doesn't seem fair. Sure, it's funny, but it shouldn't be shameful.
Which is exactly why the Swedish Association for Sexual Education (RSFU) recently launched a competition for members of the public to develop a phrase to promote an 'open, positive view of sex and relationship issues'.
'Rather than sit around amongst ourselves talking about it, we thought we would launch a nationwide competition,' explains Kristina Ljungros, a spokeswoman for RFSU. 'We are trying to put sexuality on the agenda - the positive aspects, not just the negative ones like sexual abuse. We want to focus on the good parts, the lust...'
'When it comes to masturbation, people mostly think about just men doing it and we don't think of it as common for women. If we don't have a word in the language, how can we even talk about it?'
It makes sense. And while they were inundated with entries (obviously - who wouldn't want to come up with a term for this?) the association eventually the association managed to whittle the list down to 40, which was then posted online so that members of the public could vote for their favourite.
And the winning word? 'Klittra' - reportedly a combination of 'clitoris' and 'glitter'.
Unfortunately, 'klittra' won't formally enter the Swedish dictionary until 2025 when it's next due for an update. But RSFU has vowed to start using it immediately.
And we just might do so too.
