We metaphorize our bodies; we use descriptions of our physiology to stand in for descriptions of our states of mind. “I’m so wet” and “I’m so hard” are intended to say, “I’m into this.” These metaphors are so entrenched that people believe they’re literal. Indeed, some people actually want us to believe that women are lying—whether deliberately or because we’ve been culturally oppressed out of the capacity to recognize our own desires—when our genitals are responding but we say we’re not turned on.
