"The Mystery of the Moving Clitoris: Orgasm and the Evolution of Consciousness" - Eric Saidel (George Washington University)

Attempts to find a marker for consciousness in nonhuman animals notoriously fail because they make assumptions about either the function of consciousness or about behavioral indicators of consciousness. I suggest that we instead look at morphologies that would not have evolved if there were not a felt experience they make possible. Inspired by the literature on the evolution of female orgasm, I identify one such morphology in the developmental and evolutionary changes in female anatomy that do not have corresponding changes in male anatomy. These morphological developments point to a point in our evolutionary history when our nonhuman ancestors were experiencing orgasms and thus were conscious.