# Attention Women, How Many Holes Do You Have? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 18, 2005, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-women-how-many-holes-do-you-have/290654 "2005-02-18T03:35:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Boldface\_Type](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5e925/32.png) [@Boldface\_Type](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boldface_Type)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2005, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-women-how-many-holes-do-you-have/290654/21 "2005-02-18T17:26:06Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > The urethral opening isn’t “feel-able” as either a protrusion or a hole. Many, many women think that they urinate out of their clitoris (clitorii?), like a little mini penis. Taken to an extreme degree in Iain Banks’ ‘The Wasp Factory’… ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2005, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-women-how-many-holes-do-you-have/290654/22 "2005-02-18T21:34:25Z")
To be fair to however many women there are who believe urine comes out of the vagina - or equivalently that one opening does the job of the urethra and the vagina - sometimes this is true, and it’s not very easy to tell anyway. I’m a male, BTW. A nurse I dated told me that a significant minority of women urinate out of their vaginas. Putting it more precisely, the dimensions of different parts of the genitals do vary, and it occasionally happens that the opening of the urethra is so far back that it is actually slightly up inside the vagina, on its front wall, rather than close to the vagina but out in front of its opening. She would be in a position to know about this because she took care of a great many patients who needed their catheters maintained. Now, then. Women only have one set of female genitals. Men typically have several sets, although we only get to borrow them briefly. And we make up for brevity by being intensely interested when we get the chance. I have, how shall I put it… closely studied several sets. And I still have the impression that they are enriched with sufficient complexity and subtlety such that I’d be reluctant to commit myself to a hole count. So I imagine it’d be pretty easy to be uncertain. ---
**Author:** ![emekthian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecae2f/32.png) [@emekthian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emekthian)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2005, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-women-how-many-holes-do-you-have/290654/23 "2005-02-18T22:08:08Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#): > > Dude. This is G.Q. Let’s see now. > And my personal favorite, the pefectly round titanium hole in the back of the skull, just above the stem area, where she jacks into The Matrix. I believe you mean the set of six perfectly round holes she uses to dive into computer networks. ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2005, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-women-how-many-holes-do-you-have/290654/24 "2005-02-18T22:17:00Z")
> [@Martin Hyde](#): > > Do they think there is just one hole that goes back to the bladder, the uterus, et al?? You mean we DON’T have cloacas? ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2005, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-women-how-many-holes-do-you-have/290654/25 "2005-02-18T22:20:24Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > [Clitorides](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mplurals.html). The -i ending for plurals is only if the singular ends in -us. -Beaming-- By god, you’re consistent !!! Did this give you a penii deja vu? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2005, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-women-how-many-holes-do-you-have/290654/26 "2005-02-18T22:48:35Z")
Wait, so how is it configured? The urethral opening is in front/above the vagina, and just sorta sitting there? Sorry. I’m a dude. And a gay one at that. I don’t know how this crap works. I didn’t pay attention, I guess, during health class. And when I saw that episode of Sex and the City, I surmised that she was talking about the urethra, but it’s hard to imagine Samantha not having an adequate knowledge of her own anatomy. So I figured she meant three holes that have a sexual purpose. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2005, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-women-how-many-holes-do-you-have/290654/27 "2005-02-18T23:51:17Z")
> [@Excalibre](#): > > Wait, so how is it configured? The urethral opening is in front/above the vagina, and just sorta sitting there? No direct link, cause it’s not work-safe, but there’s a good photo with labels at [Loading...](http://www.the-clitoris.com/1r4/anatomy/disectb.jpg--just) be warned that it’s an 800k image, and it does contain a photograph of a whole clitoris, which is normally an internal organ. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2005, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-women-how-many-holes-do-you-have/290654/28 "2005-02-18T23:57:55Z")
Forgot to add: There’s a **lot** of variation among women–much more so than among men, at least from what I’ve seen in porn. Check out [http://www.the-clitoris.com/n\_html/n\_v\_image1.htm](http://www.the-clitoris.com/n_html/n_v_image1.htm) for the first page of a photo essay on the different appearances of female genitalia. ---
**Author:** ![threemae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f9b8f/32.png) [@threemae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threemae)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2005, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-women-how-many-holes-do-you-have/290654/29 "2005-02-19T00:15:05Z")
> [@racinchikki](#): > > You mean we DON’T have cloacas? Well great, that’s just great. Someone want to hell me where all of this uric acid has been oozing out of? \ ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2005, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-women-how-many-holes-do-you-have/290654/30 "2005-02-19T00:28:23Z")
[QUOTE=JimMacMillan] “Did you know that we have 3 holes down there?”. Anus, Vagina, and Urethra?[/QUTE] The Anus is the lower opening of the alimentary canal with the mouth and nostrils at the top. The other two are dead ends and topologically equivalent to the skin surface. Ask a totologist! ---
**Author:** ![Mathochist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@Mathochist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mathochist)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2005, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-women-how-many-holes-do-you-have/290654/31 "2005-02-19T00:32:21Z")
> [@ultrafilter](#): > > No direct link, cause it’s not work-safe, but there’s a good photo with labels at [Loading...](http://www.the-clitoris.com/1r4/anatomy/disectb.jpg--just) be warned that it’s an 800k image, and it does contain a photograph of a whole clitoris, which is normally an internal organ. HOLY SH!T Sorry, That was just a little surprising. I “knew” about the “tip of the iceberg” effect, but that’s the first time I’ve _seen_ it… Wow. Time to calm down by leafing through some Giger prints. ---
**Author:** ![Bob\_Scene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Bob\_Scene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob_Scene)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2005, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-women-how-many-holes-do-you-have/290654/32 "2005-02-19T01:56:30Z")
> [@spingears](#): > > The Anus is the lower opening of the alimentary canal with the mouth and nostrils at the top. The other two are dead ends and topologically equivalent to the skin surface. Ask a totologist! Are you calling me a donut? ---
**Author:** ![Mathochist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@Mathochist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mathochist)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2005, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-women-how-many-holes-do-you-have/290654/33 "2005-02-19T01:58:14Z")
> [@Bob Scene](#): > > Are you calling me a donut? No, that would be genus 1. He’s asserting your genus is 3. ---
**Author:** ![ScoobyTX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@ScoobyTX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ScoobyTX)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2005, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-women-how-many-holes-do-you-have/290654/34 "2005-02-19T02:41:34Z")
> [@spingears](#): > > The Anus is the lower opening of the alimentary canal with the mouth and nostrils at the top. The other two are dead ends and topologically equivalent to the skin surface. Ask a totologist! For that matter, the surface of the alimentary canal is equivalent to the skin surface- it goes all the way through. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-women-how-many-holes-do-you-have/290654.md?page=1)