The clitoris is located at the top of your vulva, where your inner labia meet. If you place your fingers at the front of your vulva and gently press upward toward your pubic bone, you’ll feel a small, rounded bump underneath a fold of skin. That bump is the glans, the external tip of the clitoris, and it’s the most nerve-dense spot on the human body.
Where Exactly to Look
Start by getting comfortable and using a handheld mirror. Sit or lie back, spread your outer labia apart, and look at the very top of the opening where your inner labia come together. You’ll see a small hood of skin, sometimes called the clitoral hood, that covers and protects the glans underneath. Gently pull that hood upward or back toward your belly, and the glans will become visible or more prominent beneath your fingertip.
The glans sits above your urethral opening (where urine comes out) and well above your vaginal opening. Think of it as the northernmost point of your vulva. In most people, the glans measures roughly 5 millimeters long and 3 to 4 millimeters across, about the size of a small pea. But there’s a wide range of normal. Some are larger, some smaller, some sit more prominently, and some are almost entirely tucked under the hood.
Why It Might Be Hard to Find
Several things can make the clitoris tricky to locate at first. If the clitoral hood is thicker or covers more of the glans, you may not see it without gently retracting the skin. In some people, the glans barely protrudes at all, so touch becomes more reliable than sight. Rather than looking for a visible bump, try using a fingertip to feel for a firm, rounded structure just beneath the skin at the top of your vulva. It will feel distinctly different from the softer tissue around it.
Arousal also makes a difference. When you’re sexually stimulated, blood flow increases and the tissue swells, sometimes doubling in size. This makes the glans push outward from under its hood, becoming easier to see and feel. If you’ve been trying to find it in a completely unaroused state, that’s one reason it may seem elusive.
What You’re Actually Touching
The small bump you feel on the surface is only a fraction of the whole structure. The full clitoris is shaped like an upside-down wishbone and extends 3.5 to 4.25 inches inside your body. Two internal legs branch downward from the external tip, surrounding the vaginal canal and urethra. Between those legs, a pair of bulbs sit along the vaginal wall and swell with blood during arousal.
This internal network is why pressure applied to areas beyond just the external tip can also feel pleasurable. The tissue you can see and touch directly, the glans, contains over 10,000 nerve fibers, according to research from Oregon Health & Science University. That’s more than any other structure of comparable size in the human body, and it doesn’t include the additional smaller nerves that branch throughout the internal portions.
How to Use Touch Effectively
Once you’ve located the glans, experiment with different types of touch to understand what feels good to you. The glans is extremely sensitive, so direct contact may feel too intense for some people, especially without arousal. Many people prefer indirect stimulation: circling around the glans, pressing through the hood, or applying light pressure to the surrounding area rather than touching the tip directly.
Try varying a few things:
- Pressure: Light, barely-there touch versus firm, steady pressure against the pubic bone.
- Motion: Circular movements, side-to-side, tapping, or a steady rhythmic press.
- Location: Directly on the glans, just to one side of it, through the hood, or on the shaft above it (the shaft is the slight ridge you can feel running upward from the glans toward your pubic bone).
Lubrication helps. Dry skin creates friction that can feel irritating rather than pleasurable on tissue this sensitive. A water-based lubricant or your own natural moisture reduces that friction and lets your fingers glide more comfortably.
Normal Variation in Size and Appearance
There is no single “normal” appearance. The glans can range from barely visible to prominently protruding. Some clitoral hoods are small and tight, others are loose and cover the glans completely. Hormonal changes throughout your life, including puberty, pregnancy, menopause, and hormonal medications, can affect the size and sensitivity of the glans. None of these variations indicate a problem.
If you’ve located the area but feel very little sensation, that’s worth paying attention to over time. Reduced sensation can be related to hormonal shifts, certain medications (particularly some antidepressants), or simply needing a different type of stimulation than what you’ve tried. Persistent numbness or pain in the area is less common and worth mentioning to a healthcare provider, but difficulty finding the right kind of touch is extremely normal and not a medical issue.