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Original poster

Sensory homunculus

65 replies

JellySlice · 09/04/2020 16:57

I was discussing the sense of touch with dd, and Googled sensory homunulus to show her, because an image is worth a thousand words.

And then I realised that the sensory homunculus is always male. I have never seen a sensory homunculus of a female body. Adding female to the search term just brings up male sensory homunculi with lipstick and nail varnish, or sexualised cartoonish female images.

It won't take a thousand words to explain its absence, but surely someone, somewhere, must have created a sensory image of the female body?

OP posts:
Kantastic · 09/04/2020 22:33

In a nutshell we don't broadcast the female homunculus for safeguarding reasons.

I think I'm missing a joke here? The prudishness referred to would have been prudishness of male researchers. There are definitely no safeguarding benefits to not researching the female body and brain properly.

WrathofFaeKIopp · 09/04/2020 22:24

Wiktionary
Etymology of the word "Prude"

"From French prude, from Old French prude, prode, feminine of prou, prod, prud (“good, excellent, brave”), from Latin. Related to proud but unrelated to prudent"

Prudishness is another word misogynists use to insult women, but women's prudish behaviour helps to protect themselves and young girls.

In a nutshell we don't broadcast the female homunculus for safeguarding reasons.

TreestumpsAndTrampolines · 09/04/2020 21:33

Looks like the female in the picture is from a typical male perpective.

Bwahahhahaaaa

I reckon the nipples should be bigger, whereas the rest of the boob basically like the rest of the front torso.

Kantastic · 09/04/2020 21:29

Such a great question OP! It turns out someone has written a paper to answer it. Short version - the data doesn't exist to draw a female version. It's thought one of the reasons no one has tried is prudishness. This could be a great teachable moment for your daughter about the male-female data gap.

academic.oup.com/cercor/article/23/5/1005/797920

Towards the end they try drawing a female sensory homunculus, but they have to superimpose it on the male homunculus with just the genital region varying because even where women have been specifically studied only the genital/breast region was mapped.

Original poster
JellySlice · 09/04/2020 21:20

Apart from the male-by-default, WrathofFaeKIopp's comment is exactly what I thought might be the reason for the total lack of representation of the female sensory experience. The clitoris would be huge and protruding, which would make some people very uncomfortable. (But the male sensory homunculus makes people uncomfortable, anyway!) This excessive prudery is misogynistic IMO, a denial that women have their own sensuality.

OP posts:
Miriel · 09/04/2020 21:09

I'd never come across this concept before either. Googling gets me lots of pictures of what looks like Gollum with massive hands. Creepy. Sorry, I know that isn't helpful! Male-as-default is irritating and all too common, though.'

WrathofFaeKIopp · 09/04/2020 20:30

JellySlice
If it was my job to draw this, I would be slightly embarrassed to present my representation of a female homunculus to a male editor.
Or is it just me?

WrathofFaeKIopp · 09/04/2020 19:57

On a female obviously Blush

WrathofFaeKIopp · 09/04/2020 19:56

For a start, I would make the genital area bigger and the roundness of the belly around the navel much more fruitful looking and prominent.
The nipples should be larger as well.

WrathofFaeKIopp · 09/04/2020 19:53

MissingLinker
Looks like the female in the picture is from a typical male perpective.

MissingLinker · 09/04/2020 17:09

Tbh, I had to Google what a sensory homunculus was just now, so am by no means discerning enough to know what it should look like.

Original poster
JellySlice · 09/04/2020 17:06

... much bigger on both.

OP posts:
tinkywinkyshandbag · 09/04/2020 17:06

I see the clitoris has been missed out whereas he has an enormous dick!

Original poster
JellySlice · 09/04/2020 17:05

Not convinced. The eyes and lips should be much on both, and what about the clitoris!?

OP posts:
MissingLinker · 09/04/2020 17:02

This has male and female.

Sensory homunculus
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