“The scientists say previous research had mistaken the organs as scent glands or underdeveloped versions of penises”.

That’s kind of suggestive.

Are clitorises not exactly that? Underdeveloped penises?

No, penises are overdeveloped clitorises. The clitoris predates the penis, and was adapted in mammals for fertilization.

No, they develop from the same embryonic tissue, but clitoris is not a type of penis, and a penis is not a type of clitoris. They have different structure and function.

There is shockingly little attention paid to the clitoris (ahem). The number of nerve endings is much larger than the penis, but nobody bothered to count it until last month[1]. It wasn't "discovered" until the 17th century -- a pretty big thing to go unnoticed by anatomists.

It's emblematic of the fact that female bodies are woefully under-studied. There still aren't any treatments for menstrual cramps; all you get is ordinary painkillers. Women are routinely excluded from studies, partly to protect their fertility (as if men aren't also fertile) and partly to remove a variable -- and the results will be applied to women without ever studying that variable[2].

So yeah, getting somebody to study the evolutionary history of the clitoris is kind of a big feminist deal. It is political, because women have been excluded in so many ways for so long.

[1] https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/why-is-the-clit-so...

[2] https://www.womenshealth.gov/30-achievements/04

> (as if men aren't also fertile)

What do you mean by this? It takes 2 people of the opposite sex to make a baby.