Function
In addition to the internal and external sphincters, in males the urethra extends to the end of the penis, where it opens up to the outside.
The levator ani, the voluntary muscle of the pelvic floor, can be used to control urination. In females this muscle may be damaged, most commonly by childbirth, leading to weakness of the sphincter mechanism and stress incontinence. Kegel exercises are a form of exercise intended to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles. They are also known as Pelvic Floor Muscle Training.
Read more about this topic: Sphincter Urethrae
Famous quotes containing the word function:
“The fact remains that the human being in early childhood learns to consider one or the other aspect of bodily function as evil, shameful, or unsafe. There is not a culture which does not use a combination of these devils to develop, by way of counterpoint, its own style of faith, pride, certainty, and initiative.”
—Erik H. Erikson (1904–1994)
“The function of literature, through all its mutations, has been to make us aware of the particularity of selves, and the high authority of the self in its quarrel with its society and its culture. Literature is in that sense subversive.”
—Lionel Trilling (1905–1975)
“To look backward for a while is to refresh the eye, to restore it, and to render it the more fit for its prime function of looking forward.”
—Margaret Fairless Barber (1869–1901)